Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

by Sasha Graham

  Each would not hold in each so much,

  If ill-content on earth to part.

  Arthur Waite, Collected Poems

  The Eight of Swords is a frightening card to many who behold it. Imprisonment. A woman is blindfolded, marking intense interior life and the shamanic experience. She is bound at the seashore, marking the convergence of elemental threshold space. Her pointed feet hover above sand and water—she is disconnected from the earth and all worldly concerns. An oval prison of swords surrounds her. A turreted castle looms from distant cliffs as if the past slips away in the ocean mist. The woman appears to be held hostage. You could be imprisoned by a domineering relationship, family member, or even be a slave to your own tumultuous inner life. It suggests an oppressive religion or moral code where you feel as if you are unable to express your individuality. Perhaps a situation feels restrictive, the bills are piling up, you are faced with overwhelming confusion, or you feel like you have no good choices. Like the Three of Swords, the illustration leaves little to the imagination. A female figure is held captive in bondage and blindfold. The figure is held in dire straights. Or is she?

  An esoteric reading of this card, like Two of Swords, suggests the blindfold signifies transformation and initiation. This is a voluntary act. She is like the caterpillar in the cocoon transforming into the butterfly. The swords are not a prison but mark the boundaries of sacred ritual space. The woman sees with a new set of eyes when her blindfold is removed. A sexual interpretation of this card (aligning with the Devil card) marks a proclivity for S & M, bondage, power, and control. What do you gain when you relinquish all control?

  The eight swords in this card are magical in nature, like the Seven of Swords whose blades will not actually slice or the Two of Swords who are light as a feather. These eight swords stick up from the sand with little support. Magical realism inside any tarot deck can be used as a reminder of enchantment, glamour, and unseen forces at play in your life. No thing is actually as it seems. All of life is an interpretation, a story, like the tarot. One card carries

  infinite meanings; one day in your life, a thousand possibilities. A single experience has multiple interpretations.

  The esoteric title, “The Lord of Shortened Force,” suggests a quick jolt of energy like the ripping of a bandage. Waite comments upon this card in his article “The Tarot: A Wheel of Fortune,” where he states the card represents “disquietude, conflict, crisis, sometime fatality,” yet he refers to the Masonic ritual of initiation, using the word “hoodwinked” in The Pictorial Key. He also supports the initiator aspects by saying that “it is rather a card of temporary durance than of irretrievable bondage.” This suggests whatever the issue at hand, its effects will soon be over. It reminds you to be patient, and soon enough the situation will turn to your advantage.

  Waite’s Divinatory Meanings: Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny; also sickness.

  Reversed: Disquiet, difficulty, opposition, accident, treachery; what is unforeseen; fatality.

  Nine of Swords

  Lord of Despair and Cruelty—Mars in Gemini

  It shows you that life’s scheme

  Has more of omen, sign and dream

  Than enter into the hearts of those

  Who cannot the inner eyes unclose.

  Arthur Waite, Collected Poems

  The Nine of Swords is a card of intense despair, a dark night of the soul. It reflects perpetual slavery to the thoughts running rampant circles in the head. You feel powerless to stop. Falling deeper into darkness, wide awake at 3:30 a.m. with an alarm set for 6:30 a.m., you beat yourself up, chide yourself, second-guess yourself, hyper focus on passive-aggressive situations, and lose sleep. This card signifies insomnia, nightmares, and depression. It also reflects an individual who is holding themselves to impossible standards. When the Nine of Swords appears in a reading, it reminds us to treat ourselves with kindness and compassion instead of judgment and criticism.

  A nightmare of epic proportion envelops the imperiled woman who sits up in bed. Her head rests in her two hands. Nine stacked swords rise above her in darkness. Her hair is as white as a sheet. A colorful quilt covers her legs. A scene is carved onto her simple wooden bed. Swords are the scariest suit of the deck because they reflect the mind. They reflect internal dialogue. We often speak to ourselves in ways we would never speak to another.

