The Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Waite's Interpretations

BY NICOLE LAU

Arthur Edward Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911) is the essential companion to the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. In this work, Waite explains the symbolism of each card, provides divinatory meanings, and teaches practical methods for reading. While his writing style is notoriously verbose, the book contains invaluable insights into the deck's esoteric symbolism and practical application. For over a century, it has been the foundational text for learning the world's most popular tarot deck.

The Structure of the Book

Waite organized The Pictorial Key into three main parts:

Part I: The Veil and Its Symbols

Content: History of tarot, esoteric traditions behind the cards, and the symbolism of the Major Arcana.

Waite's approach: He traces tarot's origins (though much of his historical speculation has been superseded), explains the Kabbalistic and alchemical symbolism, and emphasizes the spiritual dimension of tarot.

Part II: The Doctrine Behind the Veil

Content: Detailed descriptions of all 78 cards—symbolism, esoteric meanings, and divinatory interpretations.

The format: For each card, Waite provides a description of the image, esoteric significance, and divinatory meanings (upright and reversed).

Part III: The Outer Method of the Oracles

Content: Practical methods for divination, including the famous Celtic Cross spread.

The approach: Waite provides specific spreads and interpretation guidelines, balancing intuition with systematic method.

Waite's Divinatory System

Greater and Lesser Meanings:

Greater meanings: The esoteric, spiritual significance of the cards—what they mean for soul development and spiritual understanding.

Lesser meanings: The practical, divinatory interpretations—what they mean for everyday questions and situations.

Waite's balance: He provides both, allowing the deck to serve spiritual seekers and practical fortune-tellers alike.

The Major Arcana: Waite's Interpretations

0 - The Fool:

Symbolism: The soul at the beginning of its journey, stepping into the unknown with divine trust. The white rose (purity), the precipice (the leap of faith), the small dog (instinct), the sun (divine consciousness).

Divinatory meaning: Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, bewrayment. Reversed: Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.

Greater meaning: The spirit in search of experience, the divine madness that begins the spiritual quest.

I - The Magician:

Symbolism: The four suits on the table (mastery of the elements), the infinity symbol above his head (connection to the divine), the ouroboros belt (eternity), flowers and lilies (spiritual and material united).

Divinatory meaning: Skill, diplomacy, address, subtlety; sickness, pain, loss, disaster, snares of enemies; self-confidence, will. Reversed: Physician, Magus, mental disease, disgrace, disquiet.

Greater meaning: The divine will manifesting through the human, "as above, so below."

II - The High Priestess:

Symbolism: Seated between the pillars of duality (Boaz and Jachin), the Torah scroll (hidden wisdom), pomegranates (Persephone, the mysteries), the moon at her feet (the unconscious).

Divinatory meaning: 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.

Greater meaning: The divine feminine, the keeper of mysteries, the gateway to the unconscious.

VI - The Lovers:

Symbolism: Adam and Eve in the Garden, the angel Raphael above (divine guidance), the Tree of Knowledge and Tree of Life, the mountain (spiritual aspiration).

Divinatory meaning: Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome. Reversed: Failure, foolish designs, another perspective is that in a certain sense this card is also a card of marriage.

Greater meaning: The choice between divine and earthly love, the union of opposites, the sacred marriage.

XIII - Death:

Symbolism: The skeleton knight (death as the great leveler), the rising sun (rebirth), the river (the flow of life), the white rose (purity through transformation), figures of all classes (death comes to all).

Divinatory meaning: 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.

Greater meaning: Transformation, the death of the old self, necessary endings that precede new beginnings.

The Minor Arcana: Waite's Innovation

Waite's illustrated Minor Arcana was revolutionary. Here are key examples:

Three of Swords:

Image: A heart pierced by three swords, rain and clouds.

Divinatory meaning: 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.

Waite's insight: The image speaks for itself—heartbreak, sorrow, painful truth.

Ten of Cups:

Image: A family under a rainbow, children playing, cups arranged in an arc.

Divinatory meaning: 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.

Waite's insight: Emotional fulfillment, domestic happiness, the rainbow as divine blessing.

Five of Pentacles:

Image: Two beggars in snow passing a church window.

Divinatory meaning: 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.

Waite's insight: Material hardship, feeling excluded from warmth and community, spiritual poverty.

