Tarot Reading I want to know how my future endeavours will be and my studies in question
Reading Performed 02/23/2024 at 2:23 AM
Click or scroll down for the meaning of each position and the interpretation of its card.
Visual Layout
Card One
King of Wands from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Good, but severe; solemn, yet tolerant.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Advice that should be followed.
Card Description
The physical and emotional nature of this card is dark, avid, agile, and noble. The King holds a flowering wand, and wears a cap beneath his crown. He is symbolized by the lion engraved on the back of his throne.
Card Two
Five of Wands from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Quarrels may be turned to advantage.
Card Description
A group of youths brandish staves, as if in sport. They play at mock warfare, and the divinatory meanings match this.
Card Three
The Star from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Arrogance, haughtiness, impotence.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings (When Upright)
The Star, Dog-Star, or Sirius, also called fantastically the Star of the Magi. Grouped about it are seven minor luminaries, and beneath it is a naked female figure, with her left knee upon the earth and her right foot upon the water. She is in the act of pouring fluids from two vessels. A bird is perched on a tree near her; for this a butterfly on a rose has been substituted in some later cards. So also the Star has been called that of Hope. This is one of the cards which Court de Gebelin describes as wholly Egyptian-that is to say, in his own reverie.
Card Description
A large, radiant star of eight points, surrounded by seven lesser stars—also of eight points. The female figure in the foreground is entirely naked. Her left knee is on the land and her right foot on the water. She pours the Water of Life from two great pitchers, irrigating sea and land. Behind her is rising ground, and on the right a shrub on which a bird perches. The figure expresses eternal youth and beauty. The star is l'etoile flamboyante, a symbol of Freemasonry. The figure communicates to the earth around her the substance of the heavens and the elements.
Card Four
The Fool from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, betrayal.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Fool, Mate, or Unwise Man. Court de Gebelin places it at the head of the whole series as the zero or negative which is presupposed by numeration, and as this is a simpler so also it is a better arrangement. It has been abandoned because in later times the cards have been attributed to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and there has been apparently some difficulty about allocating the zero symbol satisfactorily in a sequence of letters all of which signify numbers. In the present reference of the card to the letter Shin, which corresponds to 200, the difficulty or the unreason remains. The truth is that the real arrangement of the cards has never transpired. The Fool carries a wallet; he is looking over his shoulder and does not know that he is on the brink of a precipice; but a dog or other animal--some call it a tiger--is attacking him from behind, and he is hurried to his destruction unawares. Etteilla has given a justifiable variation of this card--as generally understood--in the form of a court jester, with cap, bells and motley garb. The other descriptions say that the wallet contains the bearer's follies and vices, which seems bourgeois and arbitrary.
Card Description
With light step, as if earth and its obstacles had little power to restrain him, a young man in gorgeous clothing pauses at the brink of a precipice among the great heights of the world; he surveys the blue distance before him—its expanse of sky rather than the landscape below. He seems to still be walking, though he is stationary at the given moment; his dog is still bounding. The edge that opens on the depth holds no terror for him, as if angels were waiting to uphold him, should he leap from that height. His face is full of intelligence and expectant wonder. He has a rose in one hand and in the other an expensive cane, which hangs over his right shoulder, dangling a curiously embroidered pouch. He is a prince of the other world, traveling through this one—all in the glory of the crisp morning air. The sun, which shines behind him, knows where he came from, where he is going, and how he will return: by another path, after many days. He is the Spirit in search of experience.
Card Five
The Lovers from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Failure, foolish designs, prevented marriage, and opposition of all kinds.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings (When Upright)
The Lovers or Marriage. This symbol has undergone many variations, as might be expected from its subject. In the eighteenth century form, by which it first became known to the world of archaeological research, it is really a card of married life, shewing father and mother, with their child placed between them; and the pagan Cupid above, in the act of flying his shaft, is, of course, a misapplied emblem. The Cupid is of love beginning rather than of love in its fulness, guarding the fruit thereof. The card is said to have been entitled Simulacyum fidei, the symbol of conjugal faith, for which the rainbow as a sign of the covenant would have been a more appropriate concomitant. The figures are also held to have signified Truth, Honour and Love, but I suspect that this was, so to speak, the gloss of a commentator moralizing. It has these, but it has other and higher aspects.
