Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot

by Marcus Katz

  Seven

  A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp is close at hand.

  Divinatory Meanings: Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also quarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. The design is uncertain in its import, because the significations are widely at variance with each other.

  Reversed: Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling.

  The most notable feature of this image that has been remarked upon over the last century is the main figure’s gait, who appears to be sneakily escaping with the swords. Similarly remarked upon is the fact that he is holding the swords by their blades—hardly the work of a warrior or spy. The solution to this design’s mystery is again found in a Shakespeare reference from which Pamela likely drew the card. It is from Henry V, describing exactly the scene Pamela has painted. The soldiers in silhouette are also mentioned, and the figure’s identity is an armourer whose work gives a “dreadful note of preparation.” He carries the swords not as a fighter but as a swordsmith behind the scenes of battle—adding to our interpretation of the card as a reminder to check behind the scenes.

  Henry V

  Act IV, prologue

  Now entertain conjecture of a time

  When creeping murmur and the poring dark

  Fills the wide vessel of the universe.

  From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night,

  The hum of either army stilly sounds,

  That the fixed sentinels almost receive

  The secret whispers of each other’s watch.

  Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames

  Each battle sees the other’s umbered face.

  Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs

  Piercing the night’s dull ear; and from the tents

  The armorers, accomplishing the knights,

  With busy hammers closing rivets up,

  Give dreadful note of preparation.

  The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,

  And, the third hour of drowsy morning named,

  Proud of their numbers and secure in soul,

  The confident and overlusty French

  Do the low-rated English play at dice

  And chide the cripple, tardy-gaited night,

  Who like a foul and ugly witch doth limp

  So tediously away. The poor condemnèd English,

  Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires

  Sit patiently and idly ruminate

  The morning’s danger; and their gesture sad,

  Investing lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats,

  Presenteth them unto the gazing moon

  So many horrid ghosts. Oh, now, who will behold

  The royal captain of this ruined band.

  The design here is also based on the 7 of Swords in the Sola Busca, Pamela capturing the leapfrogging gait of the young man across the shield. The Latin on the shield is SPQR, the abbreviation of Senatus Populusque Romanus, for “The People and the Senate of Rome.”

  This is the card of planning and manipulation that may or may not work. It warns of taking actions that may result in failure at the last moment. The advice would be to slow down, wait, and think again!

  93. Sola Busca 7 of Swords. (Wolfgang Mayer edition, issued by Giordano Berti, 1998.)

  Six

  A ferryman carrying passengers in his punt to the further shore. The course is smooth, and seeing that the freight is light, it may be noted that the work is not beyond his strength.

  Divinatory meanings: journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient.

  Reversed: Declaration, confession, publicity; one account says that it is a proposal of love.

  We were interested in the boat in the 6 of Swords; it seemed—like so many of the cards—to be such a real image capturing a specific emotion and scene. Whilst it could well be illustrating a certain story (others have suggested the Grail legends), it appeared to us to be more simply something Pamela had drawn from real life. Our first conclusion was that it was drawn from Battersea Park’s boating lake, which was literally opposite where Pamela was living in London at the time. When we discovered she had been more likely staying at Smallhythe, we put the thought to one side, as there were no boating lakes around that area, just the coast.

  It was at the last minute that the universe conspired to provide an answer—this time from history and our decision to always go back to 1909, and stay in that time. In the midst of an otherwise fruitless search through Ellen Terry’s personal photographs and keepsakes, we discovered a postcard. The postcard was from Smallhythe at the time, and shows clearly that although it is no longer present, there was a boat and small pond at the property. We believe it is from this Pamela drew the 6 of Swords; as ever, there was no need to travel beyond the garden.

  Compare this to the scene shown on the 4 of Wands that shows the terrace at Smallhythe Place, of which we found a photograph next to this one of the boat, and you will get a strange sense of familiarity; the cards are indeed images of this singular time and place in history.

  This card signifies taking stock of a situation, thinking it through, leaving unnecessary baggage behind, and moving on when the time is right. All will be well if you choose the right conditions. A way for you to go forward will open, but you may need to take advice from somebody in the know.

  94. Ellen Terry’s Cottage, c. 1909. (Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, used under license.)

  Five

  A disdainful man looks after two retreating and dejected figures. Their swords lie upon the ground. He carries two others on his left shoulder, and a third sword is in his right hand, point to earth. He is the master in possession of the field.

  Divinatory meanings: Degradation, destruction, revocation, infamy, dishonour, loss, with the variants and analogues of these.

  Reversed: The same; burial and obsequies.