  Pamela includes many hidden treasures inside the card. The woman’s white hair is a symbol of stress, although the idea of hair turning white from fright is a myth. It is impossible to lose pigment from hair once it leaves the scalp. Interestingly, there is a condition due to extreme stress where pigmented hair (brown, red, blond) falls out, leaving only gray hair behind. This gives the appearance of a head gone white with fright.

  Nine swords on the wall offer an exit, a ladder of sorts. Will it offer a magical escape or slice her feet and hands to shreds? The bed, a symbol of rest and regeneration, has become the holding place of despair. The relief carved onto her bed shows two figures between two trees, each representing a pillar on the Tree of Life. The figure on the right holds a sword above his head and is about to strike the other figure down. The other figure falls back, vulnerable and unable to defend themselves. The carving reflects the woman’s state of mind.

  The blanket is embroidered with forty-two squares. Twenty-one of the squares bear the red rose of Rosicrucianism. The other half bear a random scattering of zodiac and planetary symbols. Moving across as one would read a book, from left to right, the symbols are Mars, Taurus, Cancer, Pisces, Gemini, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Moon, Saturn, Aries, Saturn, Sagittarius, Leo, Mars, Aquarius (partial), Mercury, Sun, Gemini, Libra, Jupiter, Pisces, and Taurus (partially concealed).

  In The Pictorial Key Waite claims she is “seated on her couch in lamentation,” which is a strange statement. The woman obviously sits in a bed. It reflects Waite’s disconnect with Pamela’s image and supports the theory Pamela was given free rein to design her groundbreaking minor arcana images. Waite’s description of “utter desolation” falls in line with the card as outlined by the Book T, which states it is the card of “pitilessness, malice, suffering.” In his article “The Tarot: A Wheel of Fortune,” Waite suggests it “should be compared to the former [Eight of Swords]; it is the card of disappointment, well illustrated by the picture.”

  The reader should note the use of temporary blindness suggested by the figure, who blocks out her own eyes. This figure, like the Eight of Swords and the Two of Swords behind her, is completely in the realm of her very own mind. This action provokes great pain and distress. It is likely that if she were to hop out of bed and gaze up at the night sky, she would quickly realize her place in the scale of the universe. Life is dramatic. The ego loves to be placed in the center of all things. It results in stories and impressions that are often untrue. We torture ourselves with projected possibilities that never unfold. The card reminds us that in a moment of pain or duress, we should take a deep breath and open our eyes. Become grounded in the moment and release everything we have no control over. In the end, you can only control yourself and your reaction to life’s ups and downs.

  Waite’s Divinatory Meanings: Death, failure, miscarriage, delay, deception, disappointment, despair.

  Reversed: Imprisonment, suspicion, doubt, reasonable fear, shame.

  Ten of Swords

  Lord of Ruin—Sun in Gemini

  How will it come to us, that great day? What will the dawn disclose?

  Past veils expended, all omens ended, what truth at the heart of those?

  Arthur Waite, Collected Poems

  A golden dawn pushes up against an inky night sky and gray clouds. A man lies on the

  ground near the threshold of the beach. A mountain range is in the far distance. Ten silver swords pierce his spine, neck, and face. Blood streams from his head. His right hand makes a strange, secret g
esture with his fingers and thumb. The bloody nature of the Ten of Swords often inspires fear in the viewer. The card, however, is not as dark as one might imagine. Tens suggest the ending of cycles and stories. The last act. A hushed theater a moment before the curtain falls. The situation at hand is over, whether it reflects pleasure or pain.

  Swords represent the mind. The Ten of Swords appears when the mind is made up, finished calculating the situation, and becomes unchangeable. In many ways, this card also reflects things we cannot change about other people. It stands for the actions, opinions, and morals of others, yet the suit of swords is a reminder of the power of the individual mind; we are free every second to choose our thoughts. We can change how we approach the task at hand or way we react to unalterable events even if events or other people can’t be altered. The ten swords additionally suggest acupuncture, concentrated chakra work, spinal issues, and themes of physical support.

