Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot

by Marcus Katz

  Mountain: The world of ascent in spirit, as mentioned in Death, the previous card. Here the angel leads beyond Death. It is the “heights” Smith depicted as a small mountain range, representing a “verge” to Waite, which correspond to the veil of Paroketh on the Tree of Life. As it relates to this card, the veil is the noise or pollution made by the activity of our divided selves in conflict or imbalance. The moment we can temper all four lower aspects of ourself—body, imagination, mind, and emotions (see YHVH)—the noise vanishes and the signal appears. The secret is that the veil was never there to begin with; it is an illusion seen from the wrong perspective. When we are tempered, when we rise above our lower nature into the mountain of initiation, all becomes light.

  Pool of water: The pool of water is the essence of psychic nature. It shows in a reading that both one’s intuition and rational appreciation of a situation should be taken into consideration. Both have a role to play. With the land, the pool represents two aspects of nature that come together to make new life. Whilst Waite suggests the figure has a foot each “upon” both water and earth, Pamela drew the right foot immersing itself into the water. She then ensured this was obvious by leaving the water transparent so we can see the foot clearly. This may have been an artistic or intuitive realisation of Waite’s instruction, however it does offer more scope for interpretation. We can say that in order to temper anything, we must be partially immersed in the situation. We must be able to comprehend both sides of any argument, without being overwhelmed by either extreme. Temperance always takes the “straight and narrow” path through the centre of any situation—but that foot shows us she is not untouched by the emotions of what others are presenting.

  Rocks by pool: Temperance has one foot upon the rocks and one in the pool. Waite says under this rule that “we know in our rational part something of whence we came and whither we are going.” This must be integrated with our intuition.

  Flow of liquid: In the traditional image of Prudence, she held a jar of wine, into which she poured water to dilute the alcohol. We might see in this card a message to hold back a little, lessen our intensity, or (if reversed) a warning that we are spreading ourselves out too thinly. The dilution of a message can happen if we do not stand true to our ideal (see the reeds on the next page).

  Halo: Waite demurely describes the halo of light (upon the mountain, or “certain heights”) as “some part of the Secret of Eternal Life” (PKT, 124). The figure also has a radiant halo, mirroring the landscape’s. In this card more than most, every symbol is balanced and harmonious. The light on the horizon is that of Tiphareth, from which position on the Tree of Life we can start to see Kether, the divine source above. Waite describes this as seeing a crown (kether) vaguely through the great light. He gives the correspondence of the card to the Tree of Life perfectly without revealing it, a great secret at the time.

  Iris (flower): As we have seen in the main interpretation of this card, the Iris is symbolic of messages, connections, bridges, and peace-keeping. It could also be seen as indicative of diplomacy. When Temperance appears, we must not make waves or rock the boat.

  Reeds: The reeds by the bank on this card carry meaning for both Waite and Smith. In Waite’s view, they would have been Christian symbols; the reed is used often in the Bible as a symbol of inconstancy, as they bend with the wind. More positively, reeds are flexible, not broken by changing currents. The interpretation is that where this card appears, we must go with the flow. To Smith, reeds were the song that calls a woman to seek contentment after woe, despair, and disappointment in others. They provide a bed where we can find ourselves again after giving ourself to another.

  How oft at sunset I have walked alone.

  Where the tall rushes dip into the lake;

  And, then, methought, they murmured as I passed,

  The little heart is ours, and you have grief;

  Come, Ellaline, and sleep beside it here,

  Where all is endless happiness and peace.

  Amber Heart, Act II

  Yes, I am mad, but all my woes are gone;

  I see a way to endless rest and peace;

  I’ll lay me down beside the precious heart

  That I have lost. The rushes call on me.

  I come—I come! My grief will soon be o’er.

  Tell him I’ve gone to pray for his success.

  They call on me again. Farewell, farewell,

  I must not stay. I come, sweetheart, I come!

  Robe: The robe of the figure is a robe of rebirth. It signifies the point on the Tree of Life where we are raised a moment above our normal self and into a connection with the divine. This consecration is carried out by the two currents (see the “Two cups” entry on the next page).

