The Illustrated Key to the Tarot/Part 3
PART III
THE OUTER METHOD OF THE ORACLES
Part Three
THE OUTER METHOD OF THE ORACLES
Section 1
DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE GREATER AND LESSER ARCANA
In respect of their usual presentation, the bridge between the Greater and Lesser Arcana is supplied by the court cards—King, Queen, Knight, and Squire or Page; but their utter distinction from the Trumps Major is shown by their conventional character. Let the reader compare them with symbols like the Fool, the High Priestess, the Hierophant, or—almost without exception—with any in the previous sequence, and he will discern my meaning. There is no especial idea connected on the surface with the ordinary court cards; they are a bridge of conventions, which form a transition to the simple pretexts of the counters and denaries of the numbers following. We seem to have passed away utterly from the region of higher meanings illustrated by living pictures. There was a period, however, when the numbered cards were also pictures, but such devices were sporadic inventions of particular artists and were either conventional designs of the typical or allegorical kind, distinct from what is understood by symbolism, or they were illustrations—shall we say?—of manners, customs and periods. They were, in a word, adornments, and as such they did nothing to raise the significance of the Lesser Arcana to the plane of the Trumps Major; moreover, such variations are exceedingly few. This notwithstanding, there are vague rumors concerning a higher meaning in the minor cards, but nothing has so far transpired, even within the sphere of prudence which belongs to the most occult circles; these, it is true, have certain variants in respect of divinatory values, but I have not heard that in practice they offer better results. Efforts like those of Papus in The Tarot Of The Bohemians are strenuous and deserving after their own kind; he, in particular, recognizes the elements of the Divine Immanence in the Trumps Major, and he seeks to follow them through the long series of the lesser cards, as if these represented filtrations of the World of Grace through the World of Fortune; but he only produces an arbitrary scheme of division which he can carry no further, and he has recourse, of necessity, in the end to a common scheme of divination as the substitute for a title to existence on the part of the Lesser Arcana. Now, I am practically in the same position; but I shall make no attempt here to save the situation by drawing on the mystical properties of numbers, as he and others have attempted. I shall recognize at once that the Trumps Major belong to the divine dealings of philosophy, but all that follows to fortune-telling, since it has never yet been translated into another language; the course thus adopted will render to divination, and at need even to gambling, the things that belong to this particular world of skill, and it will set apart for their proper business those matters that are of another order. In this free introduction to the subject in hand, it is only necessary to add that the difference between the fifty-six Lesser Arcana and the ordinary playing-cards is not only essentially slight, because the substitution of Cups for Hearts, and so forth, constitutes an accidental variation, but because the presence of a Knight in each of the four suits was characteristic at one time of many ordinary packs, when this personage usually replaced the Queen. In the rectified Tarot which illustrates the present handbook, all numbered cards of the Lesser Arcana—the Aces only excepted—are furnished with figures or pictures to illustrate—but without exhausting—the divinatory meanings attached thereto.
Some who are gifted with reflective and discerning faculties in more than the ordinary sense—and I am not speaking of clairvoyance—may observe that in many of the Lesser Arcana there are vague intimations conveyed by the designs which seem to exceed the stated divinatory values. It is desirable to avoid misconception by specifying definitely that, except in rare instances—and then only by accident—the variations are not to be regarded as suggestions of higher and extra-divinatory symbolism. I have said that these Lesser Arcana have not been translated into a language which transcends that of fortune-telling. I should not indeed be disposed to regard them as belonging in their existing forms to another realm than this; but the field of divinatory possibilities is inexhaustible, by the hypothesis of the art, and the combined systems of cartomancy have indicated only the bare heads of significance attaching to the emblems in use. When the pictures in the present case go beyond the conventional meanings they should be taken as hints of possible developments along the same lines; and this is one of the reasons why the pictorial devices here attached to the four denaries will prove a great help to intuition. The mere numerical powers and bare words of the meanings are insufficient by themselves; but the pictures are like doors which open into unexpected chambers or like a turn in the open road with a wide prospect beyond.
Section 2
THE LESSER ARCANA
Otherwise, the Four Suits of Tarot Cards, will now be described according to their respective classes by the pictures to each belonging, and a harmony of their meanings will be provided from all sources.
Such are the intimations of the Lesser Arcana in respect of divinatory art, the veridic nature of which seems to depend on an alternative that it may be serviceable to express briefly. The records of the art are ex hypothesi the records of findings in the past based upon experience; as such, they are a guide to memory, and those who can master the elements may—still ex hyphothesi—give interpretations on their basis. It is an official and automatic working. On the other hand, those who have gifts of intuition, of second sight, of clairvoyance—call it as we choose and may—will supplement the experience of the past by the findings of their own faculty, and will speak of that which they have seen in the pretexts of the oracles. It remains to give, also briefly, the divinatory significance allocated by the same art to the Trumps Major.
THE SUIT OF WANDS. KING.
The physical and emotional nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a flowering wand, and wears, like his three correspondences in the remaining suits, what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He connects with the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne. Divinatory Meanings: Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies honesty, and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in before very long. Reversed: Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.
WANDS. QUEEN.
The Wands throughout this suit are always in leaf, as it is a suit of life and animation. Emotionally and otherwise, the Queen’s personality corresponds to that of the King, but is more magnetic. Divinatory Meanings: A dark woman, country-woman, friendly, chaste, loving, honorable. If the card beside her signifies a man, she is well disposed towards him; if a woman, she is interested in the Querent. Also, love of money, or a certain success in business. Reversed: Good, economical, obliging, serviceable. Signifies also—but in certain positions and in the neighborhood of other cards tending in such directions—opposition, jealousy, even deceit and infidelity.
WANDS. KNIGHT.
He is shown as if upon a journey, armed with a short wand, and although mailed is not on a warlike errand. He is passing mounds of pyramids. The motion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider, and suggests the precipitate mood, or things connected therewith. Divinatory Meanings: Departure, absence, flight, emigration. A dark young man, friendly. Change of residence. Reversed: Rupture, division, interruption, discord.
