The Barbara Walker Tarot

Ace of Cups: Love Beside her water wheel, the fish-tailed Love Goddess drinks her element, pure water, once called the feminine Arche or Mother of Elements. Minne, the medieval Love Goddess worshipped by minnesingers, often appeared as a mermaid or merreminne. As fish-tailed Aphrodite, she represented the marine womb of all life. Fish were eaten in her honor on her sacred day, Friday. Even now, fish are called the food of love. The Ace of Cups invokes her qualities: pleasure, happiness, fruitfulness, birth, home, nourishment, satisfaction, caring. As the power of love has always done, it enhances other good influences and mitigates bad ones.

Ace of Pentacles: Reward The Earth Goddess, or Mother Eve, appears with her ubiquitous serpent on the pentacle that represents the inner spirit of her magic apple, the “core” of enlightenment. Older Goddess figures gave the gods themselves eternal life with their magic apples. Thus every apple carries an inner pentacle, revealed when the fruit is crosscut. This was called the Kore, the Maiden within the Mother (Demeter), who gave just rewards to all. The ace of pentacles means wealth, possessions, money matters, security, property, material rewards, that is, from the Mother (mater), or “earth,” the gypsy synonym for money. The suit became “diamonds,” another earth si…

Two of Pentacles: Change The lemniscate infinity sign appears with two pentacles, two mutually swallowing serpents, and two yang-and-yin symbols. Light and darkness, life and death, cyclic transformations appear in all these signs. The two of pentacles was important in the medieval tarot, carrying the maker’s name as well as a diagram for a layout. In alchemy, it meant “the Sun and Moon linked by the Dragon.” The two of pentacles stands for alteration, growth, new directions, existence folding back in itself, impermanent circumstances.

Three of Pentacles: Work A man and woman decorate their temple wall. He carves symbolic figures. She writes runes; knowledge of such writing was first attributed to women. Among pictured figures are: Cernunnos the Horned God, the lunar wolf, a siren, dragon ship, lemniscate, Greek cross, Cross of Wotan, triangle, triceps, moon, swastika, and sigils of deities. The three of pentacles means joint effort, teamwork, productive functioning in cooperation with others.

Four of Pentacles: Avarice In a dead landscape, the grim, windowless treasury-fortress gathers in more and more treasure. None ever goes out again. This is the card of hoarding, covetousness, selfishness, mistrust, greed, inability to let go, blockages of thought or action resulting from too much acquisitiveness.

Five of Pentacles: Hardship Five wretched beggars—one a woman with a starving baby, one a child apparently dying—huddle on a wintry night outside a warmly lighted church, unable to enter. The dire five of the money suit suggests the nadir of poverty, which the medieval church did little to relieve, as this tarot picture recalls. Interpretations include hard times, worry, loss, adversity, insecurity, lack of help from established institutions.

Six of Pentacles: Charity A prosperous, jeweled courtesan gives money to a humble hunchback, who pleased her with the music of his lyre. She may be one of Aphrodite’s charites, or a Magdalene-priestess. It used to be said that a prime characteristic of the sacred harlot was compassion or venia: kindness, the Grace of Venus, whose number was six. Her card means gifts, patronage, philanthropy, help from one of Fortune’s favorites; also, a warning against misplaced generosity.

Seven of Pentacles: Failure Stripped of armor, his sword and shield broken, a knight grieves beside a single drooping flower in the Waste Land for the failure of his quest. Seven stars in the dark sky recall the Seven Mothers of the World, or Pleiades, who used to announce the period of infertility associated with sacred kings’ dying. Seven pentacles mean a death-period of inertia, frustration, lost opportunities, abandonment of vision, demotivation, deceived or fading hope.

Eight of Pentacles: Learning A mother-priestess (Rose Red) imparts wisdom to a daughter-novice (Snow White) under the female-symbolic Western Rose Window. A hooded Crone holds the light. After the failure of the seven, the eight offers help through a different kind of learning embodied in female symbolism. Among its meanings are new knowledge, extension of understanding, secret doctrines, new hope, and serenity through enlightenment.

Nine of Pentacles: Accomplishment In the garden of her magic fruit tree, the pregnant virgin mother contemplates an image of her consort, the divine white elephant. Buddha’s virgin mother, Maya-Shakti was fecundated by the “Lord of Hosts,” the elephant god Ganesha. Maya was another name for the unmated Creatress aspect of Kali. Nine pentacles signify the nine months of gestation, the flowering tree is a promise of future fruit. The card means careful cultivation, productivity, love of nature, development of beauty through learning, increase of material well-being.

Ten of Pentacles: Protection Spinning a web of ten pentacles by candlelight, the priestess creates a protective spell. Like Homer’s Penelope, whose name meant the Eye Behind the Web, she preserves life by leaving her thread uncut. In ancient cults of the Fate-goddess, red threads symbolized the lifespan. “Measuring the pentacle” with red thread remained a popular gypsy healing charm throughout the centuries. Ten pentacles mean the protection of material advantages; financial security, stability, inheritance, firm foundations, ancestral property.

