Rider Waite card(s) secret......

So many of the similarities one can see within a deck can become really useful when doing readings... so for example, if during a reading, the seated older man on the ten of Coins came to you as the Hermit, then use the meanings it could lead you to (... maybe the hermit needs to come home ... Wisdom needs to be applied in the completion of a project ... Let the final phase of an undertaking have the input of a leading figure, which may illuminate the situation from a different angle ... &c)

I do not know if Colman-Smith intentionally sought to have this resemblance...

I was planning to wait a couple of weeks to post what follows, but I'm going to be pretty busy...

So now for my 'favourite' open secret on those cards (if you're not familiar with the Tree of Life, please get a diagramme to accompany what follows):

Take a look at II The High Priestess, at the curtain behind her, and at the relative positions of the visible pomegranates:

Kether stands above her head,
Hockmah and Binah on its sides,
Hesed and Geburah at the shoulders, and
Netzach and Hod at her hips!

This corresponds exactly to the Tree when 'laid out' on a person...

Can i just throw thiS in ...
Would the roses and lillies signify the time of the month that those flowers appear ,, IN aUSTRALIA THESE FLOWERS ARE OUT NOW ! around xmas time about the lets say um 5th thru till end of jan for lillies and the roses well they tend to go on for a while but the lillies come out at the beginning of the summer here !!! what do you all think about that !!!

I personally have never used the flowers to indicate time... but why not! If this aspect comes to you in a reading, use it!

One of the very interesting aspect of these flowers is their traditional meaning.

Roses have either five petals, or a multiple of five, whilst lillies have six.

Roses have an element of the lotus: they 'forever' unfold (think of the rich varieties, not the Dog Rose or other important archetypal five petalled ones). Lilies 'strive' forward.

The Rose is also related to the five wounds of Christ, whilst the Lilly is related to the Lilly of the Valley (Biblical reference).

These flowers are also symbolic in alchemy, and of course, in Rosicrucianism (not just the AMORC variety).

Lastly, they can represent two different temperaments, two cultures, and the Pentagramme and the Hexagramme.

Back to the Wheel of Fortune.

Did anyone notice what is written in Hebrew?

Yehova - Lord, God (something like that translated)

Haia - Was, happened (about the past)

Hove - present

VeHaia - and there was (the letter Vav stands in Hebrew for the word "and" when directly translated).

To go further Haia also means in Hebrew "animal" and there are animals in the image. However I don't think that this has any relation to the image because the word “animal” in Hebrew is written with the letter Het not Hay (for those that know the Hebrew alphabet from the tarot will know what I mean).

Remember that in Hebrew you read the letters from Left to Right not the other way around like in English.

And the most amazing this is that no matter how you turn the letter you still get the same words. Taro is Orat for example but in Hebrew you just get the same thing. Try it and you shall see.

If you want to see the letter and the way the words are written, I wrote them blow. To enable your browser to view Hebrew letters: go to View menu on your Browser click on Encoding then click More then select Hebrew Windows (that should do the trick).

In Hebrew it looks like this:


éäåä, äéä, äåä, åäéä

çéä

jmd said:

Take a look at II The High Priestess, at the curtain behind her, and at the relative positions of the visible pomegranates:

Kether stands above her head,
Hockmah and Binah on its sides,
Hesed and Geburah at the shoulders, and
Netzach and Hod at her hips!

This corresponds exactly to the Tree when 'laid out' on a person...

Click to expand...

No WAY, jmd, that's amazing! I had no idea. Can we copy this to the HP thread in RW study group?

(Where is everybody?)

some of the most interesting and enlighting concepts i have every read. my turn.

The suit of wands can represent flag poles. The two of wands represents the current Nation/State design. But look at the three of wands (it also looks like the magician), as one pole is higher than the other two as supported by the individual. The Four of Wands could represent (from a US POV) Homeland Security with a flag for the nation, the state(district.territory), the county (or province) and local community. Given the nature of todays world (and that of the early 20th century) and how much the flag has been seen this interpretation lends a new angle.

The Court cards of the Wands suit. The page and knight have salamanders on their garbs and the King on his throne. But the salamanders on the kings throne are eating their own tails (a modification of the oroborus). a live salamander joins the king on his pedastal.

Not only is the hermit in the 10 of pentacles, but the family from the 10 of cups and the dog from the fool card.

I find the creature on the two of cups resembling one of the creatures from the Book of Revelation. A lions head with the wings of an eagle. (given recent US/UK politics i wonder if this is the biblical meaning as well as an intended tarot interpretation)

The Dradle (sic) on the shield of the Chariot Card.

ok my hand is getting tired.

Has anyone else noticed that on the 7 of wands the guy is wearing one shoe and one boot?
Or the nine of pentacles has a second person? It's hard to spot but its there, way in the distance. Blessings Dakini

3 Red Feathers

Can anyone explain if the red feathers in 0-The Fool, 13-Death and 19-The Sun have any symbolic meaning?
Thanks for an insight you wish to share.
Verna

Hi everyone

The beauty of the tarot and this 'wonderful' website is the sharing and the immediate responses from the people whom use it. Learning from a book can feel so cold in comparison and doesn't fire the energies, passions and excitement that working in this way does. Our eyes and senses are what is bringing this deck alive for me.

Firstly, I have been searching for the second person in the 9 of pentacles but cannot find them. Where exactly are they? Please tell me before I go crazy looking.

Secondly, a very small observation which is probably new to me. Is there any significance to what appears to be a snail in the bottom left hand corner? I always engaged on the figure and the bird in this card. It is only, through learning with you guys that I have truely opened my eyes and looked further into the images on this deck. I think that a lot of people disregard the Rider Waite decks because they find its images to be flat and not so inspiring. I am realising that this deck is far more sophisticated than a lot of the more modern and popular packs.

Lastly, above what appears to me to be a snail, can anybody interpret what the black 'squiggle' is that sits just beneath the pentacle.

Thanks to you all.

Yaboot

Yaboot001 said:

Firstly, I have been searching for the second person in the 9 of pentacles but cannot find them. Where exactly are they? Please tell me before I go crazy looking.

Lastly, above what appears to me to be a snail, can anybody interpret what the black 'squiggle' is that sits just beneath the pentacle.

Click to expand...

Yaboot, hi...
I am not very sure this is right, but if there is another person on this card he is standing below the tree in the left hand corner. I went crazy looking too and then for a second when I was looking at something else, slightly unfocused look did the trick. I can't be sure if that is just a leaf segment, or a person, could be either.

The squiggle that you talk abvout is a grape vine tendril IMO. dunno what snail means though.

Shubha