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

  About the Author

  Sasha Graham teaches tarot classes and produces tarot events at New York City’s premier cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has appeared on film, television, radio, and in the New York Times, and she hosts The Enchanted Kitchen, a tarot-inspired cooking show. She splits her time between New York City and the Catskills.

  Visit her online at sashagraham.com.

  Other titles by Sasha Graham:

  365 Tarot Spells

  365 Tarot Spreads

  Tarot Diva

  Editor and Author:

  Tarot Fundamentals

  Tarot Experience

  Tarot Compendium

  Tarot Decks:

  Haunted House Tarot

  Dark Wood Tarot

  Copyright Information

  Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot: A Journey Through the History, Meaning, and Use of the World’s Most Famous Deck © 2018 by Sasha Graham.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

  Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the author’s copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

  First e-book edition © 2018

  E-book ISBN: 9780738755366

  Book design by Rebecca Zins

  Cover design by Shira Atakpu

  Rider-Waite Tarot Deck®, also known as the Rider Tarot and the Waite Tarot,

  reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902 USA.

  Copyright ©1971 by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Further reproduction prohibited.

  The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck® is a registered trademark of U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

  For a complete list of image credits, see page 475

  Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Graham, Sasha, author.

  Title: Llewellyn’s complete book of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot : a journey

  through the history, meaning, and use of the world’s most famous deck /

  foreword by Stuart R. Kaplan ; Sasha Graham.

  Description: first edition. | Woodbury : Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2018. |

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018031414 (print) | LCCN 2018032645 (ebook) | ISBN

  9780738755366 (ebook) | ISBN 9780738753195 (alk. paper)

  Subjects: LCSH: Tarot.

  Classification: LCC BF1879.T2 (ebook) | LCC BF1879.T2 G6567 2018 (print) |

  DDC 133.3/2424—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018031414

  Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

  Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website for links to current author websites.

  Llewellyn Publications

  Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

  2143 Wooddale Drive

  Woodbury, MN 55125

  www.llewellyn.com

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  To those traversing mystery, magic, and enchantment, even when

  it’s not warm, fuzzy, and sprinkled with fairy dust,

  this book is for you.

  To those diving deep, reading between lines, and

  asking questions of consequence,

  this is for you.

  To those basking in shadows with

  card, cup, and candle,

  this is for you.

  To my beautiful Isabella,

  as always,

  this book

  is for

  you.

  CONTENTS

  Foreword by Stuart R. Kaplan

  Timeline

  Introduction

  Chapter One: Kether (Crown) The Big Picture Show

  Chapter Two: Chokmah (Wisdom) A Deeper Look

  Chapter Three: Binah (Understanding) The Golden Dawn

  Chapter Four: Chesed (Mercy) Kabbalistic Tree of Life

  Chapter Five: Geburah (Strength) Astrology

  Chapter Six: Tiphareth (Beauty) The Major Arcana

  Chapter Seven: Netzach (Victory) The Minor Arcana

  Chapter Eight: Hod (Splendor) The Court Cards

  Chapter Nine: Yesod (Foundation) How to Read the Cards

  Chapter Ten: Malkuth (Kingdom) 78 Spreads

  Appendix: Symbol Dictionary

  Glossary

  Thank You

  Image Credits

  Bibliography

  Foreword

  There are countless ways to understand tarot. Some people view tarot cards as an unbound storybook containing seventy-eight pages changing with each card shuffle. Other tarot users focus on the social and historical background of the cards and the allegorical symbols that appear on the cards. Whether your interest in tarot centers on meditation, inspiration, or guidance, Sasha Graham reveals new interpretations of the symbolic images drawn by Pamela Colman Smith.

  Although Pamela Colman Smith and Sasha Graham live a century apart in time, some of their interests are strikingly parallel. Pamela was active in the theater, a storyteller, and an author. Sasha too is active in the theater, a storyteller, and an author. Each of them entertains the public in unique ways. Pamela dressed herself in colorful scarves and frocks, lit oil lanterns, and entertained with her Jamaican folk tales. Sasha dresses in sequins and silks, lights candles, and entertains by reading tarot at glittering Manhattan parties and events. Pamela and Sasha leave a legacy of books, Pamela with multiple illustrated and authored volumes such as The Book of Friendly Giants and The Annancy Stories. Sasha has authored three books on tarot: Tarot Diva, 365 Tarot Spreads, and 365 Tarot Spells, and she has contributed to several additional tarot titles.

  I first met Sasha in 2012 at a booksellers trade show in New York City. There was an immediate connection between us. We both had symbolic birthdays: Sasha was born on Halloween, and I was born on April Fools’ Day. At age seventeen Sasha longed for a deeper cultural life and fled from her family’s country home to New York City, where she would enroll at Hunter College. At age eighteen I fled from New York City to Paris, France, and enrolled at the Sorbonne. She appeared in a variety of off-Broadway theaters and became a B-movie star, playing roles as a vampire, a werewolf, and an alien. After receiving a degree in literature and comparative religion, Sasha forged a career in the metaphysics of tarot. Our mutual interest in the Rider-Waite tarot is a special bond that all tarot believers share with each other.

