The Seven of Wands Yes or No: Yes, If You Hold Your Ground

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Seven of Wands is a yes that has to be defended. Here is how I read it for yes or no questions, upright and reversed, and why the reversal is a no about giving up the hill.

If you want the short answer, the Seven of Wands is a yes. In a yes or no draw the upright card says you hold the advantage and the thing you are asking about will go your way if you keep holding it. It is a yes with stamina in it, and the stamina is yours to supply.

This is a card of yes as high ground. Six wands are coming up from below. The figure on the hill is still standing.

Is the Seven of Wands a yes or a no?

Upright, I read the Seven of Wands as a yes. Reversed, I read it as a no. My free yes or no tarot draw uses the Major Arcana only, so if you want a quick draw, use that; these Minor Arcana values are the ones I apply when a full deck is in play.

Tina Gong's the Seven of Wands guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with perseverance, defending a position, challenge and standing your ground. Brigit Esselmont's yes or no tarot overview at Biddy Tarot notes that readers assign yes and no values differently, which is true, and it is why I state mine rather than pretend there is one correct table.

Why the upright card reads this way

I read the Seven of Wands as yes because the card is about a position that is being successfully defended: the figure above, the challengers below, the one boot and one shoe showing he was caught off guard and held anyway. When a question is about whether you will prevail, the Seven says yes, if you do not step down.

The yes is conditional on persistence. The Seven of Wands does not describe an easy win. It describes a win that belongs to whoever outlasts the pressure, and it says that can be you.

The Seven of Wands reversed as yes or no

Reversed, I read the Seven of Wands as a no. The reversal describes giving up, being overwhelmed, or defending a position that was never worth holding. The ground is lost or was not worth the fight.

If you drew the Seven of Wands reversed, ask whether you have stepped back from something you should have held, or whether you are still fighting for something you no longer want. The no answers both, differently.

The Seven of Wands yes or no in a love question

In a love question, the Seven of Wands is a yes to holding your position: to standing by the relationship against family doubt, to keeping your boundaries, to staying when things are hard but right. Reversed, it is a no to a fight that is costing more than the relationship is giving, and a prompt to ask whether the hill is still yours.

The Seven of Wands yes or no for work and money

For work and money, the Seven of Wands is a yes to defending your price, your role, your idea against competition. It is a good card for small businesses under pressure. Reversed, it is a no to continuing a fight you have already lost, and to defending a position out of pride.

When a yes or no draw is the wrong tool

The Seven of Wands answers questions about holding ground. It is a poor card for questions about whether to try something new, which it answers by describing a defence of what you already have. A single card answers a single, well-formed question. If the question is really three questions, or is about another person's choices, a yes or no draw will give you a confident answer to the wrong thing. My guide to a one question psychic reading explains how I handle questions that need more than one card.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the exact question you asked, the position you are defending in plain words, and whether you still want it. If the third note is no, the yes was for a position you should put down.

For comparison, the Five of Wands yes or no and the Nine of Wands yes or no answer differently. The the Seven of Wands card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Seven of Wands as timing and the Seven of Wands as feelings cover the two other questions people most often ask of it. For a personal interpretation, my guide to an online psychic reading explains how readings work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.