Shawna's Waite Smith Tarot Flashcards
The Magician
Magician Card Symbols
Red and white coloring, the lemniscate (infinity symbol), a small wand, a table displaying a chalice, a pentacle, a staff (wand) and a sword.
Magician Tarot Card Meaning
At #1, the Magician is the male power of creation by willpower and desire. The lemniscate (infinity symbol) over his head indicates the energy of thought. Thus, he draws divine power down from the heavens into his white wand, molds it with that energy of thought, and makes it manifest on Earth (his finger pointing to the ground). This is that most ancient magic to make real whatever he imagines in his head merely by saying it aloud. (“And God said ‘Let there be Light!’ and there was Light”).
Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is often represented by Mercury. Mercury is the planet and god of smooth talkers and salesmen. Also clever with the sleight of hand (Mercury was the god of thieves!) and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.
The 4 suits before him remind us of the 4 aces, which in the Tarot symbolize the raw, undeveloped, undirected power of each suit.
When the Magician appears, he reveals these to you. The tarot reader might well interpret this card as telling the querent that they will be given a vision, an idea, a magical, mental image of whatever it is they most want: the solution to a problem, an ambitious career, a love life, a job.
Thirteen’s Observations on the Magician
If any card in the Tarot is the Tarot, it is the Magician. He’s one of the most recognizable cards, always a favorite. He’s also the only card in the major arcana that refers to the minors with the “trumps” displayed upon his table. One way to look at them is as ideas that the Magician is offering you.
Thus, the card is about getting an idea and finding a way to verbalize it. This is the first step toward making it a reality. Which is why the Magician can indicate a time when one is eloquent and charismatic, clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.
Keep in mind, however, that the Magician could be a trickster. If this card represents some magnetic person in the querent’s life, they need to make sure that he’s or she is a genuine magician, not a con man.
The card can also indicate an interest in certain careers or someone who is already in one of those careers: a scientist, inventor or medical professional. The card also relates to careers where speech and writing is of great importance: salesman, motivational speaker, storyteller, politician, commentator. This might be the querent himself, something the querent wants to be, or someone who was, is or will be in his life.
Most importantly, the Magician card stands for the “reveal” - as in a magic trick. The handkerchief is draped over an empty box, the Magician waves his wand, presto!–now there is a dove in the box. The Magician card does the same for the querent–only what it reveals is not birds or rabbits but NEW ideas. Emphasis on NEW. When the Magician cardThus, the card is about getting an idea and finding a way to verbalize it. This is the first step toward making it a reality. Which is why the Magician can indicate a time when one is eloquent and charismatic, clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.
Keep in mind, however, that the Magician could be a trickster. If this card represents some magnetic person in the querent’s life, they need to make sure that he’s or she is a genuine magician, not a con man.
The card can also indicate an interest in certain careers or someone who is already in one of those careers: a scientist, inventor or medical professional. The card also relates to careers where speech and writing is of great importance: salesman, motivational speaker, storyteller, politician, commentator. This might be the querent himself, something the querent wants to be, or someone who was, is or will be in his life.
Most importantly, the Magician card stands for the “reveal” - as in a magic trick. The handkerchief is draped over an empty box, the Magician waves his wand, presto!–now there is a dove in the box. The Magician card does the same for the querent–only what it reveals is not birds or rabbits but NEW ideas. Emphasis on NEW. When the Magician card appears, the querent is likely to say: “Now there’s an idea! Why didn’t I think of that before?” Truth is the querent probably had that idea in his head all along. The Magician merely revealed it to him, allowed him to verbalize it and crystallize that idea. But what will the Querent do with this idea? That’s a question for the next card appears, the querent is likely to say: “Now there’s an idea! Why didn’t I think of that before?” Truth is the querent probably had that idea in his head all along. The Magician merely revealed it to him, allowed him to verbalize it and crystallize that idea. But what will the Querent do with this idea? That’s a question for the next card….
Death reversed
Death Reversed
Ah, the Death Card. Signifies an end to something, a time of grieving with the hint that there will be something new to take the place of this lost thing in the future. Rebirth is at the other end of this tunnel, but a dark tunnel must be traversed. Reversed?
1) Opposite: The easiest reversal here is to say that something does not come to an end, or it does not die. But this may not be as good a thing as it sounds. Ever have a favorite TV show? You watch it over three seasons, it hits a pinnacle of being brilliant and wonderful…and then it starts to go down. And as it sinks and gets worse, and as it stretches out you begin to wish it had ended after that pinnacle.
