Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot

by Marcus Katz

  Reversed: Novelty, presage, new instruction, new relations.

  This is a card of loss and hope. There are times when we feel that we have failed at something and despair at the waste. This card reassures us that all is not lost and that no matter how bad we feel at the moment, something good will still come out of a bad situation. It may require moving on and looking on life with a new perspective.

  Three

  Maidens in a garden-ground with cups uplifted, as if pledging one another.

  Divinatory meanings: The conclusion of any matter in plenty, perfection and merriment; happy issue, victory, fulfilment, solace, healing.

  Reversed: Expedition, dispatch, achievement, end. It signifies also the side of excess in physical enjoyment, and the pleasures of the senses.

  This card speaks of the importance of being true to yourself and only spending time with those who count. We become that with which we surround ourselves! The image conjures the “suffragette pledge,” and we know Pamela was involved with the movement; she, Edy Craig, and the writer Christopher St. John all contributed time and creative abilities to the cause. The sisterhood of Smallhythe was where Pamela would convene with loved ones who shared the same ideals and values. It was a woman’s sanctuary where they could relax and be themselves without censure from the outside world. 1910 was a breakthrough time for suffragettes; the Conciliation Bill came to Parliament, which would give the right to vote to a million women like Ellen Terry, who owned their own land and property.

  Two

  A youth and maiden are pledging one another, and above their cups rises the Caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a lion’s head. It is a variant of a sign that is found in a few old examples of this card. Some curious emblematical meanings are attached to it, but they do not concern us in this place.

  Divinatory meanings: Love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the interrelation of the sexes, and—as a suggestion apart from all offices of divination—that desire which is not in Nature, but by which Nature is sanctified.

  Note: The 2 of Cups is the only minor card that does not have a reversed meaning given in Pictorial Key, in the earlier Key to the Tarot, or the shortened version of that book appended to Pictorial Key. Whether this was a continuous oversight or deliberate omission we have no idea.

  This image is from Romeo and Juliet. Mercutio says in Act I, scene IV: “You are a lover; borrow Cupid’s wings, and soar with them above a common bound.” It is interesting that the wand between the lovers here is that of Mercury. Another reference to Romeo and Juliet appears later in that the cup will soon bear the sleeping draught to Juliet’s lips, the results of this completed in the 9 of Swords.

  This card is based partially on the Two of Amphorae in the Sola Busca.

  We also wonder what Pamela would have done if she had been given more time with any of these images. If we compare the following painting from Chimney to her 2 of Cups, we see how much detail she may have been able to conjure given more time.

  82. Sola Busca 2 of Amphorae. (Wolfgang Mayer edition, issued by Giordano Berti, 1998.)

  83. Then Jack went into the Castle from A Book of Friendly Giants, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, 1914. (Illustration courtesy of authors, private collection.)

  Ace

  The waters are beneath, and thereon are water-lilies; the hand issues from the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are pouring; a dove, bearing in its bill a cross-marked Host, descends to place the Wafer in the Cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides. It is an intimation of that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana.

  Divinatory meanings: House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility; Holy Table, felicity hereof.

  Reversed: House of the false heart, mutation, instability, revolution.

  The symbol of the Ace of Cups was an opportunity for Pamela to present her (and Waite’s) Catholic theme within their tarot. In it is clearly depicted the chalice used in the Mass, with the dove descending to lower the wafer into the chalice’s blood.

  On the cup amidst several small bells (in an unusual and unique design not elsewhere shown on the cups) is the reversed letter M. When placed with the Cross upon the wafer, this creates the symbol of the Médaille miraculeuse, the miraculous medal of the Immaculate Conception. This symbol was received in a vision by Catherine Labouré in 1830 and is popular whilst not being an official teaching of the Catholic Church.

  84. A Cup from A Book of Friendly Giants, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, 1914. (Illustration courtesy of authors, private collection.)

  85. The Letter M. (Illustration courtesy of authors, private collection.)

  86. The Miraculous Medal, photograph by authors.

  That the cup is being linked to Mariology (the study of the person of the Virgin Mary) is no surprise, for we have a photograph of one of the Smallhythe women at that time offering flowers to a statuette of the Virgin Mary in a small outdoor shrine upon a table alike to the one in the Magician card.

  This intimation as Waite calls it is what truly lies behind the minor arcana: the mysteries of the divine feminine as the Shekinah or Mary upon the Tree of Life, leading the soul back to the Garden. Waite further teases this secret by referring to the divinatory meaning as “the house of the true heart”; this true heart being the “immaculate heart of Mary” in Catholic teaching.

