Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot

by Marcus Katz

  So the 2 and 3 of Wands together show the first acts of creation, the creation of a divine plan and then the setting in motion of that plan. When placed in a triangle, these two cards with the Ace above show a neat symmetry, with the characters in the Two and Three holding with their left and right hands respectively their wands. In the Two, we see the world, the divine plan. In the Three it is vanished and set in motion.

  Four and Five: The nature of Chesed and Geburah is neatly contrasted in this pairing, as we see the open invitation in the 4 of Wands, and the closed and engaged gathering of the 5 of Wands. As we see in our exploration of the individual cards, these two represented real experience in Pamela’s life: the approach to a welcoming haven, and the play-work that occurred at that place. In the lightning flash of creation running down the Tree of Life, these cards illustrate the potential to create and the inevitable arrangement process that immediately follows such potential.

  Six: In Pamela’s work we see many intuited and coincidental compositions of symbols. Here in the 6 of Wands we have a neat arrangement of the rulership of Tiphareth, above the five Sephiroth—one of which is itself. The horse (as we see in the Sun card) can symbolise the lower four elemental Sephiroth. This card image is the rulership of the individual over their lower realms, a ride rather than a destination.

  Seven and Eight: Arranging the cards in a kabbalistic layout brings to our attention other incidental details in the deck. Here, from the 7 to the 10 of Wands, we see four different patterns of lines of energy, and our response to each pattern. In the Seven and Eight we see resistance to change and unbounded change, respectively.

  Nine: In the 9 of Wands, the foundation (Nine/Yesod) of emanation (Atziluth/Wands), we see that the initial energy of the Ace has now settled into a fixed pattern, and the battles of the previous sorting phases have been completed. There is now a resting point that can be used to assess what is intended by the situation, and make a response to it.

  Ten: In the Ten we see the end of ambition, where we carry all our plans as consequences in the world of activity. It is the most distant point away from the singular clarity of the Ace, and yet, if we bundled all those events together, we would discern a singular cause. As above, so below.

  The Middle Pillar (Ace, 6, 9, and 10): The central pillar in the world of Aziluth is the central tent pole that holds up the entire fabric of existence. It is the constantly vibrating song of creation, and the four wands cards that correspond show how it is sung. Ace is the unity of all things, before we make any separation of one thing into another. It is clarity, surety, even truth. When we are most authentic, we are in the right place at the right time, and one with ourselves and all around us, as pictured on the Six, the centre of the centre of emanation. As we look closer into everyday life, we have a personality and a psyche, a being that feels now different from others—the 9 of Wands. We then take our separation and work to push the universe, when in fact, we have simply forgotten that the universe is creating us. We are being emanated—we are the wands, not the person holding them in the Ten.

  Pillar of Force (2, 4, and 7): Our ambition and will is pictured by the wands on the Pillar of Force in three levels; at the highest (Two) we are masters of our own destiny. In the initiatory scheme of the Western Esoteric Initiatory System, this is the grade of Magus.146 We then present that Will to others, inviting them to join us in manifesting our personal vision in the 4. We resist all attempts from the universe that work against the expression of our Will in the 7.

  Pillar of Form (3, 5, and 8): Over in the Pillar of structure and form, the top of the pillar shows that our Will co-operates with the wider patterns of existence; the sea of Binah, or “understanding.” If we set our sails aligned to the beneficial winds and in accord with the deeper tides, we will be successful. As we progress we will have to make constant realignments and recalibrations (as pictured by the 5) to hold to our initial vision. The formation of patterns and structure on this pillar is not a passive act, it involves sorting. Finally, we have the 8 stage at the bottom of this pillar, where our ambition is lined up with the universe and everything goes in the same direction.

  As Above, So Below (Ace and 10): When reading the 10 of Wands, we often suggest that the person lay down all their plans, consider everything that is causing them issues, and come up with just one word which symbolises all the challenges they face. This is our way of turning the 10 of Wands back into the Ace of Wands. The opposite word to the person’s singular challenge is the opportunity of the Ace to create a response.

  Now we have looked at the cards in the four worlds within their suits, we can arrange all four suits of each numeration together to get an illustration of each world within each of the Sephiroth.

  We can also look at the manner in which the Jacob’s Ladder diagram—in which the four worlds are represented by four overlapping Trees—shows resonances between particular cards on the Middle Pillar.

  The Secret of Jacob’s Ladder

  and the Connecting Cards

  The more complex way of arranging the four worlds and the Tree of Life is to overlay four Trees of Life, one for each world. They are laid on top of each other, as if the next Tree up the ladder is growing out of the Tiphareth (centre) of the Tree below it. This model creates several points where the worlds overlap through the Sephiroth.

  Imagine four separate systems of ten tuning forks all placed in proximity to each other. At one end we have some very dense and heavy forks with low vibrations, and at the far end we have a set of ten finer forks with higher pitches. As all of the forks in each system vibrate with each other, they also resonate with the systems next to them, creating sounds across four different scales of tuning.

