The Ten of Wands as Intentions: To Carry It All, Including You

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Ten of Wands as intentions is a plan made with full arms. Here is what I would read in it, upright and reversed, and why the load is not indifference.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Ten of Wands as intentions that are present and overloaded. In an intentions position the card suggests the person means to keep you in their life and is carrying so much else that the intention has become one more weight rather than a plan. They are not planning to drop you. They cannot see you properly over the bundle.

This is the figure bent under ten staves walking toward the town. They intend to get there. They intend to carry everything, and you are in the bundle somewhere.

The Ten of Wands upright as intentions

Tina Gong's the Ten of Wands guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with burden, responsibility, hard work and stress. When the card lands in a position that asks what someone intends toward you, I read those meanings as the shape of their plan rather than as a promise about what they will do. Feelings and intentions are different questions; the Ten of Wands as feelings covers the first, and this page covers the second. The general card meanings at Biddy Tarot are a useful second reference.

Upright, I read the Ten of Wands as a person whose intention toward you is sincere and crushed: they mean to show up, to do right by you, to keep the relationship going, and they have no capacity left to do it well. They may think of you as a duty rather than a pleasure, which is a sad shape for an intention and a common one in overloaded lives.

What I would not read into it is that you are the burden. You may be one of the wands or you may be the town they are walking toward. The card does not say which, and asking gently usually does.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm the person will put anything down, that their intention toward you survives the exhaustion, or that you are what they are carrying toward rather than one of the things carried. No card lets a reader see another person's plans. What a card can do is describe the kind of intention that fits the person's behaviour, and give you something to check against what they actually do.

The Ten of Wands reversed as intentions

Reversed, the Ten of Wands as intentions describes the load put down or the carrier collapsing: a person who has released something and can finally intend you properly again, or one who has gone under and intends nothing toward anyone because there is nothing left.

In your own question, ask whether the person has recently lightened their load and become more present, or whether they have gone under entirely. A reversed card as intentions is a prompt to compare what is said with what is done, not a diagnosis of bad faith.

The Ten of Wands as an ex's intentions

Asked about an ex, the Ten of Wands as intentions can suggest they still carry something about you, guilt, responsibility, an unfinished sense of duty, and intend to deal with it eventually. That is a weight, not longing. People set weights down when they can. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Ten of Wands as a new person's intentions

For someone new, this card describes someone who may intend to pursue you and is too overloaded to do it. Offering ease sometimes helps. Being another thing they have to manage never does.

What their intentions look like in action

Look for intention expressed as obligation: they show up late and exhausted, they apologise for not doing more, they treat you as a responsibility they are failing. A Ten of Wands intention looks like someone trying to carry you with full arms.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, what the person is carrying as far as you can tell, and whether you have made yourself heavier or lighter to carry. The third note is honest about you.

For comparison, the Nine of Wands as intentions and the Two of Pentacles as timing describe different intentions. The the Ten of Wands card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Ten of Wands as timing and the Ten of Wands as a yes or no cover the other questions people most often ask of it. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.