by Marcus Katz
As you fall asleep, repeat the key phrase of the appropriate lunar phase, i.e., “Tremble Into Stillness,” whilst allowing the card image to become larger in your imagination.
As the image surrounds you, imagine you are “losing your edges” and merging with the landscape and figures of the card. In modern terms, pixellate yourself into the image’s pixels.
Imagine now that the phrase is turning into a sound, and the sound becomes music.
Allow yourself to sink into the landscape of the card and the music as you sink into sleep.
Repeat this for three nights, and then use the next card in the sequence.
After performing this exercise for all eight cards through a full lunar circle, note any dreams or feelings this exercise has evoked or any reactions you have to the cards or key phrases. You may feel like creating something such as a piece of writing or poetry. There is no particular outcome for this exercise; it is used to generate intuitive and instinctive emotional responses to the cards divined according to poetry.
Reading the Cabinet Cards
The creation of the Waite-Smith tarot was in part a collaborative effort, although one very different from that same effort undertaken by Frieda Harris and Aleister Crowley some years later in the design and execution of the Thoth tarot deck. In the latter case, it was a five-year project, and there are extant records of communication between the two. It shows clearly that Harris often felt that she was channelling the energies of the cards, and although some of her work did not meet Crowley’s approval and was redesigned, much of it was incorporated.
Similarly, Harris, as a student of Crowley’s work and other esoteric currents such as Theosophy, was able to work with Crowley in manifesting his vision. In the case of the Waite-Smith Tarot, it was a five-month project with little known communication between the two parties, the artist had little in-depth knowledge of the esoteric minutiae, and the designer had no time at all to request revisions before the deck went straight to print.
Pamela was unlike Frieda Harris in her design of the cards. She had no time (nor had been given enough income) to spend five years creating a masterpiece of projective geometry. In fact, as a trailblazer of “scenically illustrated Minors,” she did not even have the luxury of revising her work, so was not particularly consistent in her designs. There is no pattern, for example, that we can really discern, as to a key design feature; the “stage line” in some of the cards. In other cases, such as the kings all having thrones, etc., there is consistency of design.
We believe Pamela created the images on the cards as she saw them and did not constrain them by sticking to technicalities. The world she drew upon and projected was the world she knew best: theatre, drama, stage design, and costume.
Costume and Symbolism
The Lyceum Theatre was not just Edy Craig’s school—it was also Pamela’s. It was here that she would have learnt from Irving that every costume choice could serve to denote character. An example of this in the card imagery is the World, and the use of the scarf. Even such a simple item can carry dramatic weight; a scarf that Edy made under Irving’s tutorship for Shylock in a Merchant of Venice production was to be “a rich, flaunting scarf … a scarf covered with all my jewels … a touch of imagination all bright.” It was “thus Irving used costume as an element in the interpretation of a character, the smallest details symbolising the character’s outlooks and values.”156
The most consistent design ethos is that of the cabinet cards that were popular at the time Pamela was growing up in the theatrical world. These cards were in part a merchandise spin-off from the world of theatre, although everyday people also had their portraits taken in this style.
112. A Cabinet Card. (Courtesy of authors, private collection.)
They depicted theatrical figures and got their name from the Victorian cabinets they would adorn. These cards became very popular in the 1860s and onwards until their decline in the 1890s. If we compare the general layout of a cabinet card to the Waite-Smith tarot cards, we can see that Pamela had returned to her roots in their composition.
The composition of the theatre cabinet cards consisted of the following components:
Character and costume;
Props (usually one significant prop to establish the scene);
Backdrop/scenery (often including a wall or other divider to give a sense of perspective); and
Dramatic scene or quote.
If we look at Pamela’s cards we can see how the images are composed in a similar way. Let us take as an example the 6 of Cups:
Character(s): Three characters are depicted in the scene: two young people (male and female), and a man, exiting stage left.
Prop(s): Six cups containing flowers, and perhaps the pike or spear the man is carrying.
Backdrop/scenery: The courtyard of a country house and tower, with perspective being given by a stone stairway and plinth.
Action: A soldier or watchman is walking away. One figure is giving the other flowers.
We can use these four components to read the card as Pamela constructed it—as a theatrical cabinet card. In this particular card, taking those four elements, we gain an overall theme of sentiment and affection, played out in the absence of a significant male figure. This provides an interesting reading of the card and one that may not have been obvious looking at it in other ways.
In reading a spread, we can separate and compare or contrast these four elements to gain unique and profound interpretations, as we are tapping into the “secret” construction of the cards. Here is a simple three-card spread with the positions past, present, and future, left to right.
We shuffle the deck and select three cards: 2 of Pentacles, 9 of Cups, 6 of Swords.
In no particular order of the four components, we first take a look at the backdrop element of the three cards, and see:
A turbulent ocean.
Nine cups on display.
A shoreline.