  In terms of Kabbalah (having mangled a musical metaphor), we can see that the Tiphareth of the world of Assiah, i.e. the centre of the world of action, is the Malkuth, the base of the world of Yetzirah, or formation. When we are going up the Tree, our physical heart is the vibrating tone to all that happens in the world of vision, dreams, and imagination. In the downward path of creation, it shows that all that’s archetypal manifests as the centre of the everyday world.

  There are other even more complex tonal resonances; the Kether of Assiah overlaps the Tiphareth of Yetzirah and the Malkuth of Briah. This is one of the most complex of the overlaps.

  If we take a look at the corresponding tarot cards, we can see deep and powerful resonances. When we look at the simplest overlap, the Malkuth of Yetzirah is the 10 of Swords, which resonates with the Tiphareth of Assiah, the 6 of Pentacles. Whilst this may not be an obvious connection, let us look at how they illustrate the creative process through Kabbalah.

  The 10 of Swords is the fixed point of formation; all that has been imagined and formed “on the astral” is now thrusting through to manifestation. It is all that has inevitably been arranged, conspiring to pierce matter into activity. The 6 of Pentacles resonates with that by providing a balance, check, and counter-check, ensuring that as the unlimited concepts of the imaginal world take shape, they do so in accordance with natural laws.

  You can use the Jacob’s Ladder arrangement to consider all the other overlaps between the four worlds, illustrated by your tarot deck.

  Having looked at this rather more advanced and abstract concept in the correspondence of Kabbalah and tarot, we will now conclude with a practical method of using Kabbalah as a spread creation device and as a toolkit of magical manifestation.

  Using the Kabbalah of the Minors as a Spread

  These forty cards arranged on the Tree of Life illustrate the most fundamental processes, stages, structures, and patterns of creation, and we can use them to create powerful spreads. In this innovative fashion, we use a kabbalistically based selection of the tarot cards themselves as a spread.147

  To look at an example, pick out the Ace, 2, and 3 of Cups. Lay the cards out in a triangle. As an extension of this method, place the 10 of Cups in the
centre. Shuffle the rest of the deck whilst contemplating the illustrations:

  Ace of Cups: The place from where we come in all our relationship to the world.

  2 of Cups: The way we express that relationship with our closest partner or partners.

  3 of Cups: The way that relationship extends to friends, family, colleagues and groups.

  When you have shuffled, lay out a card on top of each of these three cards/positions and read the card as indicated above. If we are using the extended method, we can then look at the central image of the 10 of Cups as:

  10 of Cups: How our family upbringing has shaped our way of relating.

  Lay out another card on top of the 10 and read accordingly. It may have some profound significance and unlock a lot of the other card readings and your lifetime relationships. In using the Kabbalah as a model illustrated by the tarot, we can divine the depths of our experience. Using this method, we also have the advantage of the positions in our tarot spread being illustrated … by the very cards themselves.

  If we apply the same method to the world of action, pentacles, we can lay out the following four cards as a similar triangular spread, with the 10 in the middle:

  Ace of Pentacles: The root of our attitude to wealth, work, resources, and money.

  2 of Pentacles: How we apply that attitude to the environment around us.

  3 of Pentacles: What we seek to create or build in applying that attitude.

  10 of Pentacles: How our upbringing has affected expectations of wealth and reward.

  Then shuffle the rest of the deck and lay four cards down on top of these cards and read accordingly.

  You may wish to explore how this same method can be applied to swords (education) and wands (ambitions and self-belief).

  Manifesting Through the Kabbalah of Tarot

  To use this method further, consider that the base of the Tree shows how things come into manifestation in the everyday world. So if there is a situation you need to bring to ground, get resolved, or otherwise bring to the surface, lay out three cards: the 7, 8, and 9 of the corresponding suit. These cards relate through the Kabbalah to:

  7: Source—The natural energy of the situation and its essential force.

  8: Shape—The formation of the situation and its patterns and boundaries.

  9: Synthesis—How the source and shape best fit into manifestation in everyday life.

  Lay out those three cards in a triangle and see how Pamela’s artwork depicts their similarities and differences as three stages in the world of action before the final and fixed manifestation in the 10 of Pentacles. We do not use cards numbered 10 in manifestation work, as by the time an event is captured by a 10, it is too late to do anything; it has already happened. The 10 itself is what happens. In terms of which suit to work with, we would choose as follows:

  Pentacles: Practical matters.

  Swords: Decisions, education, confusion, conflict resolutions, plan formation.

  Cups: Matters of the heart, spirit; art and creativity.

  Wands: Magic, mysticism, ambition, religion, higher principles, and ethics.

  So in a purely practical manifestation working, we would lay out the 7 of Pentacles, 8 of Pentacles, and 9 of Pentacles in a triangle. We would then shuffle the rest of the deck and lay out a card on each pentacles card. These cards would indicate the most powerful actions or attitudes we could have regarding the three final stages of manifestation.

  As the Golden Dawn stated, we must always call on the highest powers we know, so if you have a financial issue also about your skill set, you would work with swords, not pentacles. The action in the world of swords would filter down to the world below it.

