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

by Sasha Graham

  Avoid any question beginning with “why” or “when.” Asking a question like “When will I fall in love?” is one of the worst sorts of questions because it causes your brain to cave in. It leaves no room for the brain to explore and discover a satisfying answer that will set you on the path for receiving or obtaining what you want.

  Thoughtful questions acknowledge the personal power you possess over your future actions. They put your brain in the driver’s seat. Powerful questions often begin with the words “what” or “how.” They set you up for an answer you can take action on. They actually trick your brain into productivity. Instead of asking “When will I fall in love?” ask “How can I cultivate an amazing romantic relationship?” The answer you glean from a tarot card will tell you how you can cultivate it.

  Thoughtful Question Construction

  1. Acknowledge the role you play in your future.

  2. State your desired outcome in the question.

  3. Construct the question.

  4. Ask the question every day until your desire, idea, or passion is satiated.

  Example

  Holly is a casting director who is generally happy in her life, love, and career. However, she feels creatively stymied. While she enjoys her job, loves the talented actors who walk through her door, and enjoys her success, she has risen as far as she can go in her profession. She feels something is lacking. She knows there is something else that will make her happy and deeply satisfy her in a creative way. Perhaps it is a new job or maybe a hobby. She considers moving to a new city. She honestly doesn’t know what it is that is missing, but she is aware something is lacking. Holly’s life is filled to the brim with a super busy schedule. She has little time to explore creative options. She decides to create a thoughtful question for her tarot cards. She makes it a point to ask her question every day over her morning tea. She knows once she creates a thoughtful question and spends a few minutes daily with her question that her deck will eventually reveal her path.

  Holly understands she plays a direct role in her future. She deliberates over how to state her desired outcome by listing what she wants on a sheet of paper. Holly is aware of three specific things she desires: (1) she seeks creative fulfillment; (2) she desires a lifestyle affording plenty of time for her to enjoy her passions; and (3) Holly wants to give back to others through her work and make a real difference in people’s lives.

  Holly constructs her question: “How can I fulfill myself creatively while having more than enough money for an enjoyable lifestyle and, in the process, give back to others?” She is off and running, and she receives her answer faster than she ever imagines.

  It is human nature to repeat patterns. Nature’s patterns repeat, habits repeat, lessons repeat, and our questions repeat. A tarot practice teaches us the value of repetition as we greet cards again and again. Tarot’s structure repeats as the Fool makes his run from the Magician to the World only to cycle through and begin again. He runs from the ace to the ten and back again for another loop. He never slows, never stops. He repeats and repeats ad infinitum.

  If you want something new, if you want to change something, if you want to create a new possibility, repeat your questions until they are answered. Ask your questions every day at the same time because repetition is helpful. Ask your questions over coffee, in the shower, when you turn on your car. Ask your tarot deck every day. Ask these questions as if your life depends on it because, honestly, it does.

  How you form your questions is the most important part of the practice. Why? Because the question is what organizes the mind. A good question tricks your mind into finding the best answer. Once a question is unrolled, it is the nature of the supercomputer brain inside our heads to figure out the answer.

  Reversals

  Reversals are the name for cards appearing upside down. Readers should develop the habit of flipping cards from the top of their deck as if flipping the pages of a book: from left to right. It doesn’t matter how the reader shuffles. If and when they decide to read reversals, the reader will know for sure if the card is reversed.

  Reversals may be used in any number of ways:

  Ignored: The reader should ignore a reversal when they are first learning to read the cards. The reader is never required to read a reversed card as a reversal. In fact, many readers ignore reversed cards altogether. This is especially advisable when a reader is first learning the cards, especially if they find reversals confusing.

  Opposite Meaning: Traditional divination says to read a card’s opposite meaning if it appears reversed. Waite’s own divinatory reversals hold close to this idea. Oppositional meaning tends to become inadvertently moralistic. If the reader considers any card “good,” they may be tempted to read its reversal as “bad.” Life is simply not that cut-and-dried. Naming an experience good or bad before it is explored will shut down possibility, especially in a reading. Better to read reversals with subtle nuance or not at all.

  Blocked Energy: Often a reversal can mean the essence of the card is blocked. In this case, decide on a course of action that will set the energy free.

  Cards Requiring Extra Attention: Reversals, especially in spreads containing a large number of cards, can become part of the pattern of the spread. They can scream out to the reader, “Hey, look at me!”

  How to Become the Best Possible Reader

  Practice, practice, practice!

