Symbols and lore

Tarot pictures and the zodiac’s figures borrow older symbols, from the pillars of Solomon’s temple to Greek myths set in the stars. Each entry says where one comes from and what its tradition made of it, citing the works it draws on.

The symbols

The two pillarsThe black and white pillars behind the High Priestess are Boaz and Jachin, the two bronze pillars that stood at the porch of Solomon’s temple, marked B and J on the card.
PomegranatesPomegranates hang on the High Priestess’s veil and print the Empress’s gown. The fruit carved on the temple pillars and sewn on the high priest’s robe, it is also the fruit that kept Persephone in the underworld.
The scroll marked TORATorah, the Hebrew teaching of Moses, is the word on the scroll half hidden in the High Priestess’s robe. For Waite it stands for the secret law under the letter of scripture.
The crown of twelve starsThe Empress wears a crown of twelve stars and the High Priestess has a crescent moon at her feet. Both come from one verse of Revelation: a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, a crown of twelve stars on her head.
The sign of infinityThe figure eight on its side floats over the Magician and over Strength. Mathematicians use it for infinity; Waite calls it the sign of life, like an endless cord.
The snake biting its tailThe ouroboros, a snake swallowing its own tail, is an emblem of eternity from Egyptian and Greek alchemical art. The Magician wears it as a belt.
Roses and liliesRoses and lilies grow at the Magician’s feet. Waite names them in the Latin of the Song of Songs, flos campi and lilium convallium, the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys.
The lanternThe Hermit holds up a lantern with a six-pointed star inside. In Waite’s words, the light says "where I am, you also may be."
The crossed keysTwo crossed keys lie at the Hierophant’s feet: the keys of the kingdom that Jesus gives Peter in Matthew’s Gospel, and the arms of the papacy.
The two trees of EdenBehind the Lovers stand the two trees of Genesis: the Tree of Life behind the man, and behind the woman the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, with the serpent in it.
The sphinxesA black sphinx and a white one draw the Chariot. Waite says that he took them from Éliphas Lévi, in place of the horses of older decks.
The lionOn Strength a woman closes a lion’s jaws without force. Waite says her fortitude has already subdued the lion, and he moved the card to eighth place to match the Golden Dawn’s gift of it to Leo.
The letters on the wheelThe Wheel of Fortune is lettered T A R O around its rim, alternating with the Hebrew letters of the name of God. Waite reads TARO backward and around as ROTA, Latin for wheel.
Typhon and AnubisTyphon, the Greek name for the Egyptian god Set, slides down the Wheel of Fortune as a snake, while Hermanubis, the jackal-headed guide of the dead, rises on the other side.
The four living creaturesA man, an eagle, a bull and a lion sit in the four corners of the World and the Wheel of Fortune. They are the four living creatures of Ezekiel and Revelation.
The scales and the swordJustice holds a pair of scales and an upright sword, the oldest attributes of the virtue. Waite says the card follows the traditional symbolism, and reports that the figure is said to be Astraea.
The living tree of the Hanged ManThe Hanged Man hangs from a T-shaped tree in leaf. Waite calls it a Tau cross and stresses that the tree of sacrifice is living wood.
The white roseThe white rose on Death’s black banner is the rose of the Rosicrucians and the occult orders, which Waite calls the Mystic Rose and reads as life.
Pouring waterThe angel of Temperance pours water from one cup into another. Waite calls it the essences of life passing from chalice to chalice.
The reversed pentagramA five-pointed star stands upside down on the Devil’s brow, two points up like horns. Éliphas Lévi had made that the sign of the goat; Waite drew it on the card.
The chainsThe chained man and woman at the Devil’s feet stand where the Lovers stood, now horned and tailed, held by what Waite calls the chain and fatality of the material life.
The struck towerLightning strikes a tower and throws two figures from it. The older decks called the card the House of God, and Waite reads it as the ruin of a house of doctrine.
The eight-pointed starOne great eight-pointed star shines over the Star card, with seven smaller ones around it. Waite names it l’étoile flamboyante, the blazing star of Masonic symbolism.
The dog and the wolfA dog and a wolf bay at the Moon from either side of a path. Waite calls them the fears of the natural mind, where only reflected light shows the way.
The crayfishCancer’s crab, already in the Marseille deck, is a crayfish on Waite’s Moon, climbing from the pool at the bottom of the card, lower in his account than the savage beast.
The child on the white horseÉliphas Lévi gave the Sun a single child on a white horse, and Waite took the image for his deck: a naked rider under the sun holding a red banner, which he reads as simplicity and innocence.
The trumpetAn angel blows a trumpet over the rising dead on Judgement. It is the last trump of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.
The wreathA figure dances inside an oval wreath on the World, the last card of the Major Arcana. Waite calls the garland a chain of flowers that stands for all sensible things.
The Fool’s dogOlder Fools were tramps with a dog snapping at them. On Waite’s card a small white dog leaps beside a young man at the cliff’s edge, a spirit in search of experience.
The hand from a cloudOn all four Aces a hand comes out of a cloud holding the suit’s sign. It is an old Christian way of showing the hand of God.
The dove and the waferIn the Grail romances a dove brings a wafer to the Grail every Good Friday, and that is the picture on the Ace of Cups: the dove coming down with the host to the cup.
The fish in the cupA fish looks out of the Page of Cups’ cup. Waite reads it as the pictures of the mind taking form.
The blindfoldHoodwinked, the Masonic word for the candidate’s blindfold, is the word Waite uses for the woman on the Two of Swords. On the Eight she is blindfolded again, bound and ringed by swords.
The pierced heartThree swords pierce a heart under rain on the Three of Swords. Waite found it too simple and obvious to explain; its model is the sorrowing Mary of Christian art.
The golden fleeceAries is the ram with the golden fleece that carried Phrixus to safety, whose fleece Jason later sailed to fetch.
The bull and EuropaTaurus is the white bull Zeus became to carry Europa across the sea to Crete. Only its front half shows in the sky, as if wading out of the water.
Castor and PolluxGemini is Castor and Pollux, twin brothers of Greek myth, one mortal and one the son of Zeus, who shared his immortality so they would not be parted.
Hera’s crabCancer is the crab that Hera sent against Heracles while he fought the Hydra. It was crushed underfoot, and Hera put it among the stars.
The Nemean lionLeo is the Nemean lion, whose hide no weapon could pierce, killed by Heracles in the first of his labors. Its brightest star, Regulus, was called the heart of the lion.
The maiden and the ear of wheatVirgo is the maiden of justice who left the earth when people turned wicked. She holds an ear of wheat, marked by the bright star Spica.
The Claws of the ScorpionLibra’s stars were first the Claws of the Scorpion. The Romans made them the Scales, the only sign of the zodiac that is not a living thing.
The scorpion and OrionScorpio is the scorpion sent to kill the hunter Orion. The two were set on opposite sides of the sky, so Orion sets as the Scorpion rises.
The archerSagittarius is usually drawn as a centaur with a bow. Hyginus disagrees: centaurs did not use bows, he says, and the archer is Crotus, a satyr who lived with the Muses.
The sea-goatCapricorn is a goat with a fish’s tail. In Greek myth it is Pan, who leapt into the Nile to escape the monster Typhon and came out half fish.
The water-bearerAquarius pours water from a jar. The Greeks usually made him Ganymede, the Trojan youth Zeus carried off to serve the gods their wine.
The two fishPisces is two fish tied by a cord. Ovid and Hyginus tell that they are Venus and her son Cupid, who turned into fish to escape the monster Typhon.

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