by Marcus Katz
Queen
Beautiful, fair, dreamy—as one who sees visions in a cup. This is, however, only one of her aspects; she sees, but she also acts, and her activity feeds her dream.
Divinatory meanings: Good, fair woman; honest, devoted woman, who will do service to the Querent; loving intelligence, and hence the gift of vision; success, happiness, pleasure; also wisdom, virtue; a perfect spouse and a good mother.
Reversed: The accounts vary; good woman; otherwise, distinguished woman but one not to be trusted; perverse woman; vice, dishonour, depravity.
Person: A visionary.
Part of self: Intuitive.
Energy: Healing and reassuring.
This card is one of several that draw upon images from the Sola Busca deck. The serpent rising out of the original Sola Busca and the four sea animals rising out of the Golden Dawn versions of the Cup court cards have been simplified by Pamela into the single fish in the Page of Cups.
The character named on the Sola Busca card is that of Polisena (Polyxena), the Greek mythical daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. Whilst the stories vary, in several she is ambushed whilst retrieving water (with an amphora, depicted on the card) and sacrificed. The snake issuing from the vessel may here indicate treachery and betrayal.
76. Polisena in the Sola Busca Deck. (Wolfgang Mayer edition, issued by Giordano Berti, 1998.)
Knight
Graceful, but not warlike; riding quietly, wearing a winged helmet, referring to those higher graces of the imagination which sometimes characterize this card. He too is a dreamer, but the images of the side of sense haunt him in his vision.
Divinatory meanings: Arrival, approach—sometimes that of a messenger; advances, proposition, demeanour, invitation, incitement.
Reversed: Trickery, artifice, subtlety, swindling, duplicity, fraud.
Person: A mediator or peacemaker.
Part of self: Peace loving.
Energy: Calming.
Page
A fair, pleasing, somewhat effeminate page, of studious and intent aspect, contemplates a fish rising from a cup to look at him. It is the pictures of the mind taking form.
Divinatory meanings: Fair young man, one impelled to render service and with whom the Querent will be connected; a studious youth; news, message; application, reflection, meditation; also these things directed to business.
Reversed: Taste, inclination, attachment, seduction, deception, artifice.
Person: A dreamer.
Part of self: Inner child.
Energy: Meditative.
The choice of a fish rising from a cup is a specific symbol and presently unidentified as to its source. We believe though that the term “drunk as a fish” may have some bearing on our Page of Cups. It is used in Shakespeare’s Henry IV (see also 9 of Cups) when Falstaff refers to being a “soused Gurnet” (Henry IV, Part I, Act IV, Sc. II). The word “souse” is the term for both dousing something in a liquid and preparing a dish, and the word “gurnet” is a type of fish. Indeed, this is the same play in which Falstaff refers to the Prince as “a Jack, a sneak-cup” (Act III, Sc. III). This old phrase is lost now, but likely means someone who is not to be trusted, is not true to their emotions.
At a deeper level, the fish is symbolic of Christ, specifically denoting the miracle of the fishes and loaves. This miracle was also related in the Grail mysteries where the knight Brons brings to the table a fish that feeds many. A Greek story tells of a golden cup hidden inside a fish, which a fisherman discovers and finds the cup produces gold coins.
Orpheus is also known as a “fisher” and his lyre was said to be able to charm creatures to him. Consider also the salmon of wisdom in Celtic lore, which ate the hazelnuts that fell from magical hazel trees surrounding a deep pool. When the fish ate one nut from all nine trees, it gained all the world’s knowledge.
In psychological terms, the fish is the emblem of the deep unconscious.130
Ten
Appearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstasy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right arm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm. The two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner. There is a home-scene beyond.
Divinatory meanings: Contentment, repose of the entire heart; the perfection of that state; also perfection of human love and friendship; if with several picture-cards, a person who is taking charge of the Querent’s interests; also the town, village or country inhabited by the Querent.
Reversed: Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence.
The 10 of Cups signifies an abundance of happiness. It is a place of acceptance and unconditional love, where all will be well. This is the card of family union and communing with those we care for most.
77. Pamela Colman Smith at Smallhythe Place, c. 1909. (Courtesy of the National Trust, used under license.)
Nine
A goodly personage has feasted to his heart’s content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects.
Divinatory meanings: Concord, contentment, physical bien-etre; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.
Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.
78. Falstaff, the 9 of Cups. (Photograph courtesy of authors, private collection.)
Here we see Pamela has taken inspiration from Shakespeare’s Sir John Falstaff from Henry IV parts I and II. This comical character is very pleased with himself, indeed. The character in the play had once been a page to the Duke of Norfolk, so it is interesting to see his development from a page who holds just one cup to the man of nine Cups!