Card Description
The sun shines above, and beneath is a great winged figure with arms extended, pouring down mystical influences. In the foreground are two human figures, male and female. They are naked before each other, like Adam and Eve when they first occupied Paradise. Behind the man is the Tree of Life, bearing twelve fruits. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is behind the woman, with the serpent wrapped around it. The figures suggest youth, virginity, innocence, and love before it is contaminated by gross material desire. This is the card of human love; part of the Way, the Truth and the Life. In a very high sense, the card is a depiction of the Covenant and the Sabbath.
Card Six
Eight of Cups from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Great joy, happiness, feasting.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Perfect satisfaction.
Card Description
A dejected-looking man abandons the cups of his celebrations. They symbolize an enterprise, undertaking, or previous concern.
Card Seven
Queen of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Widowhood, female infertility, absence, sterility, mourning, deprivation, separation.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
A widow.
Card Description
Her right hand holds her weapon vertical, and the hilt rests on an arm of her throne. Her left hand is extended, the arm raised. Her expression is stern but humble; it suggests familiarity with sorrow. It does not represent mercy, and despite her sword, she is not a symbol of power.
Card Eight
Ace of Wands from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Fall, decay, ruin, condemnation, demise; also a certain clouded joy.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
A sign of birth.
Card Description
A hand extending from a cloud grasps a stout wand or club.
Card Nine
Eight of Pentacles from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Voided ambition, vanity, greed, extortion, loan-sharking; also the possession of skill—the ingenious mind turned to cunning and intrigue.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Querent will be compromised in a matter of money-lending.
Card Description
An artist at his work in stone, which he exhibits in the form of trophies.
Card Ten
Two of Pentacles from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Enforced fun, simulated enjoyment, handwriting, composition, payment by check.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Bad omen, ignorance, injustice.
Card Description
A young man dances with a pentacle in either hand. They are joined by an endless cord: the number 8 on its side.
Card Eleven
Eight of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Bad news, terror, crisis, rebuke, powerful obstacles, conflict, slander; also sickness.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
For a woman, scandal spread in her respect.
Card Description
A woman stands bound and blindfolded, with the swords of the card around her. It is a card of temporary imprisonment rather than permanent bondage.
Card Twelve
The Hanged Man from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Selfishness, the crowd, the citizenship.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings (When Upright)
The Hanged Man. This is the symbol which is supposed to represent Prudence, and Eliphas Levi says, in his most shallow and plausible manner, that it is the adept bound by his engagements. The figure of a man is suspended head-downwards from a gibbet, to which he is attached by a rope about one of his ankles. The arms are bound behind him, and one leg is crossed over the other. According to another, and indeed the prevailing interpretation, he signifies sacrifice, but all current meanings attributed to this card are cartomancists' intuitions, apart from any real value on the symbolical side. The fortune-tellers of the eighteenth century who circulated Tarots, depict a semi-feminine youth in jerkin, poised erect on one foot and loosely attached to a short stake driven into the ground.
Card Description
The figure of a man hangs head down from a gallows, to which he is attached by a rope around one of his ankles. His arms are bound behind him, and one leg is crossed over the other. The gallows from which he hangs forms a Tau cross, while the figure—from the position of the legs--forms a cross. There is a halo around the head of the apparent martyr. It should be noted (1) that the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves on it; (2) that the face expresses deep entrancement, not suffering; (3) that the figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension, not death.
Card Thirteen
Knight of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Recklessness, disability, wastefulness.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Dispute with an imbecile person; for a woman, struggle with a rival, who will be conquered.
Card Description
A knight rides at full speed, as if scattering his enemies. He is the prototypical hero of romantic chivalry. He might almost be Galahad, whose sword is swift and sure because he is clean of heart.
Card Fourteen
Two of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Deceit, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Dealings with rogues.
Card Description
A blindfolded woman balances two swords upon her shoulders.