  My first encounter with tarot was in my mid-thirties when I traveled to the Nuremberg Toy Fair. I came across the Swiss 1JJ tarot deck at a printer’s exhibition booth. My direction f
or tarot was to publish the cards by U.S. Games Systems and to make them readily available. Thereafter, I secured the rights to the Rider-Waite tarot deck, which is now the most popular tarot deck, enjoyed by millions of people.

  Sasha’s first encounter with a tarot deck was at twelve years of age. She always had an interest in the unexplained, and she was drawn to the yellow Rider-Waite box that she saw in a store. The mysterious card images inside the box intrigued her. After studying the tarot, Sasha became proficient in reading the cards and has enjoyed a loyal following for many years. She delights in finding innovative ways to incorporate tarot into modern life.

  This book is quite unique in a marketplace selling hundreds of books about the Rider-Waite tarot deck. Sasha gathers the complexity and history of Pamela’s deck and presents it to the reader in an entertaining and understandable way. Pamela reached beyond the veil to reveal hidden worlds with her brushes and inks; Sasha does the same with her language and research. Sasha takes up Pamela’s role as storyteller and crafts a text that is grounded in practical tarot information yet reveals the divine nature of the creative minds that created it.

  The book often reads like a novel, and other times we feel we are in the hands of a mystic. Sasha’s research moves us to the original source of the deck. She returns us to Pamela and Waite’s original intentions repeatedly. Using her knowledge of the Kabbalah and the Tree of Life, Sasha Graham presents a down-to-earth approach to understanding the Rider-Waite tarot deck in a fresh and lively manner. Each card is described in detail as it relates to the branches of the Tree of Life.

  The result is a text as rich, complex, and entertaining as the tarot deck itself. This book is indispensable for the tarot lover. It is a rare text that can be read for learning and pleasure. Sasha, in her undeniably creative way, finishes her beautiful book with seventy-eight spreads. Each spread is based on one of Pamela’s cards so the reader may get to the good work of reading their cards and putting their newfound knowledge to use.

  After Pamela finished creating the Rider-Waite tarot deck, she never again referred to the cards. Instead, for Sasha and for me, the Rider-Waite tarot deck opened new opportunities that altered our future careers.

  Pamela would be surprised to learn that her cards today enjoy a worldwide popularity. Readers of this book will view the Rider-Waite tarot deck from a new perspective. They will come away with a greater appreciation for the depth of the Rider-Waite tarot thanks to Sasha’s insights and research.

  Stuart R. Kaplan

  stamford, ct

  [contents]

  Timeline

  Tarot has no certifiable “beginning” or start date of invention or use as an art object or gaming or divination tool.

  c. 1440—Tarot decks are commissioned by wealthy families. In Italy common tarot is played as a game in Renaissance courts and as a game of chance in taverns.

  1650—Marseille Tarot, an iconographic model, spreads across Europe.

  1770—Tarot’s first divinatory book, A Way to Entertain Yourself with a Deck of Cards by Etteilla, is published in France.

  1855—Tarot’s first connection to Hebrew letters and the Tree of Life is made by Éliphas Lévi in his book Dogma and Ritual of High Magic.

  1857—Arthur Edward Waite is born in Brooklyn, New York.

  1858—Waite’s father, Charles Waite, a Merchant Marine, dies on September 29. Waite’s sister is born three days later.

  1859—Waite’s English mother, Emma Lovell, brings the family home to England.

  1863—Waite’s mother leaves the Church of England and converts the family to Roman Catholicism on October 8.

  1874—Waite’s sister dies at age 15.

  1876—Waite begins a correspondence with English poet Robert Browning regarding poetry and publishing advice.

  1877—Waite’s first book, Ode to Astronomy, is published.

  1878—Pamela Colman Smith is born in London to American parents.

  1878—At age 20, Waite publishes his first story in The Idler. It is “Tom Trueheart,” a work of fiction in the style of penny dreadfuls. Waite embraces Spiritualism.

  1881—Waite discovers Éliphas Lévi’s canon of work connecting the tarot to the Tree of Life.

  1888—The Tarot: Its Occult Significance, Use in Fortune-Telling and Method of Play by S. L. MacGregor Mathers is published in England.

  1888—The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is established in England.

  1888—Waite’s daughter, Sybil, is born October 22.

  1889—Pamela and family move to Jamaica.

  1889—Tarot of the Bohemians by Papus is published in France, expanding on Lévi’s Tarot/Kabbalah connections.

  1891—Arthur Waite and his wife, Ada, are initiated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Waite calls the organization “the House of Hidden Stairs.”

  1893—Pamela moves to New York and enrolls at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. She studies under Arthur Wesley Dow. She declares “teaching or illustration” as her career goal.