Sometimes, things need to come to a blessed end. Anyone who’s had someone in the hospital, alive but not alive, holding to life but not living, knows that “not death” isn’t a desired thing. Not death keeps people from grieving, and from starting over again when done. It just stretches out a “not-life.”
2) Blocked: Unlike the Opposite, I would say that the Blocked interpretation does allow for the death or ending of something. The real energy of the card here is about that time of grief and nadir that leads to re-birth. If this is blocked, then the querent can’t grieve. They can’t face or relieve the pain of loss. They remain at one end of the tunnel, refusing or unable to transverse it.
Re-birth is held at bay as well.
3) Upside-down: Turn the Rider card upside-down and the flag falls from Death’s hand. Death falls off the horse. The horse is on its back and the corpses are out of their graves.
It’s a grim absurdity. We might say that reversed, this card becomes a mockery of death. This upside-down card hints at some very grisly things–desecration of graves, mocking someone’s death. Someone dies and their end is celebrated or laughed about rather than mourned. Or, worse, someone dies and no one offers compassion or sympathy to the widow and children.
This situation, similar to the “Blocked” interpretation, makes it impossible to move on. Grief cannot be dealt with or overcome. I imagine I’d get this card for people who were Holocaust victims or who lost so many friends and lovers during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. It isn’t just the multitudes of deaths they witnessed, but that no one cared, or helped or offered sympathy. They are left in eternal grief over the way death was disrespected.
The Sun
Sun Card Symbols
The Sun, one or two naked children (a naked little boy, sometimes riding a white pony or a boy and a girl), sunflowers, often a wall, sometimes a red banner.
Sun Tarot Card Meaning
The Sun is ruled by…the Sun, of course and as the Moon was your inner darkness, the wild, untamed, unconscious part of you, the Sun is your inner light, civilized and rational, yang to yin, Apollo to Diana.
The Sun promises the querent their day in the sun. Glory, triumph, simple pleasures and truths. As the moon symbolized inspiration from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made wide awake. This is science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect and youthful energy.
Like the Sun, the querent will likely come across to others as warm and radiant, and they can be told that this is a good time to make decisions and take tests.
Seven of wands reversed
The “holding your ground” card indicates that you use your energy to defend your position, even if it’s not popular. There is no indication in the card if the person holding his ground is right or wrong, only that he must hold his ground to achieve his goal. Reversed, we get the opposite: that the person can’t or won’t be able to hold their ground; that they will immediately fold under pressure, drop to their knees and surrender rather than try to defend themselves or stand up for what they believe in. They may have faith in their ideas or religion, but they haven’t the stomach to fight for those ideas or religion, not when others insist that they’re wrong.
Seven of swords reversed
The “Thief” card is one of those ambiguous cards - is the querent the thief, who must steal in order to gain his goal? Or is he being preyed on by a thief, who he must stop in order to get to his goal? Either way, this is a card about sneaking around, about whispers and tricks. The underhanded method is the only way to succeed.
Turning this card upside-down helps us to interpret it reversed - the thief loses his stolen swords. Sneaking around isn’t going to work, and in fact, it’s a disaster because no one ends up with the swords. If I got this card I would warn the querent that cheating wasn’t going to pay off. You get someone else to write that final exam paper for you, but then lose the paper and fail the class! It’s a lot of sneaking around that leads to nothing. Rather like arranging to cheat with another man’s wife only to find she went off to cheat on you with your best friend. The swords you were stealing vanish from your hands.
Five of Swords Reversed
This is a card all about losing a fight, in particular a battle of wits or communication. There is a suggestion that the other side might have cheated or used underhanded methods. Reverse this and the card does not really say that the querent will win the argument instead. A blocked interpretation seems most apt here, and that interpretation suggests that the argument drags on. If losing the argument is the energy, then blocking it means that there is no loss…but no win either. Just an on-going battle.
Another possibility is that the querent does win the argument - but does not feel that they’ve won. It is a hollow win. And yet another interpretation (upside-down), suggests that neither side wins. All the swords are lost, everyone loses.
Five of Wand Reversed
In this card, the querent is warned that he will lose his individuality. That he will be struggling to stand out among others equally talented. What’s positive about this card is that there is a struggle, a belief that one can stand out. Thus, reversed, this card suggests that the person has no faith in winning such a struggle, and so doesn’t even try.
This is the card of the person who walks in for a job interview, sees all these other talented people waiting, and walks out. They say, “What’s the use of even trying. I can’t possibly compete with them!”