  Sun Symbol: The solar symbolism of this card is derived from its position on the Tree of Life. We see it represented both in the sign of the sun on the figure’s forehead and the mountain in the background (see previous entry on the “Mountain”). The Sun represents Tiphareth, the central Sephirah on the Tree of Life, the point at which the human and divine connect. It is not (and would not have been for Smith or Waite) connected with the “third eye” or any chakras. It is a “solar light, realised in the third part of our human nature.” This is a spiritual experience of the divine through an intermediary, something people perceive using their highest vision.

  Triangle in Square: This is the septenary, a representation of the number seven. It has many interpretations, but here in light of Waite’s usage of the card as a virtue it brings together the seven virtues: three theological virtues and four cardinal virtues. It suggests to the querent that they must be utterly “clean of hand” in a situation—there can be no pollution, hidden motives, or manipulation where this card appears. It is a card of the utmost virtue.

  Two Cups (oinochoe): In his secret teachings and the second version of Temperance, Waite depicts the figure as pouring two currents from the cups—cleansing water and saving fire. The two cups contain grace, benediction, salvation, and mercy alike. In the first version with Smith, the cups are perhaps more alike, pouring the “essences of life.” This slightly sexual allusion was certainly picked up by Aleister Crowley in his Thoth tarot deck, where this card is renamed Art and clearly shows sexual alchemy. In a reading, we can point to the symbol of the cups to show how the querent should take two parts of their life and connect, blend, and synthesize them; in its most everyday sense, attain a work/life balance, for example.

  Winged figure: Whether the winged figure is an initiate in a state of consecration and blessing, an angel, or the winged goddess Iris, perhaps is not so important as its activity and state of being. The figure is perfectly captured by Smith as being entirely at peace with the function being performed. Not one drop is spilt, nor is there any tension. Yet there are two obvious impossibilities to the figure (other than the wings); the liquid could not pass between the cups without pouring upon the ground, and the figure could not keep balance in that position. The wings themselves signify the uplifting of these events to a higher nature—a supernatural one. When this card appears in a reading, it brings exalted light and significance to the cards around it.

  YHVH (Hebrew characters): The Hebrew letters spelling out the four-lettered name of God, the Tetragrammaton, usually pronounced “Jehovah,” are here kabbalistic. They represent the four lower Sephiroth on the Tree of Life, and the path this card illustrates arises from it. This is the same path in both of Waite’s versions of the Tree, and the different model he used ten years later in his tarot work with Trinick. There are only a few cards that remain in the same position; Temperance and the World are two very fixed cards.

  In a reading: The goddess Iris signifies peace in nature, and in a reading this card symbolises peace. It is a particular peace that has been brought about by reconciling opposites. From different elements, things are brought together to make a harmonious whole. If you are estranged from your
spiritual path, this card brings news that you will again discover your authentic way. If you are awaiting a decision, this card brings a peaceable resolution, equally favourable to all, different from the advice of Justice.

  Key words and concepts: Balance, virtue, synergy, combination.

  Waite: The secret of eternal life; seasonal changes; perpetual motion; combining new blood. Constancy (from the correspondence of the iris); also hope and tender love (again, from the iris in Waite’s view of the language of flowers). Waite also alluded to the secret practice of Temperance by suggesting that it “combines and harmonises the psychic and material natures.” When this happens, he wrote, “we know in our rational part something of whence we came and whither we are going” (PKT, 127).

  Colman Smith: Endless happiness, peace, rest, contentment.

  Secret significance: We only create reconciliation.

  In Waite’s mystical writings, this card is deemed the agent of spiritual reconciliation. It is the peace between humans and God or our world and the divine. It comes from the will to be reborn, the desire to attain spiritual union.

  Reading tip: The four virtues

  Temperance is one of the four cardinal virtues of classical antiquity, dating back to Plato. The other three cardinal virtues are justice, fortitude, and prudence. In some early forms of the tarot deck, these virtues are depicted and named, but by the time of the Waite-Smith deck, Prudence had sadly gone missing; Justice retains her name, and fortitude became Strength.