The Celtic Cross Spread

Waite popularized this spread, which became the most famous tarot layout:

The Positions:

1. The Significator: Represents the querent (optional in modern practice).

2. Covering: The present situation, what covers or influences the querent.

3. Crossing: The obstacle or opposing force.

4. Beneath: The foundation, the basis of the matter, what is passing away.

5. Behind: The recent past, influences that are passing.

6. Crowning: The best that can be achieved, the potential outcome.

7. Before: The near future, what is coming into being.

8. Self: The querent's position or attitude.

9. House: Environmental factors, others' influence.

10. Hopes and Fears: What the querent hopes or fears.

11. Outcome: The final result, the culmination.

Waite's Method:

Shuffle and cut: The querent shuffles while focusing on the question.

Lay out: Cards are laid in the specific pattern.

Interpret: Read each position in relation to the question and other cards.

Synthesize: Weave the individual meanings into a coherent narrative.

Waite's Interpretive Principles

Reversed Cards:

Waite's approach: Reversed cards often indicate the opposite or a weakened version of the upright meaning, sometimes a different aspect of the same energy, or blockage or delay of the upright meaning.

Modern debate: Some readers use reversals, others don't. Waite provided reversed meanings but didn't insist on them.

Card Combinations:

Context matters: A card's meaning shifts based on surrounding cards, the question asked, and the position in the spread.

Synthesis: Don't read cards in isolation—weave them into a story.

Intuition and System:

The balance: Waite provided systematic meanings but encouraged intuitive interpretation. The images speak to the unconscious—trust your intuition while grounding in traditional meanings.

The Constant Unification Perspective

Waite's tarot system demonstrates universal constants:

• The Fool's Journey = Universal initiation: The progression through the Major Arcana parallels the hero's journey, alchemical transformation, and spiritual development across all traditions
• Four suits = Four elements: Wands (Fire), Cups (Water), Swords (Air), Pentacles (Earth)—the universal quaternary found in all esoteric systems
• Court cards = Personality aspects: Page (earth of element), Knight (air of element), Queen (water of element), King (fire of element)—different expressions of archetypal energies
• Divination = Accessing the unconscious: Tarot works because it provides a language for the unconscious to communicate—same principle as I Ching, runes, or any oracle system

Practical Applications

Learning the Deck:

Study Waite's descriptions: Read his symbolism explanations for each card. Understand why the images are as they are.

Memorize key meanings: Start with Waite's divinatory meanings as a foundation. You can expand from there.

Practice daily draws: Pull one card each morning. Reflect on how it manifests during the day.

Reading for Others:

Use the Celtic Cross: It's comprehensive and well-balanced for most questions.

Trust the images: Let the pictures speak. What story do you see in the cards?

Balance system and intuition: Know the traditional meanings but allow intuitive insights.

Spiritual Development:

Meditate on the Major Arcana: Each card represents a stage of spiritual development. Contemplate them in sequence.

Study the symbolism: The esoteric symbols (Kabbalah, alchemy, astrology) provide layers of meaning for contemplation.

Use tarot as mirror: The cards reflect your unconscious. What they show reveals what you need to see.

Criticisms and Limitations

Verbose style: Waite's writing is dense and Victorian. Many find it difficult to read.

Incomplete explanations: Waite hints at deeper meanings but doesn't always fully explain them (protecting the mysteries).

Dated language: Some divinatory meanings reflect Victorian values and language.

Christian bias: Waite's Christian mystical interpretation doesn't resonate with everyone.

Modern Alternatives

While The Pictorial Key is foundational, many modern books offer more accessible interpretations:

Rachel Pollack's Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: More accessible, psychologically sophisticated.

Mary K. Greer's works: Practical, clear, feminist perspective.

Biddy Tarot resources: Modern, accessible online and print resources.

The value of Waite: Even if you use modern interpretations, understanding Waite's original vision provides depth and context.

Conclusion

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot remains essential reading for anyone serious about the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. Waite's explanations of the symbolism, his divinatory meanings, and his practical spreads created the foundation for modern tarot reading.

While his Victorian prose can be challenging, the insights are invaluable. Understanding Waite's vision—the balance of esoteric depth and practical divination, the Christian mystical symbolism, the Kabbalistic correspondences—deepens your relationship with the deck.

Whether you use tarot for divination, meditation, or spiritual development, The Pictorial Key provides the keys to unlock the deck's full potential. It's a book to return to repeatedly, discovering new layers of meaning with each reading.

In our next article, we explore Waite's work on Kabbalah and Christian mysticism, examining how he integrated Jewish mysticism with Christian esotericism to create a uniquely Western spiritual path.

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This article is part of our Western Esotericism Masters series, exploring the key figures who shaped modern mystical practice.