  Pamela Colman Smith’s Stage Cards

  The Rider-Waite-Smith deck contains a beguiling mystery. Pamela created fifteen cards in the deck holding unique attributes. These thirteen cards stand out from the remaining sixty-five cards she designed because each card is drawn as if the characters are standing upon a stage. These are called “stage cards.” The characters stand on smooth flooring, indicative of a stage. A flat, scrim-like backdrop appears with a painted scene. Each stage card bears a double horizontal line marking the spot where scrim meets stage.

  Stage cards include:

  Two of Swords

  Five of Swords

  Seven of Swords

  Four of Wands

  Nine of Wands

  Ten of Wands

  Two of Cups

  Five of Cups

  Eight of Cups

  Ten of Cups

  Page of Cups

  Two of Pentacles

  Four of Pentacles

  Six of Pentacles

  Eight of Pentacles

  Pamela had a professional background and deep love for the theater. Her tarot cards clearly are inspired by the characters and sets of her prized miniature theater. Pamela’s theater and costume design experience fostered a deck that could be as universally used and loved as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Each reader can place herself in the context of each card. Pamela’s illustrations provide ample space for universality and personal projection.

  It’s not curious or surprising that Pamela crafted stage cards. The looming question is why only fifteen? Did Pamela begin with designing these cards and then switch midway? Why four pentacles, three wands, three cups, and three swords? Why a single court card? The numbers do not match. Numerologically they do not add up to any spectacular result.

  It is conceivable that as Pamela began illustrating the minor arcana, she began to sketch each card as appearing on her miniature stage. Indeed, three of the stage cards are numbered two. She may have switched her style and wished to construct fluid cards in entire environments without the impediment of staging. The eloquent Six of Swords with boatman, river, and passengers or quiet Eight of Cups would have suffered terribly had she been forced to adhere to perimeters of staging.

  While we may never know why thirteen stage cards exist, we can use them to inform our readings. We can use their appearance for an additional twist and questions when they appear in a reading.

  How to Interpret a Stage Card

  Ex
amine what the word stage means. A stage is a period of time we move through, like the stage of childhood. A stage is a horse-drawn carriage, a stage coach, and therefore a vehicle of movement similar to the Chariot card. Universally, a stage is a platform for entertainment, be it a play, musical, dance, concert, opera, award ceremony, political speech, or presentation. Using the latter definition, we can imbue the stage card’s appearance with meaning and extra questions when it appears in a reading.

  There are three ways to participate in a stage performance:

  1. Audience member (observer)

  2. Performer

  3. Creative (creator/composer/playwright of the piece)

  When a stage card appears in a reading, identify if you are:

  1. The observer of the situation? (audience member)

  2. Playing along in someone else’s game/story? (performer)

  3. The creator of the situation? (composer, writer, creative)

  Once you determine what role you play in the situation at hand, ask yourself the following questions according to the role you chose:

  1.If you are the observer:

  What am I waiting for?

  Is this amusing or damaging?

  Is the price I’m paying worth it?

  What am I learning?

  2.If you are playing along in someone else’s drama:

  Am I trying to gain attention?

  Is a catharsis coming?

  Do I care too much about what others think?

  Am I people pleasing and at what cost?

  Am I expressing myself?

  3.If you are the source of the situation/drama:

  Why am I creating this?

  Am I purposefully manipulating events?

  How does this match up to the internal story in my head?

  Is this what I want?

  What am I learning?

  Feel free to examine what would happen if you were to switch roles.

  FAQs

  I’m afraid to get the card wrong. What should I do?

  Nothing shuts down a tarot reading like fear of “getting it wrong.” Tarot is a tool. Tools are meant to be used. Feel your fear (if it pops up) and let it pass. Flip and read your cards with an open, curious mind. You’ll be surprised at all the wisdom you glean!

  What gives tarot its power?

  You do. Tarot’s power begins and ends with the person using it. The cards are useless alone. People who fear the cards or believe the cards hold mysterious power also funnel collective energy into tarot because ideas and attention contain power.

  Do I need special powers to read tarot?

  No.

  Do I need to be psychic to read tarot?

  Nope. However, tarot offers the practitioner an excellent way to hone their sensual, psychic, and sensorial skills. You see, everyone is born with different sensitivities. Each of us unique. Tarot opens up the space of exploration. Tarot tests us. What do we know? Why do we know it? Where is the information coming from? Just as yoga or dance teaches us what is physically possible, tarot opens the creative imagination to inner landscapes.

  Does someone have to give me my first deck as a gift?

  Nope. That’s an old wives’ tale that no longer serves its purpose.

  Is tarot evil?

  Is a gun evil or is it the person who uses it? Tarot consists of seventy-eight paper cards printed with colorful images—nothing evil there.

  Does the Death card mean physical death?

  No. Tarot is meant to be read metaphorically.

  Do I have to do what the tarot says?