  From the seven sacraments of the Catholic faith, the Ace of Cups symbolises a conjunction of the Eucharist; within the Holy Communion the chalice is symbolic of the forgiveness of sin through Christ’s sacrifice, and the host borne by the dove represents confirmation of the Holy Spirit.

  Together these symbols denote the Ace of Cups as washing away all that has gone before, and confirming positive grace to all that follows. In a reversed sense, this would indeed signify a “revolution.”

  87. The Worship of Mary at Smallhythe Place. (Also note the flowers that appear in the 6 of Cups.) (Courtesy of the National Trust, used under license.)

  –The Suit of Swords–

  King

  He sits in judgment, holding the unsheathed sign of his suit. He recalls, of course, the conventional Symbol of justice in the Trumps Major, and he may represent this virtue, but he is rather the power of life and death, in virtue of his office.

  Divinatory meanings: Whatsoever arises out of the idea of judgment and all its connexions-power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, offices of the crown, and so forth.

  Reversed: Cruelty, perversity, barbarity, perfidy, evil intention.

  Person: Judgemental.

  Part of self: Inner critic.

  Energy: Penetrating cuts to the truth of the matter.

  Queen

  Her right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm of her royal chair; the left hand is extended, the arm raised; her countenance is severe but chastened; it suggests familiarity with sorrow. It does not represent mercy, and, her sword notwithstanding, she is scarcely a symbol of power.

  Divinatory meanings: Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, separation.

  Reversed: Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, bale, deceit.

  Person: Brooding person who does not suffer fools gladly.

  Part of self: Cynical side.

  Energy: A realist who banks on security, not dreams.

  The Queen of Swords is depicted in a specific gesture that immediately and clearly connects it to the images we have of Ellen Terry playing the Viking Queen Hjördis in the play The Vikings of Helgeland, by Henrik Ibsen.

  88. Ellen Terry as Hjördis. (Illustration courtesy of authors, private collection.)

  It is therefore a good sign we are on the right track with these theatrical correspondences when we also learn that Hjördis means “goddess of the
sword.”

  The character of Hjördis deepens our appreciation of the Queen of Swords. In the play, she is first mentioned as encouraging her husband to war with “scornful words,” hindering efforts of peace, a behaviour for which she appears to be already known. When Waite writes this is a card of “bale” when reversed, he is presenting this side of the image, as “bale” is an archaic word meaning “evil considered as a destructive force.” The words of the Queen of Swords can be baleful indeed and lead to much misery.

  Other character keywords we can gather from the play include: cold, scornful, bitter, suppressed, and controlling. On a more positive note, also proud and stately. In many ways, the Queen of Swords is the opposite of the 9 of Pentacles, for as Hjördis says in Act I, “Cage an eagle and it will bite at the wires, be they of iron or of gold.”

  The card image is also inspired by the Sola Busca Queen of Swords, representing Olimpia (Olympias), sister of Alexander I.

  89. Ellen Terry as Hiordis in Ibsen’s The Vikings of Helgeland (1903) by Pamela Colman Smith (1878–1951). (Courtesy of the National Trust, used under license.)

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

  The tassels adorning the wrists of the Queen are notable in that a close-up view of the original “Rose and Lilies” deck shows on the right tassel that these are rose and lily designs, similar to the rose and lilies elsewhere through the deck. The Queen of Swords wears these symbols of passion and purity, with all their associated iconography, as a rosary upon both her wrists. This detail has been lost in all subsequent copies of the deck.

  A side note on butterflies: The butterflies that adorn the Queen were personally significant to Pamela; artists at the Pratt Institute where she studied were encouraged to paint real butterflies in their practice. There are extant photographs of the students (at the time Pamela was there) looking at glass jars containing butterflies.

  Knight

  He is riding in full course, as if scattering his enemies. In the design he is really a prototypical hero of romantic chivalry. He might almost be Galahad, whose sword is swift and sure because he is clean of heart.

  Divinatory meanings: Skill, bravery, capacity, defence, address, enmity, wrath, war, destruction, opposition, resistance, ruin. There is therefore a sense in which the card signifies death, but it carries this meaning only in its proximity to other cards of fatality.

  Reversed: Imprudence, incapacity, extravagance.

  Person: Intrepid go-getter.

  Part of self: Rebellious.

  Energy: Defensive.

  Page

  A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of swift walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way the clouds are collocated wildly. He is alert and lithe, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment.

  Divinatory meanings: Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging.

  Reversed: More evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen; unprepared state; sickness is also intimated.

  Person: Quick-witted young person who always has a response ready.

  Part of self: Ego.

  Energy: Air of confidence.

  Ten

  A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card.

  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.