Card Fifteen
Four of Cups from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Novelty, premonition, new learning, new relationships.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Presentiment.
Card Description
A young man sits under a tree, contemplating three cups on the grass before him. An arm extends from a cloud to offer him another cup. His appears discontent, as if the wine of this world had barely satisfied him. Another wine—a fairy gift—is now offered to the vagabond, but he sees no consolation in it, either.
Card Sixteen
Nine of Pentacles from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Prudence, safety, success, accomplishment, certainty, discernment.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Prompt fulfillment of what is presaged by neighbouring cards. Reversed:Vain hopes.
Card Description
A woman with a bird on her wrist stands among an abundance of grapevines in the garden of a mansion. Behind her is a wide landscape, suggesting plenty in all things. Possibly, the land is her own possession, and testifies to material well-being.
Card Seventeen
Page of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Authority, supervision, vigilance, spying, examination.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
An indiscreet person will pry into the Querent's secrets.
Card Description
An agile, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands. He walks swiftly over rugged land, and around him the clouds are moving wildly. He is alert and watchful, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment.
Related Posts
Card Eighteen
King of Pentacles from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
An old and vicious man.
Card Description
The face is rather grim, suggesting courage, but is also somewhat lethargic. The bull's head should be noted as a recurrent symbol on the throne.
Card Nineteen
Five of Cups from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
News, alliances, affection, affiliation, ancestry, return.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Return of some relative who has not been seen for long.
Card Description
A dark, cloaked figure looks sideways at three cups lying on the ground. Two others stand upright behind him. A bridge in the background leads to a small keep or holding. This is a card of loss, but something remains at the end; three have been taken, but two are left.
Card Twenty
Strength from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Power, energy, action, courage, generosity; also complete success and honors.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Fortitude. This is one of the cardinal virtues, of which I shall speak later. The female figure is usually represented as closing the mouth of a lion. In the earlier form which is printed by Court de Gebelin, she is obviously opening it. The first alternative is better symbolically, but either is an instance of strength in its conventional understanding, and conveys the idea of mastery. It has been said that the figure represents organic force, moral force and the principle of all force.
Card Description
A woman, over whose head is the same symbol of life seen in the Magician card, closes the jaws of a lion. Her benevolent strength has already subdued the lion, which is being led by a leash of flowers. Fortitude, in one of its most exalted aspects, is connected with the Divine Mystery of Union. It connects also with untouched innocence, and with the strength that resides in contemplation. These higher meanings are hinted at in a concealed manner by the leash of flowers, which signifies the sweet yoke and the light burden of Divine Law, when it has been taken into the heart of hearts. The card has nothing to do with ordinary self-confidence—it concerns the confidence of those whose strength is God and have found their refuge in Him. In one sense, the lion signifies the animal passions, and the lady called Strength signifies the higher nature of Man in his liberation. The higher nature of Man has walked upon the asp and the basilisk and has trodden down the lion and the dragon (see Psalm 91:13).
Card Twenty One
Temperance from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Things connected with churches, religions, sects, the priesthood, sometimes even a priest who will marry the Querent; also separation, unfortunate combinations, competing interests.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings (When Upright)
Temperance. The winged figure of a female--who, in opposition to all doctrine concerning the hierarchy of angels, is usually allocated to this order of ministering spirits--is pouring liquid from one pitcher to another. In his last work on the Tarot, Dr. Papus abandons the traditional form and depicts a woman wearing an Egyptian head-dress. The first thing which seems clear on the surface is that the entire symbol has no especial connexion with Temperance, and the fact that this designation has always obtained for the card offers a very obvious instance of a meaning behind meaning, which is the title in chief to consideration in respect of the Tarot as a whole.
Card Description
A winged angel, with the sign of the sun on its forehead, and on its breast the square and triangle of the septenary (symbolism of the number seven). The androgynous figure pours the essences of life from chalice to chalice. It has one foot on the earth and one on water, illustrating the nature of the essences being poured. A direct path leads to heights on the horizon, and above shines a great light, through which a crown can be vaguely seen. Here is some part of the Secret of Eternal Life, as available to man in this existence.