  Waite was fully aware of these attributions; he writes on Strength, “This is one of the cardinal virtues, of which I shall speak later.” He also picks up on Éliphas Lévi’s correspondence of Prudence to the Hermit card (KT, 15–16).109

  So these four cards—Temperance, Justice, the Hermit, and Strength—are the secret “cardinal cards,” the hinges on which our moral door and all ethical life are supported. When they occur in a reading, it is a possible sign that the querent’s life is unhinged in this particular area.

  The Devil: 15

  The Design

  The Devil is taken from the earlier designs of Éliphas Lévi that Waite was familiar with from his translation of Lévi, published as Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual.110 Lévi described the figure as the “Sabbatical Goat, the Baphomet of Mendes” and as representing a “pantheistic and magical figure of the absolute.” The two figures are then added in accordance with earlier designs such as Etteilla and Papus, whom Waite says “may be felicitated on this improved symbolism.”111

  Key Symbols

  A ram-horned devil with bats’ wings perching on a plinth: He holds his right hand up and palm out to reveal a tattooed cross.

  A flaming torch, held upside down: All is kept in fear and ignorance.

  Two naked human figures, male and female, with horns and tails: Grape-tipped tail for female, flame tipped tail for the male. This is the same tail Pamela had painted for her Blue Cat image (1907). In that image we see the effects of the sensuous life leading to a melancholy fate in the shadow of the sphinx-like cat. The Blue Cat has much to do with the Devil as a warning about the addictive qualities of experience, and how grapes of love or joy can soon turn sour.

  Chains are hung loosely around the humans’ necks: The chains are fixed to the plinth. This shows attachment, compulsion, addiction, and self-serving behaviour.

  In a reading: The Devil signifies ignorance, confusion, blindness, and a synthesis of unbalanced forces.

  Key words and concepts: Attachment, imbalance, shadow.

  Waite: For Waite, the Devil card represents the Dweller on the Threshold (PKT, 131). This is a Theosophical concept, although it was introduced in Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1842). It represents our lower self and all we have denied—the “shadow” of our psyche. In Theosophy, this entity is the aggregation of all our past lives, brought a measure of relief when we begin to build our connection to the light.112 We must face our dark side and choose our “light” to progress on our spiritual path. The Dweller always manifests with fear, another reading of the Devil card—a fear we must face.

  Colman Smith: Pamela made several artistic allusions to other images in the deck; we see reversals—perversions even—of the 2 of Cups, the Lovers, the Hierophant, and even the Chariot in this image. The reversed torch is from an earlier version of Temperance, the Angel (see previous card description). Drawing on her Blue Cat image, to Pamela the card speaks of temptation, surrendering to excess, addiction, lust, apathy, and gluttony.

  Secret significance: Nothing is wasted.

  The Devil is a necessary evil, every aspect of existence we seek to deny but must be yoked to our service. Lévi relates the story of the Devil and the Adept: The Adept is derailed in his progress by the Devil, who has broken a wheel of the Adept’s chariot. Rather than give up, the Adept compels the Devil to curl up and become the tire of the wheel. As a result, the Adept arrives at their destination even faster than if the Devil had not challenged him.113

  Reading tip: Some form of attachment is involved in the situation; a habit of action or thought. The two figures show us that we can ascend from our animal nature with our knowledge, awareness, and intelligence. Look at the rest of the reading for a “tool” to break those chains; e.g., the 8 of Wands (rapid movement from the situation), the Chariot, counselling that we meet it straight on, or Judgement suggesting we bring the hidden issue to the surface—a literal whistle-blower.

  The Tower: 16

  The Design

  The Tower retains an almost exact copy of the Golden Dawn design, and Waite repeated the design (with a minor variation) in his later work with Trinick. The two figures are said to be Nebuchadnezzar and his vizier being ejected from the Tower of Babel. We see the figure on the right is crowned. Pamela has painted a number of Hebrew Yod letters to the left and right of the Tower, numbering twelve and ten. In the Golden Dawn original, these were actually eleven and ten Sephiroth, signifying the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Qlippoth—the reverse, fallen Tree of Life.

