Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot

by Marcus Katz

  Concerns: 7 of Wands

  In this position in the Celtic Cross, it draws attention to a perception of bullying and belittling, by words alone. As we have seen, the nature of Petruchio in the play is one of a callous character who seeks to control someone for their own sense of worth. When this card is appearing in the Concerns position, it shows that there is a recognition this could be the case in the querent’s life.

  Summary: 3 of Cups

  The 3 of Cups from Pamela’s perspective is about sisterhood and joining together to make a pledge to fulfil activities that mean so much to you. This could be to fight for social injustice and to dedicate yourself to spending your life being true to your ideals and values. The celebration of the triad “liberty, equality, fraternity.”

  [contents]

  Eleven

  Waite Reads the Tarot

  … if, for the purposes of the present review it were assumed that I—whose identity has been concealed for many years of occult life under the name of Grand Orient—hold any place or office in these Secret Temples, it must be obvious that I could not—supposing that I had even the wish—betray their mysteries.

  A. E. Waite, writing as “Grand Orient”

  Whilst being dismissive of mere fortune-telling reading, Waite offered several methods of reading the tarot, including the now commonly known and used Celtic Cross method. Whilst this method was neither Celtic nor particularly a cross, its inclusion in Key to the Tarot ensured its longevity. We have elsewhere published the very first known sketches of this spread, which was designed by a member of the Golden Dawn as a “non-secret” method.163 It was also a lot more convenient than the Opening of the Key method taught in the Inner Order, which required knowledge of the secret correspondences of astrology to tarot.

  As the Celtic Cross has been covered elsewhere—and on virtually every tarot site on the Internet—we will turn our attention to two methods given by Waite based on secret teachings. These teachings he could not reveal at the time but are now easily reconstructed since the teachings on which they are based (the Golden Dawn) have been made public over the last century.

  In preparing for a reading, Waite gave these guidelines, which you may like to adopt for the following methods:

  Before any reading, have a definite question, formulate it clearly, and say it out loud.

  Then blank your mind as much as possible whilst shuffling the cards.

  Do not hold any preconceived ideas or expectations for the reading.

  It is easier to divine for someone else—ideally a stranger, rather than a friend or oneself.

  We may disagree with a number of those points, or practice differently, but these are the ones suggested by Waite himself. Many readers, for example, recommend you keep the question in mind when shuffling.

  The Opening of the Secret Word

  A forgotten method of divination from Waite,

  writing as the Grand Orient

  Whilst Waite was writing as the Grand Orient, he was unable to divulge certain layouts of the major cards and signification of the minors. He wrote, “It is because the whole experiment constitutes an experiment in intuition and not a counsel of adeptship that, although the cards may be arranged after several manners, I have adopted the most simple mode” and “the long sequence of lesser cards does not enter into the scheme of the present operation … because they would involve the statement of certain facts in occult divination which have never been made public.”164

  The secret he was concealing appears to be that of the Golden Dawn method of reading tarot, the “Opening of the Key.” The use of the word “operation” for the method is the same term as used by the Golden Dawn, and the operation requires “several manners.” Similarly, the “long sequence” of minors requires the knowledge of their various correspondences (elemental, planetary, and zodiacal) to be counted and read, a “secret” of the Inner Order of the Golden Dawn.

  He therefore presents a simple version of this method, which we call here the “Opening of the Secret Word.” We have modified Waite’s sketchy description in the light of the Opening of the Key—which Waite was not able to divulge.

  The querent and reader (or Reader if the question is for oneself) must spend time in “recollection and silent prayer for guidance.” Waite himself says that there is no prescribed way of doing this, so we can perform this preparation in any personal manner. I might take a morning to work in the garden, or go for a walk, or listen to suitable music, for example. This preparatory time marks the reading as a divinatory ritual, rather than merely a reading.

  The question to be offered the cards must be placed into one of three categories; human prudence, the world of conformity, and the world of attainment. We can explain these in more contemporary terms as follows:

  Prudence Questions

  Marriage, money, ambition, career, travel, health, emergencies, etc.

  Conformity Questions

  Temptation, doctrine, religion, values, ethics, morals, charity, etc.

  Attainment Questions

  Spiritual consciousness, higher realms, mystical experience, rebirth, inward life.

  Basically, these are three planes: the material, the psychological, and spiritual. It is important to classify the question as the cards are given by Waite in different terms for each plane. We can eventually come to see that any question reflects in all three worlds; however, to begin learning this method, we should aim to categorise within one world.

  Take the Fool out of the deck. Consider this card a significator of your present situation and the quest to gain clarity, freedom, resolution, and enlightenment of the situation.

  Take the other twenty-one major cards out of the deck and place them with the Fool to create a small deck of the twenty-two majors.

  These twenty-two major arcana are then shuffled face down with consideration of the question. When you are ready, place them (still face down) and deal them from the top by turning each card up as you place it, each to the right of the first card, making a long line of twenty-two upright cards.