Five of Pentacles Reversed
The upright card suggests financial loss or a loss of luck/health. But there is still friendship. The material may be gone, but the spiritual is still there. Reverse it and our Church window is upside-down, suggesting that even institutions that would normally help the poor (charities, for example) are not there. Our poor folk are on their own.
Seven of cups reversed
The “illusion” card presents a variety of tempting cups, but which of these futures are possible to achieve and which are unrealistic dreams? The card doesn’t say. Troubling as this card is, however, the reverse is worse. As with all cup cards, what the cups contain is spilled out. And in this case, the querent has not even illusions to motivate them to continue on. They’ve stopped dreaming, imagining, wishing.
If I got this card I would seriously worry that my querent might be on the downward spiral of a drug habit or suicidal depression. This is a person who sees no possibilities of life getting better, not realistically or in a pipe-dream sense. They are stuck and going nowhere. We all need fantasies to keep us going. This man has none.
Five of Cups Reversed
Upright, this is a card about regret for lost love or other good feelings or people. What is always pointed out about his card is that even though the man weeps over the spilled cups, there are two standing that he’s not seeing. Not all that is good is gone.
One can well imagine how dark, therefore, is the reversed card. Turn it upside-down and the liquid in the remaining two cups is lost as well. Our weeping man has lost it all. Some because he spilled it himself, the rest because he didn’t notice it and it evaporated. This is the stereotypical scenario of the man who weeps over the loss of a beautiful girlfriend, never seeing the plain girl who still loves him and is still there waiting for him. In the reversed card, the plain girl finally gives up and goes off in search of love elsewhere.
Seven of pentacles reversed
The Waiting Card - here the man waits for his labors to bear fruit. This is a card about patience and letting things ripen. Reversed, iy suggests that the energy of the card, patience, is blocked or not there. The person is impatient, pushing, rushing, tearing down the fruit before it is ripe.
If I got this for a querent, I’d worry that they were the sort to keep blowing their chances. The sort who creates something, then immediately puts it on the market before its ready, and it fails, because it’s badly done, not polished and ready. Like a movie where the special effects are bad because the movie makers didn’t give the effects guys enough time to finish–or enough money.
Page of Pentacles
Page of Pentacles Tarot Card Meaning
As a Message: Messages about money, a good, unexpected turn in health, a lucky happenstance or work.
As Time and Environment: This Page’s element of Earth works in favor of this time. There is new growth, steady development. Everything from the economy to the body seem youthful and healthy.
As a Child or “Child-like” Person: The Page of Pentacles is a hands-on sort of child or child-like adult. They enjoy hammering together birdhouses, helping build a tree house, cooking, cleaning. If a child-like adult, they likely want to fix things around the house be it a leaky faucet or creaky floorboards. They are into home repair and/or handmade gifts.
They are also industrious when it comes chores, taking on extra in order to earn extra money. They’ll water lawns, walk pets. They’re very frugal with that money, keeping it in the piggy bank and counting it out often to see how much they’ve got. Similarly, they’re very health conscious, seeing exercise not as a competition (as a Page of Wands might) but as self-improvement. They’re more interested in beating their own record rather than someone else’s.
As a child, they may seem too serious and adult-like. As an adult, they may seem to be stuck doing more “child-like” work, like being a dog-walker, rather than employed in a more adult job.
Though they can be generous and good hearted, the querent should be warned that being “immature” this person will rarely do anything for free, not if they can get someone to pay them to do it. Meaning if the querent goes out on a date with this child-like person, they’ll be eating somewhere cheap or going Dutch. There is an element of “what’s in it for me?” in the Page of Pentacles.
Page of Swords
Meaning
As a Message: Page of Swords signals messages relating to information or problems. It is sometimes about illness and often rumor or gossip. When the querent gets the Page of Swords, they should be warned to check it out. They should not pass on the message until they’re sure it’s true. Swords are words and thoughts, and neither may have any validity behind them.
As Time and Environment: This is a time of new ideas and thoughts. They not only seem new, but unique, special, and there is a great deal of chatter, talk, and discussion. It may not be very mature, but it is rapid and developing fast.
As a Child or “Child-like” Person: You can’t shut up the Page of Swords. They want to know everything, be told everything, and, even more alarming, anything they hear, they’ll repeat. This is the child that will go up to Aunt Hazel and say, “Are you carrying a baby? Mommy says it looks like you are….” This card could warn the querent that they or someone else might blurts out something they heard that they shouldn’t be blurting.