WANDS. PAGE.
In a scene similar to the former, a young man stands in the act of proclamation. He is unknown but faithful, and his tidings are strange. Divinatory Meanings: Dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a postman. Beside a man, he will bear favorable testimony concerning him. A dangerous rival, if followed by the Page of Cups. Has the chief qualities of his suit. He may signify family intelligence. Reversed: Anecdotes, announcements, evil news. Also indecision and the instability which accompanies it.
WANDS. TEN.
A man oppressed by the weight of the ten staves which he is carrying. Divinatory Meanings: A card of many significances, and some of the readings cannot be harmonized. I set aside that which connects it with honor and good faith. The chief meaning is oppression simply, but it is also fortune, gain, any kind of success, and then it is the oppression of these things. It is also a card of false-seeming, disguise, perfidy. The place which the figure is approaching may suffer from the rods that he carries. Success is stultified if the Nine of Swords follows, and if it is a question of a lawsuit, there will be certain loss. Reversed: Contrarieties, difficulties, intrigues, and their analogies.
WANDS. NINE.
The figure leans upon his staff and has an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy. Behind are eight other staves—erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade. Divinatory Meanings: The card signifies strength in opposition. If attacked, the person will meet an onslaught boldly; and his build shows that he may prove a formidable antagonist. With this main significance there are all its possible adjuncts—delay, suspension, adjournment. Reversed: Obstacles, adversity, calamity.
WANDS. EIGHT.
The card represents motion through the immovable—a flight of wands through an open country; but they draw to the term of their course. That which they signifiy is at hand; it may be even on the threshold. Divinatory Meanings: Activity in undertakings, the path of such activity, swiftness, as that of an express messenger; great haste, great hope, speed towards an end which promises assured felicity; generally, that which is on the move; also the arrows of love. Reversed: Arrows of jealousy, internal dispute, stingings of conscience, quarrels; and domestic disputes for persons who are married.
WANDS. SEVEN.
A young man on a craggy eminence brandishing a staff; six other staves are raised towards him from below. Divinatory Meanings: It is a card of valor, for, on the surface, six are attacking one, who has, however, the vantage position. On the intellectual plane, it signifies discussion, wordy strife; in business—negotiations, war of trade, barter, competition. It is further a card of success, for the combatant is on the top and his enemies may be unable to reach him. Reversed: Perplexity, embarrassments, anxiety. It is also a caution against indecision.
WANDS. SIX.
A laurelled horseman bears one staff adorned with a laurel crown; footmen with staves are at his side. Divinatory Meanings: The card has been so designed that it can cover several significations; on the surface, it is a victor triumphing, but it is also great news, such as might be carried in state by the King’s courier; it is expectation crowned with its own desire, the crown of hope, and so forth. Reversed: Apprehension, fear, as of a victorious enemy at the gate; treachery, disloyalty, as of gates being opened to the enemy; also indefinite delay.
WANDS. FIVE.
A posse of youths, who are brandishing staves, as if in sport or strife. It is mimic warfare, and hereto correspond the Divinatory Meanings: Imitation, as, for example, sham fight, but also the strenuous competition and struggle of the search after riches and fortune. In this sense it connects with the battle of life. Hence some attributions say that it is a card of gold, gain, opulence. Reversed: Litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction.
WANDS. FOUR.
From the four great staves planted in the foreground there is a great garland suspended; two female figures uplift nosegays; at their side is a bridge over a moat, leading to an old manorial house. Divinatory Meanings: They are for once almost on the surface—country life, haven of refuge, a species of domestic harvest-home, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these. Reversed: The meaning remains unaltered; it is prosperity, increase, felicity, beauty, embellishment.
WANDS. THREE.
A calm, stately personage, with his back turned, looking from a cliff’s edge at ships passing over the sea. Three staves are planted in the ground, and he leans slightly on one of them. Divinatory Meanings: He symbolizes established strength, enterprise, effort, trade, commerce, discovery; those are his ships, bearing his merchandise, which are sailing over the sea. The card also signifies able co-operation in business, as if the successful merchant prince were looking from his side towards yours with a view to help you. Reversed: The end of troubles, suspension or cessation of adversity, toil and disappointment.
WANDS. TWO.
A tall man looks from a battlemented roof over sea and shore; he holds a globe in his right hand, while a staff in his left rests on the battlement; another is fixed in a ring. The Rose and Cross and Lily should be noticed on the left side. Divinatory Meanings: Between the alternative readings there is no marriage possible; on the one hand, riches, fortune, magnificence; on the other, physical suffering, disease, chagrin, sadness, mortification. The design gives one suggestion; here is a lord overlooking his dominion and alternately contemplating a globe; it looks like the malady, the mortification, the sadness of Alexander amidst the grandeur of this world’s wealth. Reversed: Surprise, wonder, enchantment, emotion, trouble, fear.
WANDS. ACE.
A hand issuing from a cloud grasps a stout wand or club. Divinatory Meanings: Creation, invention, enterprise, the powers which result in these; principle, beginning, source; birth, family, origin, and in a sense the virility which is behind them; the starting point of enterprises; according to another account, money, fortune, inheritance. Reversed: Fall, decadence, ruin, perdition, to perish; also a certain clouded joy.
THE SUIT OF CUPS. KING.
He holds a short scepter in his left hand and a great cup in his right; his throne is set upon the sea; on one side a ship is riding and on the other a dolphin is leaping. The implicit is that the Sign of the Cup naturally refers to water, which appears in all the court cards. Divinatory Meanings: Fair man, man of business, law, or divinity; responsible, disposed to oblige the Querent; also equity, art and science, including those who profess science, law and art; creative intelligence. Reversed: Dishonest, double-dealing man; roguery, exaction, injustice, vice, scandal, pillage, considerable loss.
CUPS. QUEEN.