  If the Fool is at the start or end of the line, the oracle is silent at this time and you should return to ask again a following day. It may be that the situation has not yet developed enough to provide a meaningful response, or is about to conclude, so no answer is useful.

  Otherwise, locate the Fool in the line and note the position of this card. If it is towards the beginning of the line (left) then the situation still has a longer time to resolve, if it is closer to the end (right) the situation is coming to a swifter conclusion.

  We now read the cards to the right of the Fool in sequence, weaving their meaning into a logical or intuitive story, in the light of the question.

  The meanings of the cards depend on the plane of the question: prudence, conformity, or attainment. We give here the keywords provided by Waite, followed by several readings Waite has provided.

  I. World of Human Prudence

  The Juggler—Skill in any department within the sphere of the subject; subtlety; savoir faire; on the evil side, trickery; also occult practice, apart from the wisdom of adeptship.

  High Priestess—Mature generally and particularly also as regards her operations, including therefore the material side of generation and reproduction; fertility; change.

  Empress—The sphere of action; the feminine side of power, rule and authority; woman’s influence; physical beauty; woman’s reign; also the joy of life, and excesses on the evil side.

  Emperor—Logical understanding, experience, human wisdom; material power on the male side, and all involved thereby.

  Pope, or Hierophant—Aspiration, life, power of the keys; spiritual authority developed on the external side; temporal power of official religion; on the evil side, sacerdotal tyranny and interference.

  Lovers—Material union, affe
ction, desire, natural love, passion, harmony of things; contains also the notions of modus vivendi, concord and so forth; equilibrium.

  Chariot—Triumph of reason; success in natural things; the right prevailing; also predominance, conquest, and all external correspondences of these.

  Justice—Equilibrium on the mental side rather than the sensuous, for which see No. 6; under certain circumstances, law and its decisions; also occult science.

  Hermit—Caution, safety, protection; wisdom on the manifest side; and the isolation thereof; detachment; the way of prudence; sagacity; search after truth.

  Wheel of Fortune—Mutation, circumstances; revolution of things, vicissitude; time and its variable development; all that is understood by the external side of fortune.

  Fortitude, or Strength—Courage, vitality, tenacity of things, high endurance.

  Hanged Man—The symbol of renunciation, for whatever cause and with whatever motive.

  Death—Contains naturally the meaning implied by its name and illustrated by its pictorial symbol, but not only and not at all of necessity; transforming force, independent of human will; may signify destruction; power behind the world which alters the face of the world, but it is this power in one of its respects only.

  Temperance—New blood, combination, admixture, with the object of amelioration; providence in desirable change.

  Devil, or Typhon—Fatality, evil, the false spirit; can indicate also the good working through evil.

  Ruined Tower—Destruction, confusion, judgment; also the idea of Divine Wrath.

  Star—Light descending, hope; the symbol of immortality.

  Moon—Half-light, mutation, intellectual uncertainty, region of illusion; false-seeming.

  Sun—Full light, intellectual and material; the card of earthly happiness, but not attained individually.

  The Last Judgment—Resurrection; summons to new things; a change in the face of everything.

  The World—The glory thereof under the powers of the higher providence, the sum of manifest things; conclusion on any subject.

  II. World of Conformity

  The Juggler—The official side in religion, but containing the warrants thereof; also the arbitrary, mechanical side, and formalism.

  The High Priestess—The Church as an organism; the growth of the man therein; Church doctrine.

  The Empress—The sphere of Church action on the spiritual side; also desire and its wings; spiritual principle.

  The Emperor—Executive power of religion; its work in realization upon man; active mind of the Church; the Church as a power in the world and in the life of the individual.

  The Pope—Doctrine, and especially its admitted and orthodox side; the agreement of minds in faith; the teaching power.

  Lovers—Love of religion, union therewith, but on the external side; marriage of the Church and the natural heart; the power which draws from natural things; also grace which makes for conversion, but is not conversion itself.

  Chariot—Reason exalted in religion; victory of the moral faculties; apotheosis of the logical understanding in faith; first conquest of the natural man.

  Justice—The power which makes the best of both worlds; middle path; lesser salvation; balance between good and evil; goodness, but not raised above the sphere of temptation.

  Hermit—Asceticism, denial, detachment; the state attained by these; but also a light which enlighteneth; one who has isolated himself that in fine he may lead others; the principle which all this signifies.

  Wheel of Fortune—The sword and the crown; another symbol of equilibrium, in this case over the mutations of fortune; the angel of true life, the spirit of religion ruling over the flux of circumstance.

  Fortitude, or Strength—The conquest of Nature by those who can say with their heart and their will: Esto mihi turris fortitudinis; the soul overcoming.

  Hanged Man—Crucifixion and self-crucifixion; atonement.

  Death—Mortal sin; resurrection to the life of Grace, as an antitype—depending on the environment of the card.