  52. The Blasted Tower, J. B. Trinick. (c. 1917–1923, courtesy of authors, private collection, reproduced in Abiding in the Sanctuary, 2013.)

  Key Symbols

  The tower struck by lightning: The central figure of the card is not so much directly explained by Waite, as he instead spends a page on refuting what other authors before him have written on the image. He states that it is not the first allusion in the deck to a material building; it is not literally the fall of Adam or the downfall of the mind.

  A crown-like dome from the top of tower is toppled: This is a representation of Kether, for as it says in Psalm 127, “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” It is an admonition to keep in mind the higher purpose in everything we do. In a reading this means that the presented question or situation has a “bigger picture” pattern or meaning in the querent’s life.

  The tower’s three windows: These symbolise the trinity of the three Sephiroth at the top of the Tree of Life.

  Two clothed figures, one wearing a crown, plummet from the tower: Waite suggests these stand for the “literal word made void” and “its false interpretation.” In both cases, the figures stand for miscommunication—either by neglect or manipulation. Certainly when this card appears (particularly with any other communication cards such as the Magician, the 5 of Wands, many swords cards, etc.) it means we are in a situation where communication is the key.

  Yod symbols: These mark the overthrowing of previous models, maps, and views of the world. The Tower shakes the Tree of Life and the Tree of Evil … and everything is up for grabs.

  In a reading: The Tower signifies sudden change and an acceleration of the situation. Depending on other cards in the spread and the context of the question, the movement could be positive or negative.

  Key words and concepts: The end of a dispensation.
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br />   Waite: In several cases within the PKT, Waite agrees with the Grand Orient (his own pseudonym in an earlier book on fortune-telling) and remarks that he understands this other author—who is actually himself. Here he “agrees” with himself that the card is the ruin of the “House of Life” and a rending of a “House of Doctrine” (PKT, 132). It is the downfall of preconceived plans and ideas, the result of a new insight or vision.

  Waite describes this as an end of “dispensation,” the social structure or religious ruling of a particular time. It is also the card Crowley chose as a strong symbol of the change of aeons, time and culture together.

  Above all, the Tower signifies change at every level, particularly in what we perceive and what we think—the “literal word” and the “false interpretation” Waite ascribes to the two falling figures.

  Colman Smith: Pamela has followed a fairly straightforward copy of the Golden Dawn original, but again, we see that she has not studied the original’s detail. The Yods here are sketch versions of two Trees of Life, which she and Waite were not trying to hide, as it is shown clearly in the High Priestess and 10 of Pentacles. There is an incorrect number on the left, so we cannot read it as signifying the original symbolism, but instead have to apply other correspondences—for example, that the twelve Yods are signifying the twelve tribes, zodiacal symbols, etc.

  Secret significance: All belief is yours but belongs not to reality.

  Reading tip: As this card signifies acceleration, it quite often breaks through anything seeking to contain it. This can be for either good or bad, so we should look to other pentacle cards in particular to see if they indicate what the influence of the Tower will shake up or change.

  The Star: 17

  The Design

  This design is taken again from the Golden Dawn version, attesting to Waite’s hand in the matter. His version with J. B. Trinick some ten years later is far more ethereal and abstract. The Trinick image lacks the specific posture Pamela has drawn here as well as the symbolism of pouring water on both land and water. There is a variance in Waite’s description to Pamela’s image in that he describes the figure pouring the Water of Life from “two great ewers” whereas Pamela has depicted two small jugs, likely a design constraint (for space) winning over Waite’s ambition in his description. Waite again refers uncertainly to the “shrub or tree” in the background, as he does with the “mounds or pyramids” of the Knight of Wands. It seems these symbols were added by Pamela separately from any of Waite’s instructions, and they were new to Waite when the images were returned for him to rapidly write the companion book.