  [contents]

  Eight

  The Colour of the Cards

  For the printing of the “original” deck, therefore, five large lithographic

  stones were used: yellow, hazelnut, turquoise, red and black.

  –Pietro Alligo, “Waite-Smith: The First Edition,” in Twenty Years of Tarot:

  The Lo Scarabeo Story (Torino: Lo Scarabeo, 2007), 39

  One of the first adverts for this “delightful experiment” appeared in the back of Ralph Shirley’s A New God (1911). Marketed as “without question, the finest and most artistic pack that has ever been produced,” it notes that the cards have been “exquisitely drawn and coloured, from new and original designs by Pamela Colman Smith.”

  We can see in Waite’s own descriptions of the images that little colour symbolism is mentioned. This perhaps points to the certain fact his notes were written before the deck was published, not afterwards—or certainly not modified much afterwards to refer to the colouring, when the revised and illustrated Pictorial Key was published a year later.

  In fact, we know from Waite’s second tarot that his design notes again referred only to the images and their significance, not the colouring in any specific manner. We suspect that the colour design of the cards was of little interest to Waite; Pamela’s only comment was that her images would probably be coloured “very badly.” That she was resigned to this and did not appear to have any further involvement in their publishing is testament to her overall lack of relationship to this contractual piece of work in her artistic life.

  Whilst the cards were likely coloured by Pamela separately, on copies rather than the originals, they provided the scheme for the printers to emulate in a lithographic process. The lines and colouring of the deck show “the same strong colouring she used for The Broad Sheet and her illustrations to Widdicombe Fair, while some of the human figures, such as the Hermit and the Three of Staves [Wands], suggest the persistent influence of Gordon Craig’s stage designs.”148

  There is only one place in Pictorial Key where Waite notes the colouring of the deck, in the Sun card: “The naked child mounted on a white horse displaying a red standard” (PKT, 144). He elsewhere mentions that the cards have been “drawn and coloured” by Pamela, so we presume the colouring was dictated more by her than Waite.

  Having said that, in the absence of any surviving notes from Smith, we must draw instead upon Waite’s version of colour symbolism, which can be found clearly listed in several places in his Manual of Cartomancy. He also provides the planetary correspondences to these colours that can be used in our tarot reading as we will see here.

  Several of these colours carry a secondary meaning when negative, applied to reversed cards. If no negative is given, the meaning is the same whether upright or reversed.

  White (Moon): Innocence, virginity, candour, purity of heart. Neg. Sterility,

  weakness, indifference.

  Red (Mars): Floral red is the symbol of love in its highest sense, and in its lowest sense, sensuality and luxury. It has the planetary correspondence of Mars, which

  to Waite signified that “true love has the strength and courage of Galahad.” Neg.

  Gross physical passion.

  Yellow (Sun): Generosity, wealth, fertility, plenty. Neg. Distrust and jealousy.

  Blue (Jupiter): Elevation of the soul, piety, refined feeling, wisdom. Also religion. Neg. Injustice.

  Black (Saturn): Dole, tears, death. The mystery beyond death. Neg. Hypocrisy,

  falsehood, treason.

  Purple (Mars in conjunction with Jupiter): Ambition, power, high estate. Science, beauty, art, poetry.

  Rose (Venus): Youth, elegance, tender love.

  Green (also Venus): Hope, growth, assurance, reliance, confidence, expectation.

  These qualities of the colours can be used in a tarot reading by observing the location of particular colours and interpreting them in that context. As an example, yellow is the colour of the sun, and symbolises generosity and plenty. If we were reading a card where there is the figure of a person running and he has yellow shoes, the yellow “generosity” is moving quickly towards us (or the querent if reading for someone.) Another exam
ple might be in the case of the Strength card, where a white-robed woman holds an orange-red lion. Here we are being told that we must remain pure white to hold back the more sensuous red. In the case of a relationship, it is warning us that our reflective mind (the white moon) must rule the hot sun!

  Let us look at a reading and see how Waite’s colour symbolism can assist us in deepening our interpretation. We have drawn three cards for a question about a couple’s new business venture. We are going to read them together with no particular positional meaning. The third card was drawn reversed (i.e., upside-down) so we will use this to show how the colours change meaning in reversals.

  104. 6 of Wands, 7 of Swords, the Sun reversed. Reprinted with permission of U.S. Games Systems.

  The interpretation of these three cards shows a very negative reading. The first card is described by Waite as “a plan that may fail,” the second as “expectation crowned with its own desire,” and the third card of the Sun reversed as “contentment … in a lesser sense.” This is a reading of high expectations and dashed hopes.

  With regard to the colour, we see that there is a bright yellow background on the 7 of Swords, and the reversed Sun is the same yellow, as are the sunflowers. The yellow is “plenty” but it is only on the background of the first card; it is a “pie in the sky” idea. Now the yellow on the Sun is upside-down and gives us a clue to the problem here; Waite has this as “distrust and jealousy.” We look back at the image on the 7 of Swords seen as someone sneakily taking your resources and the upside-down yellow of the Sun makes sense!