We can then interpret these three different backgrounds as the background to the situation as it moved from the past into the present, and as it is likely to move into the future. It is like watching a three-act play with scene changes.
113. 2 of Pentacles, 9 of Cups, 6 of Swords. Reprinted with permission of U.S. Games Systems.
In this case, the backdrop elements show how the situation has progressed from a turbulent emotional state (1) to one with clearer boundaries (3)—due to exercising and displaying emotional restraint (2). The waves have been contained within the cups, leading to a destination that is more clearly defined.
We can then take a look at the props to see how this situation might come about:
A mobius strip that contains the pentacles;
A bench; and
A boat and a pole.
Reading this in sequence, concentrating only on the props, we see that in the past was the 2 of Pentacles—juggling security and no progress. In the present is the 9 of Pentacles, where we have secured stability (the bench). In the future we see in the 6 of Swords a boat and a means of moving it, so the situation is likely to move on.
We can imagine this as having wheels but no transport, so stopping to rest on the bench, and then turning the bench into a boat and moving on. It tells us that the time for resting is over, and we have the resources now so there is no excuse to “spin our wheels” and we have to move on under our own direction.
We can now take a look at the characters in the three cards:
A mercurial figure dancing and juggling. [False Mercury]
A self-satisfied merchant character. [Falstaff]
A man ferrying a woman and child.
We interpret these in more detail, especially if we now knew the question being asked was, for example, “After my recent divorce, should I be looking to date sooner or later?” In the fir
st card, we see a false messenger, so that does not bode well for immediate dating, and the second character on the scene is also somewhat self-satisfied and complacent. In the third we see someone willing to take us places. So our overall reading is that after a false start and perhaps another person who may prove too self-centred, the querent will meet someone willing to invest in the relationship. However, it will certainly require distance to be travelled, from the third card.
And finally we turn our attention to the drama playing out in each scene to get an overall summary of the reading. We would expect this to match our reading of the other three components. Sometimes when reading in this way, we cast new light on the other elements when we read a particular element. The appearance of a particular prop in one card can give a new perspective to the characters’ motivations in the other cards, for example. This way of reading is of course similar to deconstructing your favourite TV series; when we see the glass eye throughout several episodes of Breaking Bad, for example, it is not until a scene later that we realise its source, which in turn comes from the interaction of the characters.
In these three cards, we could see the drama unfolding as follows:
A ship battling the waves of a storm.
A merchant displaying his products and showing his ownership.
A family being transported to a better place.
These three scenes provide us a good summary of what has been discerned in the previous stages of the reading; the woman has come through an emotional storm but was not shipwrecked by it, and is now ready to start opening herself to others. This will result in her family being taken in a new direction so long as she keeps her boundaries—the “ownership” implied by the second card.
In considering the cards as cabinet cards, we are able to reverse-engineer the design principle that Pamela used in drafting these images so quickly, and from her existing knowledge and background. This allows us further to read the cards using the layers that Pamela provided us in their design.
A Note on Four Worlds: Advanced students or those readers familiar with our other works will be able to compare these four layers to the four worlds of interpretation in Kabbalah.
Character(s): The world of Atziluth, the secret and core interpretation.
Backdrop/scenery: The world of Briah, the extended interpretation of the card.
Prop(s): The world of Yetzirah, the symbolic interpretation of the card.
Action: The world of Assiah, the literal interpretation of the card.
Stage Directions
In this section, we will use the design of the cards as a collage to create theatrical scenes. We can perhaps imagine Pamela cutting out the figures of the cards and moving the characters around in a toy theatre—all the while telling us a story of their drama.
This ability to weave the cards together will help bring your readings to life. In fact, one of Waite’s colleagues, the author Charles Williams, wrote of such a living tarot deck in The Greater Trumps:
It was a table made of some sort of strange wood … upon that plate of gold were a number of little figures, each about three inches high, also of gold, it seemed, very wonderfully wrought … the figures might have seemed like those in a game; only there were many of them, and they were all in movement. Gently and continuously they went, immingling, unresting—as if to some complicated measure, and as if of their own volition … He saw among them those who bore the coins, and those who held swords or staffs or cups; and among those he searched for the shapes of the Greater Trumps, and one by one his eyes found them … 157
In the absence of a Star Wars-type holographic table on which our cards can mingle, let us imagine how we could create a stage version of several cards in a five-card reading. The more exaggerated you create this exercise, the more it will make your readings flexible in real life.
Let us consider how each card might contain elements of stage design and management, with a few rules:
Any card with movement will carry an ENTER or EXIT stage direction.
Any static character will contain a SCENE OPENS (or CHANGES) instruction.
Any major card will bring LIGHTING and/or MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS.
We will give as an example a five-card reading, with no fixed meanings for the positions for the cards:
10 of Swords, Devil (XV), 8 of Cups, Empress (III), Knight of Swords
114. 10 of Swords, Devil (XV), 8 of Cups, Empress (III), Knight of Swords.
