In divination
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.
The library's note
A wary figure leans on his staff, watching for an enemy still unseen, eight other staves standing behind him "erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade." Waite reads him as strength in opposition, readiness rather than triumph, a defensive posture built from the same vitality that ran headlong through the Eight one card earlier. The suit's energy has stopped advancing by now; what remains is the discipline of holding a line before the Ten's staves become simple weight to carry.