  These three figures have often been the subject of discussion, for they seem in a very definite but unstated relationship. Waite’s description does not add to any interpretation other than to suggest the figure holding the swords is the one in control. In one of Pamela’s earlier works, we perhaps can see these three figures, for they are the three pirates who live by the coast: Dare-and-Do, Catch-and-Kill, and Fear-and-Fly.

  Dare-and-Do is at the coastline, suffering the results of his recklessness, whilst Fear-and-Fly is gathering up the swords. Catch-and-Kill is always between the two, trying to curb the hastiness of the former and encourage the anxious cautiousness of the latter.

  These characters can add to a reading in giving three aspects of a situation we must master to avoid the misfortune implied in the card. When we are too cautious, too hasty, or too quick to try to serve others, we may meet misfortune. In the story illustrated by this piece, the three pirates end up as lowly servants for giants after a long tale of over-ambitious schemes.

  95. Dare-and-Do, Catch-and-Kill, and Fear-and-Fly from A Book of Friendly Giants, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, 1914. (Illustration courtesy of authors, private collection.)

  Four

  The effigy of a knight in the attitude of prayer, at full length upon his tomb.

  Divinatory meanings: Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit’s repose, exile, tomb and coffin. It is these last that have suggested the design.

  Reversed: Wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament.

  This card signifies a period of retreat, especially after conflict. It is the best action to take, it is a waiting time, but be alert until it is safe to return to the fray. Waite says of this card “vigilance” and “retreat.”

  Waite would have associated the “pax” in the stained glass window with the Rosicrucian salutation, Deus nobiscum, Pax profunda, “Peace profound, my Brethren: Immanuel, God is with us.” It is “like
the dead and forgotten Boulanger testifying from the tomb of his Deism.”135

  Pamela has taken inspiration from the tomb in Winchelsea Church, where the word “peace” (pax) is seen in the stained glass near the tomb—by the Mary/High Priestess figure.

  96. The Tomb at Winchelsea Church, photograph by authors.

  Three

  Three swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind.

  Divinatory meanings: Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally, being too simple and obvious to call for specific enumeration.

  Reversed: Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.

  97. Sola Busca 3 of Swords. (Wolfgang Mayer edition, issued by Giordano Berti, 1998.)

  This card signifies unrest and rebellion. This is a card that does not speak well of happy relations! A relationship split could occur and it will be brutal. It can signify a situation in a relationship that is difficult for a person to extricate themselves from easily; it the proverbial fix! A messy divorce with a third person involved could result.

  Two

  A hoodwinked female figure balances two swords upon her shoulders.

  Divinatory meanings: Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms; another reading gives tenderness, affection, intimacy. The suggestion of harmony and other favourable readings must be considered in a qualified manner, as Swords generally are not symbolical of beneficent forces in human affairs.

  Reversed: Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.

  As with the 3 of Swords, this card is one of being in a fix of one’s own making. This can be a situation where one is forced to conform to the will of another. This is a situation that cannot persist, for it will eventually be too much to bear. Waite says of this card and the suit of swords that they “are not usually symbolic of beneficent forces in human affairs.”

  98. Ellen Terry as Cordelia in King Lear, from Shakespeare’s Complete Works, intro. H. G. Bell (1899). (Photograph courtesy of authors, private collection.)

  Ace

  A hand issues from a cloud, grasping a sword, the point of which is encircled by a crown.

  Divinatory meanings: Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. It is a card of great force, in love as well as in hatred. The crown may carry a much higher significance than comes usually within the sphere of fortune-telling.

  Reversed: The same, but the results are disastrous; another account says conception, childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity.

  When looking at this sword and the original Golden Dawn description, we see that Waite and Smith are drawing on a magical ritual heritage in their Aces. The Golden Dawn describes this particular ace as “a white radiating Angelic Hand, issuing from clouds, and grasping the hilt of a Sword, which supports a white radiant celestial Crown from which depend, on the right, the olive branch of Peace, and on the left, the Palm branch of suffering. Six Vaus fall from its point.”136 This is developed from an illustration and text description by Éliphas Lévi, in presenting the formation and consecration of a magical sword in a chapter on the Chariot card in his Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum (published in 1896 but written by Lévi at an unknown earlier date). Lévi illustrates it with a hand issuing from a cloud grasping a sword.137

  Pamela has depicted the sword exactly as the Golden Dawn description, showing she had access to those descriptions in Book T. As we suspect, Waite passed on a scant version of Book T, which would have contained these descriptions as well as the main keywords for the minors. Perhaps after creating the Aces in a straightforward copy of the Golden Dawn descriptions, they decided the other minor cards should follow a “scenic” illustration model.