The Meanings of these Tarot Cards
Card One
King of Wands from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Good, but severe; solemn, yet tolerant.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Advice that should be followed.
Card Description
The physical and emotional nature of this card is dark, avid, agile, and noble. The King holds a flowering wand, and wears a cap beneath his crown. He is symbolized by the lion engraved on the back of his throne.
Card Two
Five of Wands from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Litigation, disputes, trickery, contradiction.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Quarrels may be turned to advantage.
Card Description
A group of youths brandish staves, as if in sport. They play at mock warfare, and the divinatory meanings match this.
Card Three
The Star from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Arrogance, haughtiness, impotence.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings (When Upright)
The Star, Dog-Star, or Sirius, also called fantastically the Star of the Magi. Grouped about it are seven minor luminaries, and beneath it is a naked female figure, with her left knee upon the earth and her right foot upon the water. She is in the act of pouring fluids from two vessels. A bird is perched on a tree near her; for this a butterfly on a rose has been substituted in some later cards. So also the Star has been called that of Hope. This is one of the cards which Court de Gebelin describes as wholly Egyptian-that is to say, in his own reverie.
Card Description
A large, radiant star of eight points, surrounded by seven lesser stars—also of eight points. The female figure in the foreground is entirely naked. Her left knee is on the land and her right foot on the water. She pours the Water of Life from two great pitchers, irrigating sea and land. Behind her is rising ground, and on the right a shrub on which a bird perches. The figure expresses eternal youth and beauty. The star is l'etoile flamboyante, a symbol of Freemasonry. The figure communicates to the earth around her the substance of the heavens and the elements.
Card Four
The Fool from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, betrayal.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Fool, Mate, or Unwise Man. Court de Gebelin places it at the head of the whole series as the zero or negative which is presupposed by numeration, and as this is a simpler so also it is a better arrangement. It has been abandoned because in later times the cards have been attributed to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and there has been apparently some difficulty about allocating the zero symbol satisfactorily in a sequence of letters all of which signify numbers. In the present reference of the card to the letter Shin, which corresponds to 200, the difficulty or the unreason remains. The truth is that the real arrangement of the cards has never transpired. The Fool carries a wallet; he is looking over his shoulder and does not know that he is on the brink of a precipice; but a dog or other animal--some call it a tiger--is attacking him from behind, and he is hurried to his destruction unawares. Etteilla has given a justifiable variation of this card--as generally understood--in the form of a court jester, with cap, bells and motley garb. The other descriptions say that the wallet contains the bearer's follies and vices, which seems bourgeois and arbitrary.
Card Description
With light step, as if earth and its obstacles had little power to restrain him, a young man in gorgeous clothing pauses at the brink of a precipice among the great heights of the world; he surveys the blue distance before him—its expanse of sky rather than the landscape below. He seems to still be walking, though he is stationary at the given moment; his dog is still bounding. The edge that opens on the depth holds no terror for him, as if angels were waiting to uphold him, should he leap from that height. His face is full of intelligence and expectant wonder. He has a rose in one hand and in the other an expensive cane, which hangs over his right shoulder, dangling a curiously embroidered pouch. He is a prince of the other world, traveling through this one—all in the glory of the crisp morning air. The sun, which shines behind him, knows where he came from, where he is going, and how he will return: by another path, after many days. He is the Spirit in search of experience.
Card Five
The Lovers from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Failure, foolish designs, prevented marriage, and opposition of all kinds.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings (When Upright)
The Lovers or Marriage. This symbol has undergone many variations, as might be expected from its subject. In the eighteenth century form, by which it first became known to the world of archaeological research, it is really a card of married life, shewing father and mother, with their child placed between them; and the pagan Cupid above, in the act of flying his shaft, is, of course, a misapplied emblem. The Cupid is of love beginning rather than of love in its fulness, guarding the fruit thereof. The card is said to have been entitled Simulacyum fidei, the symbol of conjugal faith, for which the rainbow as a sign of the covenant would have been a more appropriate concomitant. The figures are also held to have signified Truth, Honour and Love, but I suspect that this was, so to speak, the gloss of a commentator moralizing. It has these, but it has other and higher aspects.