Beautiful, fair, dreamy—as one who sees visions in a cup. This is, however, only one of her aspects; she sees, but she also acts, and her activity feeds her dream. Divinatory Meanings: Good, fair woman; honest, devoted woman, who will do service to the Querent; loving intelligence, and hence the gift of vision; success, happiness, pleasure; also wisdom, virtue; a perfect spouse and a good mother. Reversed: The accounts vary; good woman; otherwise, distinguished woman but one not to be trusted; perverse woman; vice, dishonor, depravity.
CUPS. KNIGHT.
Graceful, but not warlike; riding quietly, wearing a winged helmet, referring to those higher graces of the imagination which sometimes characterize this card. He too is a dreamer, but the images of the side of sense haunt him in his vision. Divinatory Meanings: Arrival, approach—sometimes that of a messenger; advances, proposition, demeanor, invitation, incitement. Reversed: Trickery, artifice, subtlety, swindling, duplicity, fraud.
CUPS. PAGE.
A fair, pleasing, somewhat effeminate; page, of studious and intent aspect, contemplates a fish rising from a cup to look at him. It is the pictures of the mind taking form. Divinatory Meanings: Fair young man, one impelled to render service and with whom the Querent will be connected; a studious youth; news, message; application, reflection, meditation; also these things directed to business. Reversed: Taste, inclination, attachment, seduction, deception, artifice.
CUPS. TEN.
Appearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstasy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right arm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm. The two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner. There is a home-scene beyond. Divinatory Meanings: Contentment, repose of the entire heart; the perfection of that state; also perfection of human love and friendship; if with several picture-cards, a person who is taking charge of the Querent’s interests; also the town, village or country inhabited by the Querent. Reversed: Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence.
CUPS. NINE.
A goodly personage has feasted to his heart’s content, and abundant refreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to indicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the material side only, but there are other aspects. Divinatory Meanings: Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made. Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.
CUPS. EIGHT.
A man of dejected aspect is deserting the cups of his felicity, enterprise, undertaking or previous concern. Divinatory Meanings: The card speaks for itself on the surface, but other readings are entirely antithetical—giving joy, mildness, timidity, honor, modesty. In practice, it is usually found that the card shows the decline of a matter, or that a matter which has been thought to be important is really of slight consequence—either for good or evil. Reversed: Great joy, happiness, feasting.
CUPS. SEVEN.
Strange chalices of vision, but the images are more especially those of the fantastic spirit. Divinatory Meanings: Fairy favors, images of reflection, sentiment, imagination, things seen in the glass of contemplation; some attainment in these degrees, but nothing permanent or substantial is suggested. Reversed: Desire, will, determination, project.
CUPS. SIX.
Children in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers. Divinatory Meanings: A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as—for example—on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving new relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are disporting in an unfamiliar precinct. Reversed: The future, renewal, that which will come to pass presently.
CUPS. FIVE.
A dark, cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups; two others stand upright behind him; a bridge is in the background, leading to a small keep or holding. Divinatory Meanings: It is a card of loss, but something remains over; three have been taken, but two are left; it is a card of inheritance, patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to expectations; with some interpreters it is a card of marriage, but not without bitterness or frustration. Reversed: News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.
CUPS. FOUR.
A young man is seated under a tree and contemplates three cups set on the grass before him; an arm issuing from a cloud offers him another cup. His expression notwithstanding is one of discontent with his environment. Divinatory Meanings: Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered the wastrel, but he sees no consolation therein. This is also a card of blended pleasure. Reversed: Novelty, presage, new instruction, new relations.
CUPS. 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.
CUPS. 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 which 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 inter-relation 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.
CUPS. 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 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 connections—power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, offices of the crown, and so forth. Reversed: Cruelty, perversity, barbarity, perfidy, evil intention.
SWORDS. 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.
SWORDS. KNIGHT.
He is riding in full course, as if scattering his enemies. In the design he is really a proto-typical 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, defense, 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.
SWORDS. 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.
SWORDS. 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, favor, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority.
SWORDS. 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.
SWORDS. 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.
SWORDS. SEVEN.
A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp is close at hand. Divinatory Meanings: Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also quarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. The design is uncertain in its import, because the significations are widely at variance with each other. Reversed: Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling.
SWORDS. SIX.
A ferryman carrying passengers in his punt to the further shore. The course is smooth, and seeing that the freight is light, it may be noted that the work is not beyond his strength. Divinatory Meanings: Journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient. Reversed: Declaration, confession, publicity; one account says that it is a proposal of love.
SWORDS. FIVE.
A disdainful man looks after two retreating and dejected figures. Their swords lie upon the ground. He carries two others on his left shoulder, and a third sword is in his right hand, point to earth. He is the master in possession of the field. Divinatory Meanings: Degradation, destruction, revocation, infamy, dishonor, loss, with the variants and analogues of these. Reversed: The same; burial and obsequies.
SWORDS. FOUR.
The effigy of a knight in the attitude of prayer, at full length upon his tomb. Divinatory Meanings: Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit’s repose, exile, tomb, and coffin. It is these last that have suggested the design. Reversed: Wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament.
SWORDS. THREE.
Three swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind. Divinatory Meanings: Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally, being too simple and obvious to call for specific enumeration. Reversed: Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.
SWORDS. TWO.
A hoodwinked female figure balances two swords upon her shoulders. Divinatory Meanings: Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms; another reading gives tenderness, affection, intimacy. The suggestion of harmony and other favorable readings must be considered in a qualified manner, as Swords generally are not symbolical of beneficent forces in human affairs. Reversed: Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.
SWORDS. ACE.
A hand issues from a cloud, grasping a sword, the point of which is encircled by a crown. Divinatory Meanings: Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. It is a card of great force, in love as well as in hatred. The crown may carry a much higher significance than comes usually within the sphere of fortune-telling. Reversed: The same, but the results are disastrous; another account says—conception—childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity.