  Actually, Pamela has painted Yod characters rather than Vau characters on her Ace. This mutation of the original Golden Dawn descriptions seems haphazard; in the Ace of Cups, she replaces the Heh of the “Supernal Mother” described in Book T with the reversed “M” of Mary; in the Ace of Wands, the twenty-two “leaping flames or Yods” become eight falling leaves; and in the Ace of Pentacles, there are no “twelve rays” as described in Book T. It is the Ace of Wands (kabbalistically the first in the sequence of the cards) that bears the closest relationship to any Golden Dawn description, followed by the Ace of Swords—the second in sequence. We wonder if Pamela started the first card and perhaps the next two as part of what was originally intended as a straight version of the Golden Dawn Tarot.

  Whatever the secrets behind the design choice, the Ace of Swords shows the two-edged nature of invoked force compared to the natural force of the Ace of Wands. Lévi said that the Magus (the Charioteer as Hermes) had to learn to wield both the Swords and the wands; strength and wisdom. The sword can be most difficult; upright, it signifies a divine end—the crown of Kether on the Tree of Life; reversed, it is blind aggression, dominance, and power for their own sakes, devoid of reason.

  Reading tip: If the Ace of Swords appears in a spread, look at the card(s) to which it points. These may reveal the querent’s secret motivation with regard to the situation. If it points to many cards (e.g. at the bottom of a Celtic Cross), then the querent is confused and has many ambitions or desires. If it is reversed and at the bottom of a spread or not pointing to any other card, look above it to see what unconscious motivation is driving the situation, possibly to the querent’s ruin if it is not recognised.

  Conclusion

  Waite, whilst dismissive of the minor cards as mere fortune-telling, recognised the value of Pamela’s design and artistry in producing the scenes and characters that populated the cards. This elevated the pip cards to new possibilities beyond their original design as cartomantic tools. Waite wrote:

  When the pictures in the present case go beyond the conventional meanings they should be taken as hints of possible developments along the same lines; and this is one of the reasons why the pictorial devices here attached to the four denaries will prove a great help to intuition. The mere numerical powers and bare words of the meanings are insufficient by themselves; but the pictures are like doors which open into unexpected chambers, or like a turn in the open road with a wide prospect beyond.138

  [contents]

  Intermission:

  Q & A

  As we have unpacked the major and minor arcana of the deck, we provide now a brief intermission in the theatrical tradition before continuing our second act, which will look at the cards in more detail from a kabbalistic perspective and provide more in-depth reading methods.

  During our intermission, we offer you these twenty questions for your delight and education, with answers that will be provided in an after-show party section at the conclusion of this book. In some cases, there are no single “right” answers—the aim of these questions is to get you looking in more detail through the whole deck, and to think about the cards as a dramatic storytelling device full of interesting characters and scenes.

  See how many questions you can answer. You may require a Waite-Smith deck at hand.

  Q1: How many dogs are in the deck?

  Q2: How many angels or symbols of angels are in the deck?

  This is a trick question, so take care!

  Q3: How many birds (or bird motifs) are in the deck?

  Q4: Which two cards are blindfolded and which two cannot

  (or will not) see in front of them?

  Q5: Which cards have the best view?

  Q6: Who is happiest and who is saddest in the deck?

  Q7: Who is having the best of times and who is having the worst?

  Q8: Where do the salamanders live?

  Q9: Who works most for you and who works most against you?

  Q10: Out of the sixteen court cards, who is the most oracular?

  Q11: Which two cards together would be the most organised and which two would be the most chaotic whe
n put together?

  Q12: A decision-maker, a medium, and a hostage negotiator walk into a bar—which three cards are these?

  Q13: Which card would be the worst candidate for a job as air traffic controller?

  Q14: Which two cards keep a secret together?

  Q15: In an argument between Temperance and the Star, who would win and why?

  Q16: If you could invite five cards to a party, which would they be? This is an open question—we will provide an answer, but there is no wrong or right answer!

  Q17: Which card do you think came up as the most favourite when we asked hundreds of tarot card readers and which card do you think was the least favourite? Clue: they were both majors.

  Q18: If a secret order called the Skulls had created the deck, in which card(s) have they hidden their main symbol?

  Q19: Body posture—In which suit do two figures sit noticeably with their arms folded?

  Q20: You are hosting a party and two of the guests have brought along their pets. You check out the hallway and see a hare and a crocodile! Which couple has arrived?

  [contents]

  Seven

  The Kabbalah

  of the Minors

  If the Tree of the Sephiroth were delineated according to the

  true spirit of the Rosy Cross, it would appear as the Rose-Tree

  of the SHEKINAH, she being the Rose of all the Worlds.

  –A. E. Waite, “The Tarot and the Rosy Cross” in R. A. Gilbert (ed.),