Minor Arcana, Wands
Nine of Wands
resilience, vigilance, endurance, delay
Upright
A figure with a bandaged head leans on a staff, watching, while eight others stand behind like a fence. Waite calls this strength in opposition, along with delay and adjournment.
This card fits someone who has already taken some hits and is still on their feet, perhaps in a long job search or a hard stretch with family. Check your defenses, then rest where you can. Being ready need not mean being on alert every hour.
Reversed
Waite's reversal is short and grim: obstacles, adversity, calamity. Read plainly, your reserves may be low and the fence feels too heavy to keep standing.
Stubborn effort has limits. When a long struggle at work or at home keeps taking more than you have, ask someone to share the load, and consider which battle you could put down for now.
A card is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
In Waite's words
Upright: The card signifies strength in opposition. If attacked, the person will meet an onslaught boldly; and his build shews that he may prove a formidable antagonist. With this main significance there are all its possible adjuncts—delay, suspension, adjournment.
Reversed: Obstacles, adversity, calamity.
From A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), Part 3, on Wikisource. The meanings above are by Cast & Chart.
Card art by Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.