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Common Symbols in the Tarot

By Craig Keene

When I hold a deck of tarot cards, I know that I am holding only pasteboard and ink: mass produced cardboard flash-cards that retail for about twenty bucks a set, with a programmed instruction booklet which allows even the most spiritually inept moron to access the Wisdom of the Ages. These cards have traditional, modern and esoteric designs. I've even seen people use ordinary playing cards. The designs vary wildly; even the organization of the cards sometimes differs from the traditional. But, despite this inconsistency, many use these seemingly inert cards to provide deep insights through a fairly standard method.

How do people learn to use this tool? Some learn from a teacher—a person who has supposedly already mastered the art. Others learn by studying a book—a sort of do it yourself guide to divination. A few pick up the skill as soon as they pick up a deck. (That method gives a new meaning to osmosis.) And very rarely, one can read without knowing the traditional divinatory meanings at all. It is well known that even the Masters of the Tarot had conflicting interpretations of many of the cards. Once again, there is little for the beginner to grasp hold of.

While it is true that the deck is nothing more than pasteboard and ink, there is far more than that to the practice of The Tarot. The way a reader meshes with his pasteboard and ink is what marks the boundary between success and failure. I'm not talking about cosmic interfacing or astral communication with inanimate objects, but rather, understanding some of the basic symbology that forms the foundation of the Tarot. This symbology can be the key to learning the Tarot.

But, what exactly is the final goal? One can view reading the Tarot this way: First, change some of the words—for read substitute observe, and for reading use interview. The observer looks at two things during an interview—the querant and the cards. The querant looks and reacts in a particular manner. This is not necessarily obvious to the observer but the subconscious always notices. The observer then looks at the cards, matches the appropriate symbols to the querant's manner and describes the meaning of these symbols to the querant. (To stem some of the criticism for the above, let me remind you of the emphasized can in the first sentence.) There are, of course, many other ways to view the working of the Tarot. But, it is the use and interpretation of the symbology in each card that makes a reading what it is. It is facility with the symbols that the student strives for. This is challenging, but the basics are fairly simple.

One of the most common symbols in the cards are serpents. They have several meanings, depending on how they are positioned. According to modern tradition, they represent trickery, treachery, cruelty and evil. Spiritually, they represent wisdom. There are two depicted on the caduceus, intertwined to show the balancing of the solar and lunar forces. When shown as biting its own tail, or two snakes biting each other’s tails, this is the worm, Ouroboros—symbol for the unending cycle of death and rebirth and eternity (similar to the lemniscate).

Several other animals appear on the cards, though none as common as the serpent. The first we see is the dog on Trump 0, The Fool. Dogs represent guardians or hunters. They represent the spirit of loyalty in us and our protective instinct. They symbol has a very hopeful connotation—the faith that everything will turn out all right.

The wolf is much different. It is sacred to the Moon and appears on that Trump (XVIII). It is the symbol of the animal nature in man—the dangerous side of us that we keep in control (most of the time). It also represents our instincts and it urges us to trust our hunches.

The crayfish, also on Trump XVIII, is always shown with water. Like water, the crayfish symbolizes the subconscious mind; however, it doesn't bear any of water's spiritual or feminine meanings.

The bull is considered to be a symbol for the Sun—the male aspect. It also represents the Elemental form of Earth. It is often found with the other three Elemental forms in the corners of some cards. It is interesting that, while the bull stands for the male aspect, the ox represents the Moon and the female aspect. The ox, like the bull, symbolizes great strength, but through patience, rather than rage.

Dual pillars appear in many of the cards. Sometimes, one pillar is black and the other is white. In other cases, they are both gray. The black and white pillars are called Boaz and Jachin, respectively. In Qabalistic philosophy, Boaz is the pillar of severity and Jachin is the pillar of mercy. They represent the polar opposites between which we work. They are the extremes that form the boundaries of our reality: good and evil, spirit and matter, light and darkness. The middle pillar of the Qaballa is not clearly represented on the cards, but it is there. The middle pillar is the self. In Trump II, The High Priestess, the woman is seated between the two pillars, showing the balance of polarities. But, the pillars may become the artificial extremes we impose upon ourselves, such as social right and wrong. This is shown in Trump XI (or VIII), Justice. Here, the pillars are no longer the abstract absolutes depicted in Trump II, so they are colored gray. Pillars may also represent a gate or doorway, as in Trump XIII, Death. Such a doorway may be symbolic of the gates of heaven, the door to the Underworld, the veil between the worlds and the final door to rebirth.

Throughout several of the beginning major arcana cards, one can see a river, or water, in the background. This river begins in Trump II, from the High Priestess' dress, and flows off that card into the others. The river is symbolic of the stream of consciousness. It is also known as the river Arcadia, the underground stream of knowledge and wisdom. This latter idea was very popular in renaissance European occult communities. It is still popular today. Consider all the organizations offering information not available to the general public. The river also reflects the idea of transition (from beginning to end)—the process of learning the lessons of life.

In several of the cards there are stylistic representations of plants. One of the first is the rose. Red roses symbolize Venus and passion, while white roses represent the purity of Venus. The lotus is considered to be the spiritual center of both man and the universe. Often they depict the chakra points. Pomegranates are common on many of the cards. They are dual natured, symbolizing both health and rebirth. The fruit is also a potent symbol of fertility. Similarly, grapes and grape vines stand for fertility, but in a dynastic sense. They show the mixing and interweaving of families and bloodlines to produce the next generation.

These are just a few of the many symbols that abound in the cards. Even many of the cultural decks (Native American, Greek Mythos, Japanese) which are so popular now, use these symbols. It is this that allows us to use a tarot deck based upon a culture that never had such a thing. Without the patterns of symbols for each card, we would have nothing—mush. There has to be a certain amount of symbology within each card for it to have any value. Once we understand this, then it becomes quite simple for us to design our own deck using our own symbols. Perhaps many of the basic figures and symbols would be copied onto our new design, but they need not. The perfect example is the Morgan Tarot. It is completely nonstandard and difficult to describe. Examine a deck and you will know immediately what I'm talking about.

You can even design your own deck to reflect your own personal microcosm-macrocosm. This would be a time consuming and exacting task, but, when finished, it would serve you much better than one of the generic pasteboard and ink decks. But, no matter which deck you choose, it will serve you well as long as you always look at the details of the cards. The more you understand about each card, the better you will be able to interpret it.

Regnabo, Regno, Regnavi, Sum sine regno