  Temperance—The principle of sacramental life; the mixture of things Divine with things human, for the transmutation of the latter; the increase which Grace gives; in fine, this card is a symbol of the Eucharist, the entrance of the Divine into the nature of man.

  Devil, or Typhon—Rebellion; the spirit which denies; especially, false doctrine, which is the worship of Satan.

  Ruined Tower—The Fall, and here especially the fall from Grace; also judgment on sin; the ruin of the house of life, when evil has prevailed therein; but the symbolism is that of a Divine act or consequence, and the power which destroys the Temple of God can rebuild it in three mystical days.

  Star—Holy works—spiritual and corporal—poured upon the earth of humanity; also the gifts of the Spirit poured upon the earth of the individual; the soul manifesting by works.

  Moon—Sufficing Grace; the soul mourning over the sadness of material life and the lapse into matter.

  Sun—Lord of Glory; efficacious grace; spiritual joy; the life of holiness poured over the life of man.

  The Last Judgment—Separation of good from evil; summons to ascend; examination of conscience; resurrection in the soul.

  The World—The Law and State of Paradise; Shekinah; Divine Presence; the soul in the condition of attainment; end of religion in the individual, but this is not to be understood as Divine Union; it is more properly the state of Grace.

  III. World of Attainment

  The Juggler—That which must be overcome; the will in this connexion; the motive of this world.

  The High Priestess—Divine intuition; the holy soul, having the book of the Mysteries opened, and reading therein; the first form of personal illumination.

  The Empress—Higher soul of man; woman clothed with the sun; she who is born of aspiration, who comes in the signs of power and perfect rule; the soul that has attained wings.

  The Emperor—Lord on the higher planes; the fulfilment of the Great Work of spiritual adeptship; the victory over all things.

  Pope, or Hierophant—The life which leads to the Doctrine; the power which leads the individual into all truth; the priesthood that is within.

  Lovers—Spiritual marriage; the union of man with his soul; the state of conversion.

  Chariot—The triune man, having consciousness in his three worlds; the living symbol of the invisible God; he that overcometh.

  Justice—Higher grades of the narrow path; equilibrium on the spiritual side; greater salvation; the perfect life.

  Hermit—The secrets of the King; Divine Science; the light of the world within.

  Wheel of Fortune—Divine rapture; triumph over the circle of necessity; in this world, the wheel has ceased to revolve.

  Strength—The will to go forward; the world overcome; the fortitude of those who are established in God.

  Hanged Man—The path of choice; reversion of the natural man; he who has not loved his life even to the loss thereof; conquest of the fear of those who can kill the body.

  Death—Mystical death; the price of immortality; that which is entered with the will that there may be life evermore.

  Temperance—Immergence of the consciousness; realization of the Divine Immanence; super-added Grace.

  Devil, or Typhon—The last enemy; the demon of spiritual pride; the abyss opening; the spirit of Antichrist.

  Ruined Tower—The rending of the House of Doctrine in the heart of the individual; final impenitence.

  The Star—Life of life; descent of the Divine; waters of life freely.

  Moon—Spiritual fantasy.

  Sun—Plenary consciousness in God; the Spirit rules; God encompassing; Orient from on high.

  Judgment—The state of one
who says : Behold, I come quickly—that is, in answer to the call from the heights; resurrection in the complete man.

  The World—Unveiled mystery; term of research; redeemed Nature; Divine Consciousness; the Beatific Vision.

  Waite Reads Tarot

  Whilst obviously decrying simple fortune-telling, Waite does provide several examples (within his oaths of secrecy) that demonstrate how he read the cards in this regard. We can now reveal his method, which he had to keep secret at the time, although we have to first put his partial instructions back together with the original secret method—the Opening of the Key.

  In a reading for a young man who “inquires what light he can obtain as to his future course in this world,” Waite provides the cards as follows; 3, 4, 1, 17, 9, 14, 12, 15, 16, 8, 13, 10, 11, 19, 2, 5, 6, 7, 21, 20, 18. He notes that the cards 11 and 18 are upside-down, showing he used reversals.

  He takes an overview of the cards, noting first any interesting patterns or triplets (sets of three cards together). In this case, he sees the dominance of a woman’s influence (3: Empress) at the opening of the reading, and the triplicity of 21: The World, 20: Judgement, and 18: The Moon concluding it. Of this he says that the “whole subject” (the World) has change in its face, likely referring to the Moon. However, the original instructions appear either incorrect, partial, or a deliberate blind. We can now reconstruct the method Waite was using, as we know the Golden Dawn Opening of the Key method, of which this example is a cut-down version.

  Waite simply read every triplet, taking the centre card in the light of the two cards either side of it, along the line of the spread. This provides a reading of seven triplets, or seven main cards with a pair of cards supporting the meaning of each of those seven cards. If a card was reversed, it weakened the meaning of that card. This is again a cut-down version of the Golden Dawn system of “dignities,” where a card’s elemental or planetary correspondence gave extra weight one way or another to the cards it touched upon.