Henry IV, Part I
Act I, scene II
FALSTAFF
Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack
and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon
benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to
demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know.
What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the
day? Unless hours were cups of sack and minutes
capons and clocks the tongues of bawds and dials the
signs of leaping-houses and the blessed sun himself
a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no
reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand
the time of the day.
Pamela has clearly depicted the lord of material happiness as Falstaff, with the cups of ale (sack), the unbuttoned shirt (at top), and most specifically—in accordance with the script—a bench, rather than any other type of seat or chair. The hat type is also reminiscent of typical dress for the character as seen in the preceding photograph.
In fact, this card alone tells us that Pamela likely had a fuller copy of Book T from the Golden Dawn in that their description of this card could not have been more properly revisioned as the character of Falstaff by Pamela.
Book T’s description is thus: “Complete and perfect realization of pleasure and happiness, almost perfect; self-praise, vanity, conceit, much talking of self yet kind and lovable, and may be self-denying therewith. High-minded, not easily satisfied with small and limited ideas. Apt to be maligned through too much self-assumption. A good and generous, but sometimes foolish nature.”
The comparison to the character of Falstaff is unmistakable.
Eight
A man of dejected aspect is deserting the cups of his felicity, enterprise, undertaking or previous concern.
Divinatory meanings: The card speaks for itself on the surface, but other readings are entirely antithetical—giving joy, mi
ldness, timidity, honour, modesty. In practice, it is usually found that the card shews the decline of a matter, or that a matter which has been thought to be important is really of slight consequence—either for good or evil.
Reversed: Great joy, happiness, feasting.
Whilst this evocative image of a man walking away from his cups may seem dream-like, even nightmarish, it is rooted in reality. Pamela not only painted here the Romney Marshes of the landscape near Winchelsea, but also the lunar eclipse that she likely witnessed at the time of the deck’s creation. This landscape, a wetland area that stretches a fair distance, is haunted by tales of lost towns and smuggling, and was used as a setting by several authors such as E. F. Benson, Russell Thorndike, and Monica Edwards. It brings to the card the sense of lost opportunities, forgotten deeds, and wasted commitments. Over the scene hangs a moon eclipsed by the shadow of the passing sun, so even it shines not fully upon where we walk away from our own past.
The Eclipse
The eclipse featured in this card (and arguably the 2 of Swords, also a tidal/coastal card) and the moon itself is drawn from Pamela’s real life. In June 1909, as she began the deck, there was a lunar eclipse visible in England on June 3 and 4. However, according to astronomical society reports on that night, there were persistent cloudy conditions in London. Luckily, in other places such as Leeds the sky was clear, and coincidentally the best weather of that month is recorded as being in one particular place—Tenterden, the exact area in which Pamela was staying at the time.
It is more than likely Pamela saw the full lunar eclipse and worked it into her deck. The eclipse was described as having a “seamy aura” which made the shadow line on the moon rather “sinuous.” There were also reports of a “curious glow” in the northern horizon, as if of an auroral display.
Seven
Strange chalices of vision, but the images are more especially those of the fantastic spirit.
Divinatory meanings: Fairy favours, images of reflection, sentiment, imagination, things seen in the glass of contemplation; some attainment in these degrees, but nothing permanent or substantial is suggested.
Reversed: Desire, will, determination, project.
The brief description Waite gives here contains an alchemical secret to this card, one that Waite may have requested of Pamela, although her specific knowledge of alchemy resulted in a rather cursory sketch of symbols. The strange symbols in these seven chalices are stages of the alchemical process, based on Michael Maier. The clue is the phrase “of the fantastic spirit,” which Waite had used the year prior in his article, “Pictorial Symbols of Alchemy.” He wrote of Maier:
He was a man of great and exceptional learning, but withal of a fantastic spirit; he is proportionately difficult to judge, but his primary concern was the material side of the Magnum opus.131
Looking at several of the symbols in the chalices such as the “hidden” skull on the cup containing the wreath, we see alchemical symbols, specifically the snake and the salamander. These are also general symbols outside of alchemy, of course, but together here they form a specific sequence. The transformative stages of alchemy are categorised differently according to various authors, but often fall into a pattern as thus:
Calcination
Dissolution
Separation
Conjunction
Fermentation
Distillation
Coagulation132
Whilst we cannot be perfectly sure about corresponding these stages to Pamela’s symbols, as we know the first stage is the fire of calcination, this would match the salamander. The second stage, dissolution, could be pictured as the victory in death of the cup next to it. Separation sorts the valuable materials of the first matter into the treasure of the third cup. The whole process is consolidated in the fourth cup, of conjunction, constructing a new “building” of the soul. If we continue reading the upper row from right to left, the next stage of fermentation is ably symbolised by the snake, and the purity of distillation by the divine figure. The final stage, coagulation, is the complete philosopher’s stone, the perfected human being.