  You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Tarot will never tell you to do anything. Tarot reflects possibilities, suggestions, and ideas you may not have thought of. It offers confirmation, clarity, and creative reaction to any situation encountered in life. Because tarot does not operate on a literal level, it will never tell you to do something.

  How do I know what a card means?

  Every tarot card holds a bottomless meaning of interpretation. Here’s how you can cycle through it, in order of importance:

  1. Your instinctual, intuitive reaction to a symbol.

  2. A historical, spiritual, or scholarly definition.

  3. You are a natural-born storyteller; we all are. Let the cards tell you a story, and discover where you identify with it.

  What spread I should use if I am a beginner?

  A single card is always effective, concise, and to the point. Pulling a single card will avoid confusion. The three-card spread can indicate past/present/future or hindsight/insight/foresight.

  How should I shuffle?

  You can shuffle any way you like. There is no right or wrong way to shuffle as long as your cards are good and mixed. You can shuffle Vegas-style or simply mix them around on a table like card soup.

  Do I need to be psychic?

  Not at all. However, do not be surprised if you discover hidden talents while reading the cards.

  [contents]

  chapter ten

  Malkuth (Kingdom)

  78 Spreads

  The following tarot spreads have been created out of a simple formula:

  1. The theme of each spread is inspired by a single RWS tarot card.

  2. The questions of each spread are based on specific symbols found inside that

  particular card.

  3. The shape of each spread is inspired by a graphic found on each card.

  The major arcana spreads have quotes from Arthur Waite’s Pictorial Key to accompany them.

  Reader’s Choice

  You are free to remove the card each spread is based on and keep it in sight during your reading. This will help you gain entrance and knowledge of the card. Alternately, you may choose the card from a separate deck so you always shuffle with a full deck for these readings. If the card inspiring the spread appears in the spread, it will take on heightened meaning.

  The Fool “Optimism Through Adversity” Spread

  With light step, as if earth and its trammels had little power to restrain him, a young man in gorgeous vestments pauses at the brink of a precipice among the great heights of the world; he surveys the blue distance before him-its expanse of sky rather than the prospect below. The edge which opens on the depth has no terror; it is as if angels were waiting to uphold him, if it came about that he leaped from the height. His countenance is full of intelligence and expectant dream.60

  Cast your cards to invoke the Fool’s optimism no matter what energy surrounds you.

  1. Bag—What do I carry with me from the past?

  2. White Rose—What has yet to blossom?

  3. Dog—What do my animal instincts compel me to do?

  4. Cliff—What am I risking?

  5. Brink—What do I risk by not stepping forward?

  6. Air—What helps me to think clearly?

  7. Direction—Where should I head?

  8. Posture—What simple message brings me forward?

  The Magician “Power Generation” Spread

  In the Magician’s right hand is a wand raised towards heaven, while the left hand is pointing to the earth. This dual sign is known in very high grades of the Instituted Mysteries; it shews the descent of grace, virtue and light, drawn from things above and derived to things below. The suggestion throughout is therefore the possession and communication of the Powers and Gifts of the Spirit.61

  Cast your cards to invoke the Magician’s magical ability. The cards follow the shape of his energetic flow.

  1. Upward Hand—What is my purpose?

  2. Downward Hand—Where do my talents lie?

  3. Suits on Table—What tools are at my fingertips?

  4. Snake Belt—How can I use myself as an instrument of the greatest good?

/>   5. Posture—How do I allow divine energy/light/power to flow through me?

  The High Priestess “Inner Knowledge” Spread

  In a manner, she is also the Supernal Mother herself—that is to say, she is the bright reflection. It is in this sense of reflection that her truest and highest name in bolism is Shekinah—the co-habiting glory.…Mystically speaking, the Shekinah is the Spiritual Bride of the just man, and when he reads the Law she gives the Divine meaning. There are some respects in which this card is the highest and holiest of the Greater Arcana.62

  The High Priestess knows everything about you. Cast your cards to gain her inner knowledge. This spread imitates the High Priestess and her two outer pillars.

  1. Triple Crown—What is evolving?

  2. Book/Scroll—What do I know?

  3. Dress—What covers me?

  4. Cross—What is the nature of reality?

  5. Veil—What is hidden?

  6. Pomegranate—What is growing?

  7. Water—What moves through me?

  8. Moon—What is illusion?

  The Empress “Love and Evolution” Spread

  The Empress signifies the door or gate by which an entrance is obtained into this life, as into the Garden of Venus; and then the way which leads out therefrom, into that which is beyond, is the secret known to the High Priestess: it is communicated by her to the elect.63

  Cast your cards to experience and invoke love and evolution. The cards form the shape of her scepter.