Six of Wands and Seven of Wands

Winning and then having to hold it. The Six is the triumph; the Seven is the same person on higher ground, fending off six staves from below. The tradition reads the run as the cost of visible success, and it is one of the most practically useful sequences in the deck.

Associated with a relationship that has to be defended after it became public. Read as pressure from outside rather than trouble within.

Promotion followed by challenge. Frequently read for people who are now defending a position they were congratulated for a month ago.

The figure in the Seven is winning and has mismatched boots, which the tradition reads as having dressed in a hurry. The defence is holding; the disorder is the tell.