We could make a case that the central cup represents the final stage, and the other six cups are the prior order of transformations, although without clear symbolism, we’d be guessing. What is of use is that these seven cups can be used within a reading as indicating the seven stages of transformation we must undergo in any creative or spiritual process.
Six
Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers.
Divinatory meanings: A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as—for example—on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in an unfamiliar precinct.
Reversed: The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently.
These childlike figures are reminiscent of the characters of Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl in The Blue Bird (1908) by the Symbolist playwright and mystic Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949). We know that Maeterlinck worked very closely with Edward Gordon Craig and we know Pamela had worked with Edward Gordon Craig on his “toy theatre” creation. Maeterlinck himself was interested in writing a Shakespearian play for marionettes and it turns out that Pamela was complimented at one time for being the most appropriate artist to “translate” Maeterlinck’s work to art.133
This also brings to mind Pamela’s passion for toy theatre and storytelling. As you can see in this card, Pamela’s figures are sometimes difficult to distinguish—are these children or brownies?—owing to their different proportions in comparison to their environment
The scene carries strong echoes of Pamela’s own view and life whilst staying at Smallhythe. We like to think that she stood outside to sketch whilst listening to music from the gramphone through an open window. When we stand at Smallhythe Place, we can almost imagine the scene. The odd thing is that when we took the photograph of the courtyard that reminded us of the 6 of Cups, we failed to notice the two figures in the far left of the background.
79. Pamela and Edy at Smallhythe Place. (Courtesy of the National Trust, used under license.)
80. The Courtyard at Smallhythe Palace, photograph by authors.
There is significant evidence that the mismatched figures on the 6 of Cup, the flowers, the glove, guardsman, and other elements of this scene are drawn from Nance Oldfield, a play that starred Ellen Terry and was quite popular as a “blend of humor and gooey pathos” (according to one review). In fact, the play was so popular that it allowed Terry to purchase Tower Cottage. Nance Oldfield is based on the real-life actress Anne Oldfield and features a young poet who falls for an actress. As she is older than he, she resists his advances in a series of comical exchanges, playing down herself.
The play fits the theme perfect as given in Book T: “contention and strife arising from unwarranted self-assertion and vanity.” The young poet thinks the woman is younger—and she rebuffs his unwarranted self-assertion.
Pamela painted a portrait of Ellen as Nance Oldfield that shows the same curly hair, headscarf, and flower pots in the card, as they were well-known motifs for the character. There are perhaps further clues that in addition to being an actress, the real Anne Oldfield was a florist, sometimes seamstress, and most significantly, the daughter of a captain of the watch (the figure in the card’s background). Another side-sketch Pamela did of Ellen as Nance Oldfield appears in the 1899 souvenir booklet Sir Henry Irving and Miss Ellen Terry shows the similarity even more markedly.
The real Anne Oldfield was famously buried wearing white kidskin gloves, and a surviving portrait of her that may have been familiar to Pamela shows her right hand wrapped in a shawl, matching what is painted on the card. More discussions and illustrations can be found at www.waitesmithtarot.c
om.
Five
A dark, cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups; two others stand upright behind him; a bridge is in the background, leading to a small keep or holding.
Divinatory meanings: It is a card of loss, but something remains over; three have been taken, but two are left; it is a card of inheritance, patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to expectations; with some interpreters it is a card of marriage, but not without bitterness or frustration.
Reversed: News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.
The image of the sombre cloaked figure conjures up the sadness of leaving a place where you have been most happy. We make a story that this is the melancholy Pamela experienced as she departed from Smallhythe. She would have passed over a well-known bridge on every visit, at Maidstone. We compare this card to the 4 of Wands where we see the same bridge, in that case the pleasure of arriving, not the sadness of departing.
81. Maidstone Bridge. (Photograph courtesy of authors, private collection.)
Four
A young man is seated under a tree and contemplates three cups set on the grass before him; an arm issuing from a cloud offers him another cup. His expression notwithstanding is one of discontent with his environment.
Divinatory meanings: Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered the wastrel, but he sees no consolation therein. This is also a card of blended pleasure.