THE SUIT OF PENTACLES. KING.
The face of this figure is dark, suggesting courage, and the bull’s head should be noted as a recurrent symbol on the throne. The sign of this suit is represented throughout as engraved with the pentigram, typifying the correspondence of the four elements in human nature and that by which they may be governed. In old Tarot packs this suit represented money. The consensus of divinatory meanings is on the side of change, as the cards do not deal especially with questions of money. Divinatory Meanings: Valor, intelligence, business, mathematical gifts, and success in these paths. Reversed: Vice, weakness, perversity, peril.
PENTACLES. QUEEN.
The face suggests that of a dark woman, whose qualities might be summed up in the idea of greatness of soul; she has also the serious cast of intelligence; she contemplates her symbol and may see worlds therein. Divinatory Meanings: Opulence, generosity, magnificence, security, liberty. Reversed: Evil, suspicion, suspense, fear, mistrust.
PENTACLES. KNIGHT.
He rides a slow, enduring, heavy horse, to which his own aspect corresponds. He exhibits his symbol, but does not look therein. Divinatory Meanings: Utility, serviceableness, interest, responsibility, rectitude—all on the normal and external plane. Reversed: Inertia, idleness, repose of that kind, stagnation; also placidity, discouragement, carelessness.
PENTACLES. PAGE.
A youthful figure, looking intently at the pentacle which hovers over his raised hands. He moves slowly, insensible of that which is about him. Divinatory Meanings: Application, study, scholarship, reflection; another reading says news, messages and the bringer thereof; also rule, management. Reversed: Prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury, unfavorable news.
PENTACLES. TEN.
A man and woman beneath an archway which gives entrance to a house and domain. They are accompanied by a child, who looks curiously at two dogs accosting an ancient personage seated in the foreground. The child’s hand is on one of them. Divinatory Meanings: Gain, riches; family matters, archives, extraction, the abode of a family. Reversed: Chance, fatality, loss, robbery, games of hazard; sometimes gift, dowry, pension.
PENTACLES. NINE.
A woman, with a bird upon her wrist, stands amidst a great abundance of grape-vines in the garden of a manorial house. It is a wide domain, suggesting plenty in all things. Possibly it is her own possession and testifies to material well-being. Divinatory Meanings: Prudence, safety, success, accomplishment, certitude, discernment. Reversed: Roguery, deception, voided project, bad faith.
PENTACLES. EIGHT.
An artist in stone at his work, which he exhibits in the form of trophies. Divinatory Meanings: Work, employment, commission, craftsmanship, skill in craft and business, perhaps in the preparatory stage. Reversed: Voided ambition, vanity, cupidity, exaction, usury. It may also signify the possession of skill, in the sense of the ingenious mind turned to cunning and intrigue.
PENTACLES. SEVEN.
A young man, leaning on his staff, looks intently at seven pentacles attached to a clump of greenery on his right; one would say that these were his treasures and that his heart was there. Divinatory Meanings: These are exceedingly contradictory; in the main, it is a card of money, business, barter; but one reading gives altercation, quarrel—and another innocence, ingenuity, purgation. Reversed: Cause for anxiety regarding money which it may be proposed to lend.
PENTACLES. SIX.
A person in the guise of a merchant weighs money in a pair of scales and distributes it to the needy and distressed. It is a testimony to his own success in life, as well as his goodness of heart. Divinatory Meanings: Presents, gifts, gratification; another account says attention, vigilance; now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc. Reversed: Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.
PENTACLES. FIVE.
Two mendicants in a snowstorm pass a lighted casement. Divinatory Meanings: The card foretells material trouble above all, whether in the form illustrated—that is, destitution—or otherwise. For some cartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers—wife, husband, friend, mistress; also concordance, affinities. These alternatives cannot be harmonized. Reversed: Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy.
PENTACLES. FOUR.
A crowned figure, having a pentacle over his crown, clasps another with hands and arms; two pentacles are under his feet. He holds to that which he has. Divinatory Meanings: The surety of possessions, cleaving to that which one has, gift, legacy, inheritance. Reversed: Suspense, delay, opposition.
PENTACLES. THREE.
A sculptor at his work in a monastery. Compare the design which illustrates the Eight of Pentacles. The apprentice or amateur therein has received his reward and is now at work in earnest. Divinatory Meanings: Métier, trade, skilled labor; usually, however, regarded as a card of nobility, aristocracy, renown, glory. Reversed: Mediocrity, in work and otherwise, puerility, pettiness, weakness.
PENTACLES. TWO.
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. Divinatory Meanings: On the one hand it is represented as a card of gaiety, recreation and its connections, which is the subject of the design; but it is read also as news and messages in writing, as obstacles, agitation, trouble, embroilment. Reversed: Enforced gaiety, simulated enjoyment, literal sense, handwriting, composition, letters of exchange.
PENTACLES. ACE.
A hand—issuing, as usual, from a cloud—holds up a pentacle. 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 shows prosperity, comfortable material conditions, but whether these are of advantage to the possessor will depend on whether the card is reversed or not.
Section 3
THE GREATER ARCANA AND THEIR DIVINATORY MEANINGS
- The Magician.—Skill, diplomacy, address, subtlety; sickness, pain, loss, disaster, snares of enemies; self-confidence, will; the Querent, if male. Reversed: Physician, Magus, mental disease, disgrace, disquiet.
- The High Priestess.—Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed; the woman who interests the Querent, if male; the Querent herself, if female; silence, tenacity; mystery, wisdom, science. Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardor, conceit, surface knowledge.
- The Empress.—Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days; the unknown, clandestine; also difficulty, doubt, ignorance. Reversed: Light, truth, the unravelling of involved matters, public rejoicings; according to another reading, vacillation.
- The Emperor.—Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person; aid, reason, conviction; also authority and will. Reversed: Benevolence, compassion, credit; also confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity.