Card Description
The sun shines above, and beneath is a great winged figure with arms extended, pouring down mystical influences. In the foreground are two human figures, male and female. They are naked before each other, like Adam and Eve when they first occupied Paradise. Behind the man is the Tree of Life, bearing twelve fruits. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is behind the woman, with the serpent wrapped around it. The figures suggest youth, virginity, innocence, and love before it is contaminated by gross material desire. This is the card of human love; part of the Way, the Truth and the Life. In a very high sense, the card is a depiction of the Covenant and the Sabbath.
Card Six
Eight of Cups from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Great joy, happiness, feasting.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Perfect satisfaction.
Card Description
A dejected-looking man abandons the cups of his celebrations. They symbolize an enterprise, undertaking, or previous concern.
Card Seven
Queen of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Widowhood, female infertility, absence, sterility, mourning, deprivation, separation.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
A widow.
Card Description
Her right hand holds her weapon vertical, and the hilt rests on an arm of her throne. Her left hand is extended, the arm raised. Her expression is stern but humble; it suggests familiarity with sorrow. It does not represent mercy, and despite her sword, she is not a symbol of power.
Card Eight
Ace of Wands from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Fall, decay, ruin, condemnation, demise; also a certain clouded joy.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
A sign of birth.
Card Description
A hand extending from a cloud grasps a stout wand or club.
Card Nine
Eight of Pentacles from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Voided ambition, vanity, greed, extortion, loan-sharking; also the possession of skill—the ingenious mind turned to cunning and intrigue.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
The Querent will be compromised in a matter of money-lending.
Card Description
An artist at his work in stone, which he exhibits in the form of trophies.
Card Ten
Two of Pentacles from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Enforced fun, simulated enjoyment, handwriting, composition, payment by check.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Bad omen, ignorance, injustice.
Card Description
A young man dances with a pentacle in either hand. They are joined by an endless cord: the number 8 on its side.
Card Eleven
Eight of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Bad news, terror, crisis, rebuke, powerful obstacles, conflict, slander; also sickness.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
For a woman, scandal spread in her respect.
Card Description
A woman stands bound and blindfolded, with the swords of the card around her. It is a card of temporary imprisonment rather than permanent bondage.
Card Twelve
The Hanged Man from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Selfishness, the crowd, the citizenship.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings (When Upright)
The Hanged Man. This is the symbol which is supposed to represent Prudence, and Eliphas Levi says, in his most shallow and plausible manner, that it is the adept bound by his engagements. The figure of a man is suspended head-downwards from a gibbet, to which he is attached by a rope about one of his ankles. The arms are bound behind him, and one leg is crossed over the other. According to another, and indeed the prevailing interpretation, he signifies sacrifice, but all current meanings attributed to this card are cartomancists' intuitions, apart from any real value on the symbolical side. The fortune-tellers of the eighteenth century who circulated Tarots, depict a semi-feminine youth in jerkin, poised erect on one foot and loosely attached to a short stake driven into the ground.
Card Description
The figure of a man hangs head down from a gallows, to which he is attached by a rope around one of his ankles. His arms are bound behind him, and one leg is crossed over the other. The gallows from which he hangs forms a Tau cross, while the figure—from the position of the legs--forms a cross. There is a halo around the head of the apparent martyr. It should be noted (1) that the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves on it; (2) that the face expresses deep entrancement, not suffering; (3) that the figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension, not death.
Card Thirteen
Knight of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Recklessness, disability, wastefulness.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Dispute with an imbecile person; for a woman, struggle with a rival, who will be conquered.
Card Description
A knight rides at full speed, as if scattering his enemies. He is the prototypical hero of romantic chivalry. He might almost be Galahad, whose sword is swift and sure because he is clean of heart.
Card Fourteen
Two of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Deceit, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Dealings with rogues.
Card Description
A blindfolded woman balances two swords upon her shoulders.
Card Fifteen
Four of Cups from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Novelty, premonition, new learning, new relationships.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Presentiment.