On the positive side, this child or child-like person could be quite a prodigy, good at puzzles, quick to learn. The card can signal absorbing new information quickly, or solving problems fast, also using a computer.
Warn the querent, however, that being “immature” this person will be prone to argue. Not only is there a risk of this Page of Swords being a tattletale, but they tend to think they know-it-all when they don’t. This can be a card about boasting, gossip and lying, either knowingly or unknowingly.
Three of Swords Reversed
Back stabbed. Breaking oaths and silence.
Upright is one of those dreaded cards as it speaks of betrayal, of hurtful things said. In this case, our third is a third wheel and the other two are not being nice to it. Often a card suggesting that the querent is being cheated on–and will find out about it. Painfully. So is it better reversed?
Alas, no. This is a good card for the “upside-down” interpretation. Right side up, the blood (or poison) drains out of the pierced heart. But turn it over and there is no draining out. The Heart sinks down on those swords, firmly embedded, no relief.
What’s important about the Three of Swords is not just the pain - but that something is finally out in the open. Those other two swords are not your friends, the card tells you. But turn it upside-down and the friendship continues. The querent suffers and suffers, but gets no relief. What has come out into the open, what has been said, changes nothing. I liken this to “Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf” type-people who keep hurting each other. They yell and insult and humiliate and nothing is ever resolved. They just inflict pain.
Three of Cups Reversed
Celebration, sisterhood, joy. Reverse this and our dancing ladies loose all the liquid in their cups. I read this as a celebration gone sour. Sisters bitching at each other, jealous or hurtful rather than loving. vRemember also that one of the most negative things about cups is that they can stand for indulgence in sloth, food, liquor or drugs. So this could suggest a party where things go wrong because people drink too much or take drugs.
Three of Wands Reversed
Waiting for ships to come in, this card promises the payoff for that initial investment of energy. Your good choice brings rewards. Reversed, however, and you get, I think, a blocked interpretation. A delay in the pay off, or, if really opposite, the ships have sunk. The anticipated reward is not or cannot come your way.
Three of Pentacles Reversed
The craftsman shows off his work to an interested patron. Hard work, craftsmanship, creating an interest in a business, investments. Reversed however, the card would indicate that there is a block - no one is interested, or the economy is such that none can afford to invest.
The reversed card might also be a warning to the craftsman himself, a suggestion that his work has been sloppy, not up to the high standards that would win him investors. There might be some question as to whether he is putting a true effort into this business. Likewise, if the card stands for health - this could indicate a person who is not giving a real effort to an exercise program and this is why he’s not seeing any real results.
Eight of Pentacles Reversed
The apprentice card is all about new jobs, learning a new craft, hard work and diligence. Although the person is low on the job totem pole, there is promise of new knowledge and promotions down the road.
Reverse this and we have both a blocked/opposite feeling: instead of being new, the job feels old. The work is tedious, and the person learns or gains nothing. If I got this card, I’d say that the person had been working at the same job - or the same low level of jobs for a long time. That they were overdue for a promotion, or that they weren’t going to get that promotion that they deserved.
It’s also quite clear that they hate their job and are not giving it their best effort, if they’re giving it any effort at all.
Eight of Swords Reversed
The dreaded “trapped!” card. The bound woman, blindfolded and surrounded by swords. In this upright card, the querent feels isolated, banished and ostracized. Friends and enemies have had their say, and left her encircled her with their swords (representing words and ideas). She stands, bound and blindfolded by her own doubts. Yet her feet are not bound, and she can move, if she’s willing to take possible cuts from the swords, she can even escape. But that will take a great deal of courage. Still, it is the only course open to her. Like with the scarlet letter, she has to be bold and unrepentant about her position, not cowed.
One would think that the opposite of this card would be a feeling of courage and freedom. But even if we turn it upside down, freeing the woman from the swords (that fall away), she is still bound and blindfolded and, upside-down, she’s lost the use of her feet.
I’m a little uncertain myself about the meaning of this reversed card, but I suspect that my interpretation would be this:
Upright is like the girl/boy in high schools who did something unacceptable, and her group of friends tell her what they think of her and turn their back on her. She eats alone, miserable and doubting herself. The opinions of others keep her isolated, and her own opinion of herself keeps her where she is.
Reversed is the girl in high school eating alone because she imagines others don’t like her (that she is surrounded by swords)…but this isn’t true. She isolates and hobbles herself, but there is no censure from the outside, it’s all her own doubts about herself, her own self-hatred and low-self-esteem. Other folk probably have no opinion about her, but she thinks they do, and these leave her unable to move.
