In divination
The card has been so designed that it can cover several significations; on the surface, it is a victor triumphing, but it is also great news, such as might be carried in state by the King's courier; it is expectation crowned with its own desire, the crown of hope, and so forth.
Reversed: Apprehension, fear, as of a victorious enemy at the gate; treachery, disloyalty, as of gates being opened to the enemy; also indefinite delay.
The library's note
A laurelled horseman carries one staff crowned with laurel, footmen with staves beside him, and Waite reads the design as built to hold several meanings at once, "a victor triumphing," but also news carried like a royal courier's, "expectation crowned with its own desire." Set right after the mock contest of the Five, this is the suit's first cleanly announced win, vitality now public and witnessed rather than merely practiced or surveyed from a rooftop, as in the Two some cards earlier.