Card Description
A young man sits under a tree, contemplating three cups on the grass before him. An arm extends from a cloud to offer him another cup. His appears discontent, as if the wine of this world had barely satisfied him. Another wine—a fairy gift—is now offered to the vagabond, but he sees no consolation in it, either.
Card Sixteen
Nine of Pentacles from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Prudence, safety, success, accomplishment, certainty, discernment.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Prompt fulfillment of what is presaged by neighbouring cards. Reversed:Vain hopes.
Card Description
A woman with a bird on her wrist stands among an abundance of grapevines in the garden of a mansion. Behind her is a wide landscape, suggesting plenty in all things. Possibly, the land is her own possession, and testifies to material well-being.
Card Seventeen
Page of Swords from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Authority, supervision, vigilance, spying, examination.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
An indiscreet person will pry into the Querent's secrets.
Card Description
An agile, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands. He walks swiftly over rugged land, and around him the clouds are moving wildly. He is alert and watchful, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment.
Related Posts
Card Eighteen
King of Pentacles from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
An old and vicious man.
Card Description
The face is rather grim, suggesting courage, but is also somewhat lethargic. The bull's head should be noted as a recurrent symbol on the throne.
Card Nineteen
Five of Cups from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
News, alliances, affection, affiliation, ancestry, return.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Return of some relative who has not been seen for long.
Card Description
A dark, cloaked figure looks sideways at three cups lying on the ground. Two others stand upright behind him. A bridge in the background leads to a small keep or holding. This is a card of loss, but something remains at the end; three have been taken, but two are left.
Card Twenty
Strength from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Upright
Power, energy, action, courage, generosity; also complete success and honors.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings
Fortitude. This is one of the cardinal virtues, of which I shall speak later. The female figure is usually represented as closing the mouth of a lion. In the earlier form which is printed by Court de Gebelin, she is obviously opening it. The first alternative is better symbolically, but either is an instance of strength in its conventional understanding, and conveys the idea of mastery. It has been said that the figure represents organic force, moral force and the principle of all force.
Card Description
A woman, over whose head is the same symbol of life seen in the Magician card, closes the jaws of a lion. Her benevolent strength has already subdued the lion, which is being led by a leash of flowers. Fortitude, in one of its most exalted aspects, is connected with the Divine Mystery of Union. It connects also with untouched innocence, and with the strength that resides in contemplation. These higher meanings are hinted at in a concealed manner by the leash of flowers, which signifies the sweet yoke and the light burden of Divine Law, when it has been taken into the heart of hearts. The card has nothing to do with ordinary self-confidence—it concerns the confidence of those whose strength is God and have found their refuge in Him. In one sense, the lion signifies the animal passions, and the lady called Strength signifies the higher nature of Man in his liberation. The higher nature of Man has walked upon the asp and the basilisk and has trodden down the lion and the dragon (see Psalm 91:13).
Card Twenty One
Temperance from the Vivid Waite Smith Tarot Deck
Card Meaning When Reversed
Things connected with churches, religions, sects, the priesthood, sometimes even a priest who will marry the Querent; also separation, unfortunate combinations, competing interests.
A. E. Waite's Secondary Meanings (When Upright)
Temperance. The winged figure of a female--who, in opposition to all doctrine concerning the hierarchy of angels, is usually allocated to this order of ministering spirits--is pouring liquid from one pitcher to another. In his last work on the Tarot, Dr. Papus abandons the traditional form and depicts a woman wearing an Egyptian head-dress. The first thing which seems clear on the surface is that the entire symbol has no especial connexion with Temperance, and the fact that this designation has always obtained for the card offers a very obvious instance of a meaning behind meaning, which is the title in chief to consideration in respect of the Tarot as a whole.
Card Description
A winged angel, with the sign of the sun on its forehead, and on its breast the square and triangle of the septenary (symbolism of the number seven). The androgynous figure pours the essences of life from chalice to chalice. It has one foot on the earth and one on water, illustrating the nature of the essences being poured. A direct path leads to heights on the horizon, and above shines a great light, through which a crown can be vaguely seen. Here is some part of the Secret of Eternal Life, as available to man in this existence.