- The Hierophant.—Marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude; by another account, mercy and goodness; inspiration; the man to whom the Querent has recourse. Reversed: Society, good understanding, concord, over-kindness, weakness.
- The Lovers.—Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome. Reversed: Failure, foolish designs. Another account speaks of marriage frustrated and contrarieties of all kinds.
- The Chariot.—Succor, providence; also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble. Reversed: Riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, defeat.
- Fortitude.—Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity; also complete success and honors. Reversed: Despotism, abuse of power, weakness, discord, sometimes even disgrace.
- The Hermit.—Prudence, circumspection; also and especially treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption. Reversed: Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned caution.
- Wheel of Fortune.—Destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity. Reversed: Increase, abundance, superfluity.
- Justice.—Equity, rightness, probity, executive; triumph of the deserving side in law. Reversed: Law in all its departments, legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity.
- The Hanged Man.—Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy. Reversed: Selfishness, the crowd, body politic.
- Death.—End, mortality, destruction, corruption; also, for a man, the loss of a benefactor; for a woman, many contrarieties; for a maid, failure of marriage projects. Reversed: Inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism; hope destroyed.
- Temperance.—Economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation. Reversed: Things connected with churches, religions, sects, the priesthood, sometimes even the priest who will marry the Querent; also disunion, unfortunate combinations, competing interests.
- The Devil.—Ravage, violence, vehemence, extraordinary efforts, force, fatality; that which is predestined but is not for this reason evil. Reversed: Evil fatality, weakness, pettiness, blindness.
- The Tower.—Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception, ruin. It is a card in particular of unforeseen catastrophe. Reversed: According to one account, the same in a lesser degree; also oppression, imprisonment, tyranny.
- The Star.—Loss, theft, privation, abandonment; another reading says—hope and bright prospects. Reversed: Arrogance, haughtiness, impotence.
- The Moon.—Hidden enemies, danger, calumny, darkness, terror, deception, occult forces, error. Reversed: Instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error.
- The Sun.—Material happiness, fortunate marriage, contentment. Reversed: The same in a lesser sense.
- The Last Judgment.—Change of position, renewal, outcome. Another account specifies total loss through lawsuit. Reversed: Weakness, pusillanimity, simplicity; also deliberation, decision, sentence.
- Zero. The Fool.—Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, bewrayment. Reversed: Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.
- 21. The World.—Assured success, recompense, voyage, route, emigration, flight, change of place. Reversed: Inertia, fixity, stagnation, permanence.
Section 4
SOME ADDITIONAL MEANINGS OF THE LESSER ARCANA
- Wands. King.—Generally favorable; may signify a good marriage. Reversed: Advice that should be followed.
- Queen.—A good harvest, which may be taken in several senses. Reversed: Good-will towards the Querent, but without the opportunity to exercise it.
- Knight.—A bad card; according to some readings, alienation. Reversed: For a woman, marriage, but probably frustrated.
- Page.—Young man of family in search of young lady. Reversed: Bad news.
- Ten.—Difficulties and contradictions, if near a good card.
- Nine.—Generally speaking, a bad card.
- Eight.—Domestic disputes for a married person.
- Seven.—A dark child.
- Six.—Servants may lose the confidence of their masters; a young lady may be betrayed by a friend. Reversed: Fulfilment of deferred hope.
- Five.—Success in financial speculation. Reversed: Quarrels may be turned to advantage.
- Four.—Unexpected good fortune. Reversed: A married woman will have beautiful children.
- Three.—A very good card; collaboration will favor enterprise.
- Two.—A young lady may expect trivial disappointments.
- Ace.—Calamities of all kinds. Reversed: A sign of birth.
- Cups. King.—Beware of ill-will on the part of a man of position, and of hypocrisy pretending to help. Reversed: Loss.
- Queen.—Sometimes denotes a woman of equivocal character. Reversed: A rich marriage for a man and a distinguished one for a woman.
- Knight.—A visit from a friend, who will bring unexpected money to the Querent. Reversed: Irregularity.
- Page.—Good augury; also a young man who is unfortunate in love. Reversed: Obstacles of all kinds.
- Ten.—For a male Querent, a good marriage and one beyond his expectations. Reversed: Sorrow; also a serious quarrel.
- Nine.—Of good augury for military men. Reversed: Good business.
- Eight.—Marriage with a fair woman. Reversed: Perfect satisfaction.
- Seven.—Fair child; idea, design, resolve, movement. Reversed: Success, if accompanied by the Three of Cups.
- Six.—Pleasant memories. Reversed: Inheritance to fall in quickly.
- Five.—Generally favorable; a happy marriage; also patrimony, legacies, gifts, success in enterprise. Reversed: Return of some relative who has not been seen for long.
- Four.—Contrarieties. Reversed: Presentiment.
- Three.—Unexpected advancement for a military man. Reversed: Consolation, cure, end of the business.
- Two.—Favorable in things of pleasure and business, as well as in love; also wealth and honor. Reversed: Passion.
- Ace.—Inflexible will, unalterable law. Reversed: Unexpected change of position.
- Swords. King.—A lawyer, senator, doctor. Reversed: A bad man; also a caution to put an end to a ruinous lawsuit.
- Queen.—A widow. Reversed: A bad woman, with ill-will towards the Querent.
- Knight.—A soldier, man of arms, satellite, stipendiary; heroic action predicted for soldier. Reversed: Dispute with an imbecile person; for a woman, struggle with a rival, who will be conquered.
- Page.—An indiscreet person will pry into the Querent’s secrets. Reversed: Astonishing news.
- Ten.—Followed by Ace and King, imprisonment; for girl or wife, treason on the part of friends. Reversed: Victory and consequent fortune for a soldier in war.
- Nine.—An ecclesiastic, a priest; generally, a card of bad omen. Reversed: Good ground for suspicion against a doubtful person.
- Eight.—For a woman, scandal spread in her respect. Reversed: Departure of a relative.