  The yellow dawn breaking above the mountains is an obvious reference to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It references the continuation of a cycle that is implied in the Death card. In this sense it is the fresh possibility appearing once a conclusion is drawn. It is a very fresh start and the dawning of a new reality. The alarm rings. Daybreak rips away the evening’s magic when you’ve been out all night long.

  The esoteric title is “Lord of Ruin,” and Pamela is explicit in her illustration. The card appears as the ending of a Shakespearian revenge play, a sub genre where violent murder, cannibalism, and spectacle is on display. The scarlet fabric in place of blood is a popular stage device. Red ribbons and fabrics are onstage blood symbols used in place of stage blood in violent theatrical

  finales. The ritualistic use of blood makes it a symbol of the life force. The card looks to be inspired by that Sola Busca Ten of Swords, which is directly referenced by the Ten of Wands.

  The figure makes a hand gesture matching the Hierophant’s sign of benediction or blessing. The hand blessing appears on Christ depictions in early Byzantine art. The benediction is formed with the right hand and with the last two fingers curled down. Gemini also rules the hands. A subversive reading of this image suggests that the speared figure is the Hierophant. This reading implies that the old religions are dead and irrelevant. The old ways are dying. The slain Hierophant makes way for the new order of the Golden Dawn rising above him. It also implies that in life and death we are blessed. However, the hand gesture can only be made with active muscular control. Ultimately, it suggests the figure is not dead. It serves as a reminder that everything in tarot is symbolic and metaphorical.

  Waite defines the card in a single sentence: “A prostrate (means lying flat) figure, pierced by all the Swords belonging to the card.” In his divinatory meanings, Waite says the reader is free to take meaning from the image, “whatsoever is intimated by the design,” but also that “it is not especially a card of violent death.” An additional clue lies in his reversed meaning, which states that “none of these are permanent.” At last we see that the Ten of Swords reflects the ephemeral nature of life—that nothing lasts. Nothing is forever except the soul or spirit.

  Waite’s Divinatory Meanings: Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of violent death.

  Reversed: Advantage, profit, success, favour, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority.

  Ace of Pentacles

  Kether in Assiah—Root of the Powers of Earth

  Then suddenly out of the land withdrew,

  The savor, the music, the scent, the hue.

  Arthur Waite, Collected Poems

  The Ace of Pentacles sits in an open palm as a gift, specifically the gift of money or inheritance. The Ace of Pentacles reflects the miracle of physical manifestation in the material realm. The garden is the perfected world of cosmic harmony and design. It carries the power of the sun and all its life-giving essence. In this way the card is a reminder of all the natural power already in your possession; a reminder of generative power, of how things blossom and grow. It also reiterates natural states and rhythms of the world. The Ace of Pentacles is the daisy growing through concrete. The Ace of Pentacles asks you what might blossom and bloom if you do not block the sunlight.

  A rich and lush garden heralds the element of earth. A yellow pentacle, saturated with the golden nature of solar light, inspires all living things to grow. A pentagram or five-pointed star is drawn inside the double circle. The pentagram is an ancient symbol dating back to 3100 BCE, where it was found on a jar in Thebes, Egypt. Pentagrams were also found on tablets and vases in Mesopotamia during the same time period. Interestingly, in Egyptian hieroglyphs a pentagram enclosed by a circle represented the world of the dead. The RWS pentagram represents the opposite. The pentacle is the very building block of life.

  Pentacles symbolically reflect the material world. The pentacle is the circle, the same shape of everything the material world consists of. It is a suitable symbol to reflect those things we can see, feel, and touch. The pentacle is the shape of the sun, the center of our solar system. It reflects the shape of each planet and moon revolving inside the solar system. The pentacle is the shape of the earth. It is the shape of human eyes. It is the shape of coins, human currency, and the original suit in older tarot decks. It is the shape of human molecules. This reminds us when we study something small, we are also examining something quite large. Pentacles are the building blocks of life and all things in the material world.