Reprinted with permission of U.S. Games Systems.
Here is our interpretation using the cards as stage directions:
SCENE OPENS
(10 of Swords)
A murder has occurred. A man lies prone by the shoreline; ten swords spear him to the ground.
There is a BACKDROP of storm clouds.
[Devil] CUE DIRGE MUSIC. There is something sinister going on!
CUE LIGHTING. The stage lighting is dimmed.
CUE SPOTLIGHT. The Devil appears where he has been sat in the shadows with two consorts. He is crouched upon a plinth from where his two consorts are chained. A woman and a man, but they have faun-like horns and tails of grapes and flames.
ENTER STAGE LEFT: A cloaked man trudges onto the stage, staff in hand; he does not look back.
BACKDROP of mountains and sky out of darkness lit by appearing lunar eclipse.
The man walks by the corpse, seeming not to notice the Devil, and exits STAGE RIGHT.
CUE SCENE CHANGE.
BACKDROP: A cornfield, a beautiful, flaxen-haired young maiden bedecked with a crown of stars sits upon a throne where the Devil was previously sat.
CUE MUSIC: Debussy, Girl with the Flaxen Hair.
The man with staff walks into the scene, entering STAGE LEFT.
CUE SOUND EFFECT: Battle FANFARE.
ENTER STAGE RIGHT: A young knight riding a white steed arrives in fast flight. He brandishes a sword.
BACKDROP: Scudding white clouds.
When we create these directions as a journal exercise, in a group, or in our imagination, we gain insight into the cards and their dynamics. We also gain a sense of their action and influence upon each other and in our daily lives. Until we wrote this sketch, we were not aware of just how often the Devil card is already sitting in the background of a situation. When the card turns up in our future readings, we will be more aware that his influence is likely to already be present, although hidden in the shadows. Perhaps we will look for a spotlight card (the Sun, the lamp of the Hermit, etc.) in the reading to show how we can undercover his evil influence.
We can now add dialogue into the dramatic presentation as well as stage directions. We imagine that the young knight and the man with the staff will meet in front of the Empress. Let us imagine for a moment what they might say:
KNIGHT: I bring news, my lady, from the realms.
EMPRESS: Speak, O Knight.
KNIGHT: Much is changing, O Queen, and it is happening quickly.
MAN: I have walked from the coast and I have not seen these changes. All is as it ever was.
EMPRESS: Then I charge you to accompany my knight and be his eyes whilst he rides out. You will see what is changing in my realm and I will bestow my blessing upon you.
In this brief dialogue, we begin to see more deeply how the Empress card, a major, is naturally more powerful than the court cards or minors. Similarly, we see how the court cards act as the messengers in the deck, connecting events together—as people, aspects of oneself, or energies within a situation. We also see how two cards can work together to best advantage; the Knight card here provides more energy to the 8 of Cups, and the 8 of Cups can bring insight that the rapid Knight will miss in his travels.
If these cards came up in a reading, for example, about a potential move of house, we can now see that the Empress will provide protection to the move, assuring
it goes smoothly. The Knight will bring changes, but must be balanced with the slower, more cautious, and pessimistic 8 of Cups. It could be summed up as “plan for the best but prepare for the worst” to achieve your goal.
Summary
The Waite-Smith deck was conceived as a kaleidoscopic theatre set with characters, scenes, and events that could be arranged in almost infinite variation.158 In playing with the deck as a dramatic device, we tap into this intention and not only bring the cards to life, but also invigorate daily life, where we are all “actors on a stage.”
Stagecraft: Bringing the Cards to Life
In this exercise, we will take advantage of the cards as set designs and dramatic scenes. This is good to do as an individual and great fun as a group game. Whilst the Waite-Smith cards were originally designed with the theatre as the dramatic venue of the time, we have updated it to the cinema and movies with contemporary genres.
Solo Version: Scriptwriting
Separate the cards into three piles: sixteen court cards, twenty-two majors, and forty minors. Select one to four court cards (start with one as a beginner) for your characters. Consider how these characters might act, what their motivations might be in a scene. Then select one minor card to suggest a scenario. For example, for the 4 of Swords, the scenario or situation could be a rehab facility; another example would be the 8 of Wands—suggesting a flight movie, either literally as a movie about airplanes or symbolically as a prison break/escape.
Once you have selected the situation, this may also suggest good names for your court cards. If the Queen of Pentacles was our single character, and we pulled the 8 of Wands for our scenario, she could be “Margo Harris,” a motherly flight attendant aboard Flight 888.
Draw a major card for the script’s theme. If it was the Tower, of course it would be an airplane disaster movie, although the Star card would make Flight 888 a futuristic flight; perhaps Margo is onboard the world’s first commercial flight to another planet!