The Devil Reversed
Upright the Devil is all about addictions, about the temptations/obsessions that lure us, capture us, and which we, ourselves, refuse to escape even though we have the key to our chains. In a positive sense, it can also mean letting go of inhibitions and puritanical restrictions - sometimes we need to live on the wild side, be excessive and indulge. So what happens if we reverse this?
1) Opposite: It’s natural to think that the opposite of the Devil - entrapment - would be freedom, happiness, etc. But reversals are never so easy. At its best, this opposite might indicate a near escape from entrapment, a temptation resisted but only just barely. The querent chooses to keep to their stricter morals or gets a break from whoever/whatever is tempting them, so they do not indulge, and they escape being chained to the Devil.
2) Blocked: The energy of the Devil is life on the wild side, indulging, releasing, giving in, going overboard. Reading this card as blocked could indicate that the querent is too restricted in their life or restricting themselves. That they are too afraid of giving into temptation, too afraid of addictions, to the point where they are taking no chances.
This can include a fear of committing to others, of even falling in love. Keep in mind the connection image-wise (in the Rider-Waite at least) to the Lovers card. If the Devil card is the Lovers gone wrong, then the Devil reversed can be a fear of the relationship going wrong, to the point where the querent won’t take a chance.
3) Upside-down: Turn the Devil upside-down and the chains fall off the necks off the man and woman, and the Devil himself is dethroned. The querent was in danger, being reeled in by someone dangerous. They held out, however, or changed their mind, eluding temptation and enslavement.
The Fool
New journeys, new beginnings, a naive and trusting view.
Eight of Wands Reversed
Interpreting the Eight of Wands, by comparison, is relatively easy. Upright, the Eight of Wands is all about speedy movement ahead. Things fall into place and there is a fast climbing of the ladder as well as a burst of energy.
Block this, and we get sluggishness, lack of energy, slowness. This is both without and within - without, things take longer than they should, there are delays. Within, the person feels tired, unmotivated.
Eight of Cups Reversed
The Eight of Cups is also relatively easy. This is the follow your dream card, and in the upright, the person leaves what is comfortable and established to follow their dreams - however remote or improbable.
Reverse this and our dreamer walks away from his dreams to come home. Worse, as the cups are inverted, home isn’t that comfortable. This is that terrible card where a querent who went out to make his own life surrenders that life to take care of his domineering parents. It’s the husband who sells his dream business because the woman he married insists on it, and now he’s working at something he hates, living in a home where there is no love. A very, very sad and painful card. The querent has given up his dearest dream as being impossible, and surrendered to a miserable reality.
Queen of Swords Reversed
Upright, our cool, Queen of Swords is a very sharp and astute intelligence. Far-sighted, she is the consummate problem-solver, especially when it comes to solving problems in communications - including important communications like radio and television - science or technology. She has all her facts at her fingertips and if she doesn’t she knows how to get them.
Personality-wise, a reversed Queen of Swords can also indicate the worst qualities of this Queen. Aloof and distant, cold, cruel even. A woman who uses her information and communication ability without considering other people’s feelings or what damage it might do. She wins arguments by saying, “These are the facts and that is that,” she says harshly, with no tact at all–or in the nastiest way possible.
The Queen of Swords is all about communications and information, using them to solve problems. Reverse this card and our Queen’s ability to solve problems is blocked, as is her access to information. Mental acuity and verbalizing are turned upside-down. These problems may be exterior - things like computers, telephones breaking down, arguments and miscommunication. It could also be interior problems: memory loss, even a stroke.
Queen of Wands Reversed
The Queen of Wands is a Queen of energy and warmth, who is always center stage, even as she directs the action. Hers is a charisma that can get things done whether it’s raising money for charity, putting on a play or getting a politician elected. This is the woman with all the connections, all the friends to call or e-mail. She makes things happen.
The negatives of this Queen, however, seen in her reversal, is that she can easily intimidate. You will do things her way. She refuses to listen to the opinions of others, she knows best. She becomes, as discussed, almost a dominatrix, one with a terrible temper if you happen to cross or go against her. And if you fall out of favor with her, she will call all those friends and make sure you are abandoned. The Queen of the social scene will have you snubbed.
The Queen of Wands is the Queen of energy and getting things done by way of energy, faith, charisma and friendship. Reverse her and we have a real lack of energy, a loss of faith. A woman who disappears rather than stands out, a woman who as no friends. Externally, this card could signal a drop in social status, friends are not willing or able to help. Internally, this card could easily signal chronic fatigue syndrome.