  1896—Pamela’s mother, Corrine Colman, dies in Jamaica.

  1897—Pamela leaves the Pratt Institute the same year Bram Stoker publishes Dracula in England.

  1899—Pamela’s father brings her to London and arranges an interview with Bram Stoker, who works as manager of the Lyceum Theater. Pamela is hired to illustrate a souvenir brochure for an upcoming Lyceum Theater American tour.

  1899—Pamela joins Lyceum Theater’s American tour as a designer and background player.

  1899—Pamela’s father dies and she returns to England with the Lyceum Theater, her newly adopted theatrical family.

  1899—Waite purchases a home at 31 South Ealing Road, London.

  1900—Pamela begins work with various London theaters.

  1901—Pamela establishes a residence in London and holds bohemian open house evenings.

  1901—Pamela’s friend W. B. Yeats, poet and playwright, introduces her to the Golden Dawn.

  1901—Waite becomes a Freemason, initiated into Runymede Lodge in Buckinghamshire.

  1902—Waite joins the Pen and Pencil, a literary club. He and literary friend Arthur Machen create a small literary club called “the Sodality of the Shadows,” where members are initiated with a drunken twenty-two-stage ritual based on Hebrew letters.

  1903—Waite founds his version of the Golden Dawn, the Independent and Rectified Order R.R. ae A. C.

  1903—Pamela launches her own private press magazine, The Green Sheaf.

  1905—A monthly occult magazine, The Occult Review, begins publication. Waite will write, edit, and contribute for the next twenty years.

  1907—At the National Arts Club, NYC, Pamela presents a recital of folk stories from Jamaica and reads Old English ballads and poems by W. B. Yeats.

  1908—Pamela exhibits 72 pieces at Arthur Stieglitz’s Photo Secession Gallery in New York City, January 5–15. Pamela is the first non-photographic artist to be shown at “291.”

  1909—Pamela exhibits a second show at Arthur Stieglitz’s Photo Secession Gallery in New York City.

  1909—The Rider-Waite Deck is published by William Rider and Sons of London.

  1911—Pamela illustrates Bram Stoker’s novel Lair of the White Worm.

  1911—Pamela converts to Catholicism.

  1912—Pamela has a show at the Berlin Photographic Company in New York City.

  1915—Waite leaves the Golden Dawn and brings ten former members to create the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. Magical, pagan, and Egyptian references are removed while the order focuses on Rosicrucian and Christian symbolism.

  1917—Pamela illustrates The Way of the Cross, a deck of thirty cards with French verses.

  1919—Waite leaves London and moves to the Kent coast.

  1924—Waite’s wife, Ada, dies.

  1932—Stuart Kaplan is born on April Fool’s
Day.

  1933—Waite marries Mary Broadbent Schofield.

  1942—Arthur Waite dies at age 90. His grave is at Bishopsbourne.

  1951—Pamela Colman Smith dies at age 73.

  1951—Stuart Kaplan moves to Paris.

  1968—Stuart Kaplan forms U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

  1968—Stuart Kaplan discovers the Swiss 1JJ Tarot at a German toy fair and negotiates the rights and distribution into the United States.

  1970—Stuart Kaplan writes and publishes Tarot Cards for Fun and Fortune Telling.

  1971—The Rider Tarot Deck is published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

  1972—Stuart Kaplan writes and publishes The Tarot Classic.

  1975—The Delaware Art Museum and the Princeton University Art Museum present a show: To All Believers—The Art of Pamela Colman Smith.

  1977—McMaster University Art Gallery presents Pamela Colman Smith: An Exhibition of Her Work in association with the tenth annual seminar of the Canadian Association for Irish Studies.

  [contents]

  introduction

  Welcome to Llewellyn’s Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot. The RWS deck (as I will refer to it through the book) is the most used, shuffled, and read tarot deck of all time. This guide is an attempt to understand exactly what its creators, Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith, were doing when they made it over one hundred years ago. What was their intention? What were they trying to accomplish? Why did they think it was important to create a tarot deck? Illustrator Pamela Colman Smith and author Arthur Edward Waite are my main sources of information for this book. We will return to their words and ideas again and again.

  Moving past the initial reasons as to why Pamela and Waite created the deck are more evocative questions. What does tarot mean for you? How can you use tarot? How does tarot help you understand the world? What does tarot represent? Why do people come to tarot? What lies beneath the cards’ images? What does tarot teach us? Where can tarot bring us? What does tarot reveal? How does tarot evolve?

  The chapters in this book align with the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is a mystical representation of how reality takes shape and form in the material world. Occultists call the material world’s unfolding or emerging process the Journey of Emergence. In this book we will work our way down through the tree and the tarot to understand how the RWS deck emerged. The tree will give context and history. The deck’s magical underlying principles will unfold before you. The book culminates in grounded instructions on how to use the cards. Seventy-eight tarot spreads are included, each one based on a specific tarot card.