- Seven.—Dark girl; a good card; it promises a country life after a competence has been secured. Reversed: Good advice, probably neglected.
- Six.—The voyage will be pleasant. Reversed: Unfavorable issue of lawsuit.
- Five.—An attack on the fortune of the Querent. Reversed: A sign of sorrow and mourning.
- Four.—A bad card, but if reversed a qualified success may be expected by wise administration of affairs. Reversed: A certain success following wise administration.
- Three.—For a woman, the flight of her lover. Reversed: A meeting with one whom the Querent has compromised; also a nun.
- Two.—Gifts for a lady, influential protection for a man in search of help. Reversed: Dealings with rogues.
- Ace.—Great prosperity or great misery. Reversed: Marriage broken off, for a woman, through her own imprudence.
- Pentacles. King.—A rather dark man, a merchant, master, professor. Reversed: An old and vicious man.
- Queen.—Dark woman; presents from a rich relative; rich and happy marriage for a young man. Reversed: An illness.
- Knight.—A useful man; useful discoveries. Reversed: A brave man out of employment.
- Page.—A dark youth; a young officer or soldier; a child. Reversed: Sometimes degradation and sometimes pillage.
- Ten.—Represents house or dwelling, and derives its value from other cards. Reversed: An occasion which may be fortunate or otherwise.
- Nine.—Prompt fulfilment of what is presaged by neighboring cards. Reversed: Vain hopes.
- Eight.—A young man in business who has relations with the Querent; a dark girl. Reversed: The Querent will be compromised in a matter of money-lending.
- Seven.—Improved position for a lady’s future husband. Reversed: Impatience, apprehension, suspicion.
- Six.—The present must not be relied on. Reversed: A check on the Querent’s ambition.
- Five.—Conquest of fortune by reason. Reversed: Troubles in love.
- Four.—For a bachelor, pleasant news from a lady. Reversed: Observation, hindrances.
- Three.—If for a man, celebrity for his eldest son. Reversed: Depends on neighboring cards.
- Two.—Troubles are more imaginary than real. Reversed: Bad omen, ignorance, injustice.
- Ace.—The most favorable of all cards. Reversed: A share in the finding of treasure.
It will be observed (1) that these additamenta have little connection with the pictorial designs of the cards to which they refer, as these correspond with the more important speculative values; (2) and further that the additional meanings are very often in disagreement with those previously given. All meanings are largely independent of one another and all are reduced, accentuated or subject to modification and sometimes almost reversal by their place in a sequence. There is scarcely any canon of criticism in matters of this kind. I suppose that in proportion as any system descends from generalities to details it becomes naturally the more precarious; and in the records of professional fortune-telling, it offers more of the dregs and lees of the subject. At the same time, divinations based on intuition and second sight are of little practical value unless they come down from the region of universals to that of particulars; but in proportion as this gift is present in a particular case, the specific meanings recorded by past cartomancists will be disregarded in favor of the personal appreciation of card values.
This has been intimated already. It seems necessary to add the following speculative readings. Section 5
THE RECURRENCE OF CARDS IN DEALING IN THE NATURAL POSITION
- 4 Kings=great honor; 3 Kings=consultation; 2 Kings=minor counsel.
- 4 Queen=great debate; 3 Queens=deception by women; 2 Queens=sincere friends.
- 4 Knights=serious matters; 3 Knight=lively debate; 2 Knights=intimacy.
- 4 Pages=dangerous illness; 3 Pages=dispute; 2 Pages=disquiet.
- 4 Tens=condemnation; 3 Tens=new condition; 2 Tens=change.
- 4 Nines=a good friend; 3 Nines=success; 2 Nines=receipt.
- 4 Eights=reverse; 3 Eights=marriage; 2 Eights=new knowledge.
- 4 Sevens=intrigue; 3 Sevens=infirmity; 2 Sevens=news.
- 4 Sixes=abundance; 3 Sixes=success; 2 Sixes=irritability.
- 4 Fives=regularity; 3 Fives=determination; 2 Fives=vigils.
- 4 Fours=journey near at hand; 3 Fours=a subject of reflection; 2 Fours=insomnia.
- 4 Threes=progress; 3 Threes=unity; 2 Threes=calm.
- 4 Twos=contention; 3 twos=security; 2 Twos=accord.
- 4 Aces=favorable chance; 3 Aces=small success; 2 Aces=trickery.
Reversed
- 4 Kings=celerity; 3 Kings=commerce; 2 Kings=projects.
- 4 Queens=bad company; 3 Queens=gluttony; 2 Queens=work.
- 4 Knights=alliance; 3 Knights=a duel, or personal encounter; 2 Knights=susceptibility.
- 4 Pages=privation; 3 Pages=idleness; 2 Pages=society.
- 4 Tens=event, happening; 3 Tens=disappointment; 2 Tens=expectation justified.
- 4 Nines=usury; 3 Nines=imprudence; 2 Nines=small profit.
- 4 Eights=error; 3 Eights=a spectacle; 2 Eights=misfortune.
- 4 Sevens=quarrellers; 3 Sevens=joy; 2 Sevens=women of no repute.
- 4 Sixes=care; 3 Sixes=satisfaction; 2 Sixes=downfall.
- 4 Fives=order; 3 Fives=hesitation; 2 Fives=reverse.
- 4 Fours=walks abroad; 3 Fours=disquiet; 2 Fours=dispute.
- 4 Threes=great success; 3 Threes=serenity; 2 Threes=safety.
- 4 Twos=reconciliation; 3 Twos=apprehension; 2 Twos=mistrust.
- 4 Aces=dishonor; 3 Aces=debauchery; 2 Aces=enemies.
Section 6
THE ART OF TAROT DIVINATION
Section 7
AN ANCIENT CELTIC METHOD OF DIVINATION
This mode of divination is the most suitable for obtaining an answer to a definite question. The Diviner first selects a card to represent the person or matter about which inquiry is made. This card is called the Significator. Should he wish to ascertain something in connection with himself he takes the one which corresponds to his personal description. A Knight should be chosen as the Significator if the subject of inquiry is a man of forty years old and upward; A King should be chosen for any male who is under that age; a Queen for a woman over forty years; and a Page for any female of less age.
