Radiant Rider-Waite-Smith, © U.S. Games Systems, Inc. The 5 of Swords is another RWS card in which Smith's image sends a mixed message that has caused a good deal of head-scratching. The man in the foreground appears to be victorious over his retreating adversaries (and even sports a small, self-satisfied smile), but the Golden Dawn … Continue reading The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 5 of Swords
Pips
The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 7 of Swords
Radiant Rider-Waite-Smith, © U.S. Games Systems, Inc. It's hard to tell just what this card is promising. Waite himself says "The design is uncertain in its import, because the significations are widely at variance with each other." Does it mean a chance to get away with something, like a "thief in the night?" A conflicted … Continue reading The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 7 of Swords
The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 10 of Swords
Radiant Rider-Waite-Smith, © U.S. Games Systems, Inc. This is the "scorched earth" card of the RWS deck - even more so than the Tower, which flattens the structure but doesn't necessarily raze it to its foundation and then poison the surrounding soil. The 10 of Swords gets personal, right down to the particulars. Here, there … Continue reading The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 10 of Swords
The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 9 of Swords
Radiant Rider-Waite-Smith, © U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Now things start to go downhill fast in the morose-looking 9 of Swords! By all accounts, Nine is a positive number; the Third Perfection of the Greeks, the fulfillment of the element of a suit (with the Ten as a fading postscript), the number representing return to balance … Continue reading The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 9 of Swords
The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 3 of Swords
Radiant Rider-Waite-Smith, © U.S. Games Systems The RWS version of the 3 of Swords is one card that I think can be easily misinterpreted. It has a heart on it, so it must be about heartache, right? But I see that heart as something of a red herring. Tough-minded Swords are related to mentally exigent … Continue reading The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 3 of Swords
The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 8 of Swords
Radiant Rider-Waite-Smith, © U.S. Games Systems, Inc. One of the greatest challenges for a tarot reader is fashioning constructive advice out of what are patently difficult cards. As I'm fond of saying, I'm no fan of the insipid - and untrue - platitude "It's all good" since, the last time I looked, "bad things" still … Continue reading The Suit of Swords as “Opportunity” – 8 of Swords
A Study in Facing, Part 3: Pip Cards
The Minor Arcana, or "pip" cards, of the RWS deck are by far the most diverse population from a directional standpoint, since there are more cards that I would classify as "ambiguous." This includes cards with posture/gaze misalignment and cards with multiple figures that give no clear sense of facing or "visual flow." There are … Continue reading A Study in Facing, Part 3: Pip Cards
“Hard” and “Soft” Suits
One concept from the Tarot de Marseille "school" of interpretation - which has a meager divinatory legacy unless one can read French - that is worth carrying forward into general use is that of "hard" and "soft" suits. The former are comprised of the Wands and Swords cards, while the latter encompass the Cups and … Continue reading “Hard” and “Soft” Suits
Adherence of the RWS Pips to Their Golden Dawn Roots
As a follow-up to my previous post on the relationship between the RWS and Thoth decks and their common source in the Golden Dawn's esoteric system, I conducted a small exploratory analysis of the relative adherence of the RWS pip cards to their Golden Dawn roots. I took the descriptions in Liber T and compared … Continue reading Adherence of the RWS Pips to Their Golden Dawn Roots
Thoth Pip Cards as Emotions
A couple of years ago one of my Aeclectic Tarot forum mates conducted an exercise to explore how the Minor Arcana, or "pip" cards, of the Thoth deck might be categorized as a range of emotional expressions: Joy, Anger, Love, Grief, Surprise, Fear, Trust and Anxiety. Because the Thoth pips have titles on them as … Continue reading Thoth Pip Cards as Emotions
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 