  A gate leads out from the garden and into the world at large. The gate is covered with ivy and flowers. It is the threshold and passage of one plane of reality into another. The safety of the garden is left behind in lieu of adventure and the thrill of the open road. It is the true gate of manifestation—a path upon which all things are possible. What begins as a thought in the mind becomes real in the material world. An idea comes to fruition, a path is revealed, a possibility is encouraged.

  Pamela departs from the Book T’s description of the Ace of Pentacles entirely, while the other three aces closely follow Mathers’s script. The same white, angelic hand glows with radiance and is exemplified by white spikes. The palm is receptive. It is open like the feminine elements of earth (pentacles) and water (cups). The pentacle rests gently in the palm. This can be viewed in opposition to the masculine elemental suits, where the palms tightly grip the wand (fire) and sword (air).

  Waite’s Divinatory Meanings: Perfect contentment, felicity, ecstasy; also speedy intelligence; gold.

  Reversed: The evil side of wealth, bad intelligence; also great riches. In any case it shews prosperity, comfortable material conditions, but whether these are of advantage to the possessor will depend on whether the card is reversed or not.

  Two of Pentacles

  Lord of Harmonious Change—Jupiter in Capricorn—Stage Card

  When in the higher moments of the soul,

  Ascending from divided things,

  Almost it seems to snatch the whole,

  Of that which nature sings.

  Arthur Waite, Collected Poems

  The light-footed Two of Pentacles is the card of making a choice and weighing dual options. The figure literally and figuratively juggles responsibilities and life decisions. Rolling waves behind the figure echo the up-and-down nature of options, choices, and outcomes. The gentle nature of the card and the character’s dance indicates the nature of the choice is pleasant. The Two of Pentacles, which can be understood as a lesser Temperance card, has the uncanny ability to appear in spreads and situations where important choices are being made. This includes serious matters of the heart, home, and finance.

  The minor arcana cards numbered two, all connecting to the High Priestess, stand as a reminder of the duality in any situation you encounter. It reminds us there is always another side to the story. Nothing is as cut-and-dried as it seems. The Two of Pentacles additionally spea
ks to how you can manipulate things in the physical world, not in a negative way but by setting yourself up for success. It extends to everything seen, felt, and touched. How do I cultivate peace between people? What physical actions can I take? What monetary or financial choices am I facing? How are things dividing and multiplying in my life? What patterns have I set in motion? What would happen if I stepped aside? How can I rearrange elements in my life so authentic growth occurs naturally and easily?

  Waite tells us, “A young man, in the act of dancing, has a pentacle in either hand, and they are joined by that endless cord which is like the number 8 reversed.” Waite withholds valuable esoteric information when he neglects to inform his readers the sideways eight is a lemniscate, the symbol reflecting the nature of infinity. This symbol also appears above the Magician’s head, thus placing a connective thread between the two cards. The Magician is traditionally called the Juggler in historic decks, adding an additional connection between the two cards. The posture and directional line of energy between the Magician and Two of Pentacles juggler

  match up. They both siphon energy from the sky and draw it downward and to the right. It is the ease of natural flow.

  Pamela places two tall ships traversing undulating ocean waves behind the juggler. In doing so, Pamela offers us a clever double duality. The ships are the physical manifestation of pentacles. The water, like the lemniscate, reflects the energetic and changeable quality of life. Like a wave, what goes up must come down. As with tidal cycles, what retreats will always return. The ship’s portents and symbolic nature contain further meaning. In 1909 the only mode of traveling overseas was via steamship. Commercial air travel was nonexistent. The Rider-Waite-Smith deck was published six years after the Wright Brothers made flight history at Kitty Hawk. Travelers crossed the Atlantic on steamships. Pamela’s own name appears on multiple steamship passenger lists between the United States and Europe. She made dozens of crossings. Steamship travel took anywhere from four days to a week. Traveling by sea, the friendships, socializing, and experience gave passengers a strong sense of the symbolism and lessons learned only by direct contact with wild weather and ocean waters.