The four Court Cards in Wands represent very fair people, with yellow or auburn hair, fair complexion and blue eyes. The Court Cards in Cups signify people with light brown or dull fair hair and grey or blue eyes. Those in Swords stand for people having hazel or grey eyes, dark brown hair and dull complexion. Lastly, the Court Cards in Pentacles are referred to persons with very dark brown or black hair, dark eyes and sallow or swarthy complexions. These allocations are subject, however, to the following reserve, which will prevent them being taken too conventionally. You can be guided on occasion by the known temperament of a person; one who is exceedingly dark may be very energetic, and would be better represented by a Sword card than a Pentacle. On the other hand, a very fair subject who is indolent and lethargic should be referred to Cups rather than to Wands.
If it is more convenient for the purpose of a divination to take as the Significator the matter about which inquiry is to be made, that Trump or small card should be selected which has a meaning corresponding to the matter. Let it be supposed that the question is: Will a lawsuit be necessary? In this case, take the Trump No. 11, or Justice, as the Significator. This has reference to legal affairs. But if the question is: Shall I be successful in my lawsuit? one of the Court Cards must be chosen as the Significator. Subsequently, consecutive divinations may be performed to ascertain the course of the process itself and its result to each of the parties concerned.
Having selected the Significator, place it on the table, face upwards. Then shuffle and cut the rest of the pack three times, keeping the faces of the cards downwards.
Turn up the top or First Card of the pack; cover the Significator with it, and say: This covers him. This card gives the influence which is affecting the person or matter of inquiry generally, the atmosphere of it in which the other currents work.
Turn up the Second Card and lay it across the First, saying: This crosses him. It shows the nature of the obstacles in the matter. If it is a favorable card, the opposing forces will not be serious, or it may indicate that something good in itself will not be productive of good in the particular connection.
Turn up the Third Card; place it above the Significator, and say: This crowns him. It represents (a) the Querent’s aim or ideal in the matter; (b) the best that can be achieved under the circumstances, but that which has not yet been made actual.
Turn up the Fourth Card; place it below the Significator, and say: This is beneath him. It shows the foundation or basis of the matter, that which has already passed into actuality and which the Significator has made his own.
Turn up the Fifth Card; place it on the side of the Significator from which he is looking, and say: This is behind him. It gives the influence that is just passed, or is now passing away.
N. B.—If the Significator is a Trump or any small card that cannot be said to face either way, the Diviner must decide before beginning the operation which side he will take it as facing.
Turn up the Sixth Card; place it on the side that the Significator is facing, and say: This is before him. It shows the influence that is coming into action and will operate in the near future.
The cards are now disposed in the form of a cross, the Significator—covered by the First Card—being in the center.
The next four cards are turned up in succession and placed one above the other in a line, on the right hand side of the cross.
The first of these, or the Seventh Card of the operation, signifies himself—that is, the Significator—whether person or thing—and shows its position or attitude in the circumstances.
The Eighth Card signifies his house, that is, his environment and the tendencies at work therein which have an effect on the matter—for instance, his position in life, the influence of immediate friends, and so forth.
The Ninth Card gives his hopes or fears in the matter.
The Tenth Card is what will come, the final result, the culmination which is brought about by the influences shown by the other cards that have been turned up in the divination.
It is on this card that the Diviner should especially concentrate his intuitive faculties and his memory in respect of the official divinatory meanings attached thereto. It should embody whatsoever you may have divined from the other cards on the table, including the Significator itself and concerning him or it, not excepting such lights upon higher significance as might fall like sparks from heaven if the card which serves for the oracle, the card for reading, should happen to be a Trump Major.
The operation is now completed; but should it happen that the last card is of a dubious nature, from which no final decision can be drawn, or which does not appear to indicate the ultimate conclusion of the affair, it may be well to repeat the operation, taking in this case the Tenth Card as the Significator, instead of the one previously used. The pack must be again shuffled and cut three times and the first ten cards laid out as before. By this a more detailed account of “What will come” may be obtained.
If in any divination the Tenth Card should be a Court Card, it shows that the subject of the divination falls ultimately into the hands of a person represented by that card, and its end depends mainly on him. In this event also it is useful to take the Court Card in question as the Significator in a fresh operation, and discover what is the nature of his influence in the matter and to what issue he will bring it.
Great facility may be obtained by this method in a comparatively short time, allowance being always made for the gifts of the operator—that is to say, his faculty of insight, latent or developed—and it has the special advantage of being free from all complications. DIAGRAM
I here append a diagram of the cards as laid out in this mode of divination. The Significator is here facing to the left.
 |
The Significator. |
 |
1. What covers him. |
| 2. What crosses him. | |
| 3. What crowns him. | |
| 4. What is beneath him. | |
| 5. What is behind him. | |
| 6. What is before him. | |
| 7. Himself. | |
| 8. His house. | |
| 9. His hopes or fears. | |
| 10. What will come. |
Section 8
AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF READING THE TAROT CARDS
Shuffle the entire pack and turn some of the cards round, so as to invert their tops.
Let them be cut by the Querent with his left hand.
Deal out the first forty-two cards in six packets of seven cards each, face upwards, so that the first seven cards form the first packet, the following seven the second, so on—as in the following diagram:—
Take up the first packet; lay out the cards on the table in a row, from right to left; place the cards of the second packet upon them and then the packets which remain. You will thus have seven new packets of six cards each, arranged as follows—
Take the top card of each packet, shuffle them and lay out from right to left, making a line of seven cards.
Then take up the two next cards from each packet, shuffle and lay them out in two lines under the first line.
Take up the remaining twenty-one cards of the packets, shuffle and lay them out in three lines below the others.