  The secret of this card is contained in the actor’s hand gesture and clothing. Here we see another gulf between Waite’s offhand and brief description and Pamela’s design principles. The hand gesture of the corpse is that of the papal blessing we see in the Hierophant card, and subverted in the Devil card. The connection between the murdered character on this card and the Hierophant is made clearer by the white and red clothes; both wear the same, although the murdered body has a dull brown undershirt.

  91. Henry Irving as Becket. (Illustration courtesy of authors, private collection.)

  The murdered character is none other than the Hierophant (Pope), who in Pamela’s experience would have been Thomas Becket, immortalised by Henry Irving in Tennyson’s play of the same name. Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder by four knights in 1170. A hairshirt was said to have been found under Becket’s outer garments, a symbol of penance—the corpse’s dull brown shirt. Similarly, in the play as allegedly in real life, the assassination scene is immediately attended by a dark storm, as seen in the card:

  DE BRITO.

  This last to rid thee of a world of brawls! (Kills him.)

  The traitor’s dead, and will arise no more.

  FITZURSE.

  Nay, have we still’d him? What! the great Archbishop!

  Does he breathe? No?

  DE TRACY.

  No, Reginald, he is dead.

  (Storm bursts.) [Authors’ note: A tremendous thunderstorm actually

  broke over the Cathedral as the murderers were leaving it.]

  DE MORVILLE.

  Will the earth gape and swallow us?

  DE BRITO.

  The deed’s done—

  Away!

  The nature of the murder was quite violent; it was noted that one of the swords had severely wounded Becket’s head, a detail captured in Pamela’s image with one sword planted firmly in the victim’s head. There would have been no specific design reason to have one sword in the head (it would have done easily as well in the body), so we propose that Pamela painted it with deliberation.

  Whilst in the original story there were four knights and four swords, Pamela has here applied it to the 10 of Swords as more fitting. We have seen elsewhere Pamela shifting such numbers about; for example using the Sola Busca 6 of Coins as the 8 of Pentacles.

  There’s a coincidental reference to the ten swords found in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night:

  SIR TOBY BELCH

  Act III, scene II

  Why, then, build me thy fortunes upon the basis of valor. Challenge me the count’s youth to fight with him. Hurt him in eleven places. My niece shall take note of it, and assure thyself, there is no love-broker in the world can more prevail in man’s commendation with woman than report of valor.

  The “eleven places,” according to Professor William M. Gaugler are actually the ten places of sword-thrusts used in fencing of the time, with the additional central thrust to the opponent’s stomach.134

  Nine

  One seated on her couch in lamentation with the swords over her. She is as one who knows no sorrow which is like unto hers. It is a card of utter desolation.

  Divinatory meanings: Death, failure, miscarriage, delay, deception, disappointment, despair.

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

  This card signifies out-of-control thinking and obsession with your own state. It is the place where we can plunge deeper and deeper into despair. Pamela has likely used her experience with Romeo and Juliet in this scene, as Juliet is, as Waite writes (probably unknowingly) of the image Pamela has presented him, “one who knows no sorrow which is like unto hers.” It is the counterpoint to the 2 of Cups, and often represents emotional despair arising from relationship breakup.

  There is a secret in this image in that the quote in the scene that already fits the image from Romeo and Juliet also contains another very specific and unique reference—one Pamela has placed in the carving underneath the bed. The card shows a carving of a man looking to be beating another man who lies prone. This scene has sometimes been suggested as the biblical myth of Cain and Abel, one of whom beat the other with a weapon lying on the ground, possibly a bone. Now read J
uliet’s monologue in this scene, as she wakes in her bed and sits up distraught just before drinking the sleeping draught.

  92. Lyke Wake by Pamela Colman Smith. (Illustration courtesy of authors, private collection.)

  ROMEO AND JULIET

  Act IV, scene III

  JULIET

  O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,

  Environed with all these hideous fears?

  And madly play with my forefather’s joints?

  And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud?

  And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone,

  As with a club, dash out my desperate brains?

  O, look! methinks I see my cousin’s ghost

  Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body

  Upon a rapier’s point: stay, Tybalt, stay!

  Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink—I drink to thee.

  A final correspondence to this card was linked earlier in this book to the “Wake, Dearest” flower in the Burne-Jones flower book based on its design alone—the correspondence of that flower to this scene is through the lens of symbolism.

  Eight

  A woman, bound and hoodwinked, with the swords of the card about her. Yet it is rather a card of temporary durance than of irretrievable bondage.

  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.

  Here is a card signifying a mental situation that seems insurmountable, but it is transitory and will be overcome. We’ve all been through times when we feel there’s no way out and we cannot endure a situation any longer—and this card tells us that it will pass. The crisis will be resolved; the mental fever will not claim us.