You will thus have six horizontal lines of seven cards each, arranged after the following manner.
1st line.
2nd line.
3rd line.
4th line.
5th line.
6th line.
In this method, the Querent—if of the male sex—is represented by the Magician, and if female by the High Priestess; but the card, in either case, is not taken from the pack until the forty-two cards have been laid out, as above directed. If the required card is not found among those placed upon the table, it must be sought among the remaining thirty-six cards, which have not been dealt, and should be placed a little distance to the right of the first horizontal line. On the other hand, if it is among them, it is also taken out, placed as stated, and a card is drawn haphazard from the thirty-six cards undealt to fill the vacant position, so that there are still forty-two cards laid out on the table.
The cards are then read in succession, from right to left throughout, beginning at card No. 1 of the top line, the last to be read being that on the extreme left, or No. 7, of the bottom line.
This method is recommended when no definite question is asked—that is, when the Querent wishes to learn generally concerning the course of his life and destiny. If he wishes to know what may befall within a certain time, this time should be clearly specified before the cards are shuffled.
With further reference to the reading, it should be remembered that the cards must be interpreted relatively to the subject, which means that all official and conventional meanings of the cards may and should be adapted to harmonize with the conditions of this particular case in question—the position, time of life and sex of the Querent, or person for whom the consultation is made.
Thus, the Fool may indicate the whole range of mental phases between mere excitement and madness, but the particular phase in each divination must be judged by considering the general trend of the cards, and in this naturally the intuitive faculty plays an important part.
It is well at the beginning of a reading, to run through the cards quickly, so that the mind may receive a general impression of the subject—the trend of the destiny—and afterwards to start again—reading them one by one and interpreting in detail.
It should be remembered that the Trumps represent more powerful and compelling forces—by the Tarot hypothesis—than are referable to the small cards.
The value of intuitive and clairvoyant faculties is of course assumed in divination. Where these are naturally present or have been developed by the Diviner, the fortuitous arrangement of cards forms a link between his mind and the atmosphere of the subject of divination, and then the rest is simple. Where intuition fails, or is absent, concentration, intellectual observation and deduction must be used to the fullest extent to obtain a satisfactory result. But intuition, even if apparently dormant, may be cultivated by practice in these divinatory processes. If in doubt as to the exact meaning of a card in a particular connection, the Diviner is recommended, by those who are versed in the matter, to place his hand on it, try to refrain from thinking of what it ought to be, and note the impressions that arise in his mind. At the beginning this will probably resolve itself into mere guessing and may prove incorrect, but it becomes possible with practice to distinguish between a guess of the conscious mind and an impression arising from the mind which is sub-conscious. It is not within my province to offer either theoretical or practical suggestions on this subject, in which I have no part, but the following additamenta have been contributed by one who has more titles to speak than all the cartomancists of Europe, if they could shuffle with a single pair of hands and divine with one tongue.
Notes On The Practice Of Divination
- Before beginning the operation, formulate your question definitely, and repeat it aloud.
- Make your mind as blank as possible while shuffling the cards.
- Put out of the mind personal bias and preconceived ideas as far as possible, or your judgment will be tinctured thereby.
- On this account it is more easy to divine correctly for a stranger than for yourself or a friend.
Section 9
THE METHOD OF READING BY MEANS OF THIRTY-FIVE CARDS
When the reading is over, according to the scheme set forth in the last method, it may happen—as in the previous case—that something remains doubtful, or it may be desired to carry the question further, which is done as follows:
Take up the undealt cards which remain over, not having been used in the first operation with 42 cards. The latter are set aside in a heap, with the Querent, face upwards, on the top. The thirty-five cards, being shuffled and cut as before, are divided by dealing into six packets thus:—
Packet I consists of the first Seven Cards; Packet II consists of the Six Cards next following in order; Packet III consists of the Five Cards following; Packet IV contains the next Four Cards; Packet V contains Two Cards; and Packet VI contains the last Eleven Cards. The arrangement will then be as follows:—
Take up these packets successively; deal out the cards which they contain in six lines, which will be necessarily of unequal length.
The First Line stands for the house, the environment and so forth.
The Second Line stands for the person or subject of the divination.
The Third Line stands for what is passing outside, events, persons, etc.
The Fourth Line stands for a surprise, the unexpected, etc.
The Fifth Line stands for consolation, and may moderate all that is unfavorable in the preceding lines.
The Sixth Line is that which must be consulted to elucidate the enigmatic oracles of the others; apart from them it has no importance.
These cards should all be read from left to right, beginning with the uppermost line.
It should be stated in conclusion as to this divinatory part that there is no method of interpreting Tarot cards which is not applicable to ordinary playing-cards, but the additional court cards, and above all the Trumps Major, are held to increase the elements and values of the oracles.
And now in conclusion as to the whole matter, I have left for these last words—as if by way of epilogue—one further and final point. It is the sense in which I regard the Trumps Major as containing Secret Doctrine. I do not here mean that I am acquainted with orders and fraternities in which such doctrine reposes and is there found to be part of higher Tarot knowledge. I do not mean that such doctrine, being so preserved and transmitted, can be constructed as imbedded independently in the Trumps Major. I do not mean that it is something apart from the Tarot. Associations exist which have special knowledge of both kinds; some of it is deduced from the Tarot and some of it is apart therefrom; in either case, it is the same in the root-matter. But there are also things in reserve which are not in orders or societies, but are transmitted after another manner. Apart from all inheritance of this kind, let any one who is a mystic consider separately and in combination the Magician, the Fool, the High Priestess, the Hierophant, the Empress, the Emperor, the Hanged Man and the Tower. Let him then consider the card called the Last Judgment. They contain the legend of the soul. The other Trumps Major are the details and—as one might say—the accidents. Perhaps such a person will begin to understand what lies far behind these symbols, by whomsoever first invented and however preserved. If he does, he will see also why I have concerned myself with the subject, even at the risk of writing about divination by cards.