Princess of Pentacles: Nimue The princess of magic invokes the earth spirit in an ancient henge. Nimue, Nemhain, Nemesis, or Diana Nemetona were some of the druidic/dryadic names of the incarnate Moon-goddess. Her Crone form brought an end to each chosen king in his turn, as Nimue brought death to her wizard-consort Merlin in the Grail legends. The princess means the wisdom of the ages: deep learning in esoteric matters, scholarly concentrations, the pursuit of knowledge, particularly knowledge of the past.

Prince of Pentacles: Merlin Protected by a pentacle and by the princess’s ankh, the wizard calls up the spirit of the Red Dragon, a symbol of Wales. Merlin was said to have been fathered by the Welsh god on a human virgin, though Christian interpreters of the myth claimed his father was a devil. As a pagan savior figure, he was buried by Nimue in a crystal cave, or perhaps a hollow oak, to await his Second Coming. His card represents patience and determination in solving mysteries, fearless following of clues, investigation of original beginnings.

Ace of Wands: Power The Goddess raises the fire serpent, who bears the wand of power. The original consort of Eurynome/Eve was her fiery serpent, seraph, or dragon, variously called Leviathan, Nehushtan, Ophion, Vasuki, Sata, or the Gnostics’ Ouroboros. His wand stands for the masculine fire element with power to create or to burn: vigor, heat, aspiration, rivalry, competition, avidity; on the darker side, oppression or violence, needing the Goddess’s control.

0: The Fool A jester sets out on his journey of enlightenment, guided by a symbolic flower and a butterfly (Psyche, the soul), with a dog snapping at his heel and a precipice in his path. He resembles the Asian images of the Unenlightened Man. He stands for folly, ignorance, recklessness, childish frivolity, or a blessed madness having the potential for later insight.

1: The Magician Wearing the lemniscate (infinity sign) hat, the Magician introduces the first decade of trumps, and manipulates the four tarot suit signs, which represent the elements. He is usually identified with “thrice-great” Hermes (Egyptian Thoth), god of magic, guide to the mysteries of the afterlife. His card may indicate a trickster’s illusion, a pretense of power, or else a path to genuine enlightenment.

2: The Papess The female spiritual authority sits between her temple pillars, Alpha and Omega, with an open book on her lap. The Keys of the Kingdom lie before her; a veil hangs behind. Early tarot decks showed her as Pope Joan, of the ninth century, who is said to have occupied the papal throne in male disguise until she was discovered and murdered. The Papess is also identified with Sophia/Sapientia, the Gnostic Great Mother, who embodies Wisdom and provides God with his “I-deas” (Goddess-spirits) and ability to act. Thus, she is like the Asian goddess Shakti. She is especially linked with the moon, which was once thought to give women their life-producing “wise bl…

3: The Empress Wearing a white gown and a star tiara, the Empress sits by a waterfall with her emblems: fruit, flowers, grass, grain, pearls, a cave, a dove, an eagle-decorated shield, and a banner with a white horse, recalling Demeter-Leukippe, the White Mare. She is pre-eminently the tarot’s lawgiving Earth Mother figure, symbolizing Demeter-like abundance, fecundity, richness, protection, creativity, and timeless wisdom.

4: The Emperor With his right leg crossing his left like a figure 4, the Emperor sits on a cube, his eagle-decorated shield beside him, a scepter in his right hand, and an orb in his left. His curious, long-brimmed hat traditionally shows a fleur-de-lis crown. Scepter and orb are male-and-female symbols of the sacred marriage between a male ruler and the Goddess of his land, which made it possible for him to rule. Barren mountains and a flight of carrion crows suggest the ruler’s eventual death when his powers fail. The Emperor stands for male authority, law-giving power, fatherhood, guidance, stern judgment, perhaps oppression or tyranny.

5: The Pope With tiara, gloves, and a papal staff, the Pope sits between two pillars that support air, a tiny devil peeking around one of them. Two acolytes kneel at his feet, corresponding to two devotees on the matching Devil card. As a holy man, the tarot’s Pope is identified as much with a pagan high priest, a hierophant, the Mithraic Pater Patri, or even the phallic father-god of Rome, as with the Christian pontiff. His card means spiritual authority, moral law, or political power plays; perhaps excessive rigidity or intolerance verging on fanaticism.

6: The Lovers A man between two women, an elder and a younger, and the love god aiming his arrow, form this card’s traditional group. The Lovers has been interpreted as a young man’s choice between mother and wife, body and spirit, virtue and vice, and so on. Because the elder figure is female, patriarchal interpreters preferred not to view her as the officiating authority at a wedding. However, elder priestesses did conduct weddings among gypsies and other non-Christian groups, and the winged Eros or Cupid indicates a marriage service, Decorative flower garlands also hint at the Asian doctrine of “husbandship” (bhavanan) considered necessary to the progressive enlig…

Seven of Wands: Challenge A princely juggler of seven flaming wands struggles to keep them under control, while he is menaced from above by a sharp moonsickle hanging from a single hair. Such is the precarious nature of public eminence, which must be maintained by constant vigilance and effort, and is always vulnerable to challenge. In the legend of Damocles, doom was suspended over the king’s head. The seven indicates powers and responsibilities similarly threatened; dynamic equilibrium preserved with effort, skill and risk. High ambition may take on too much.

7: The Chariot Under a starry canopy, a crowned man rides in a golden chariot bearing the glyph of Mercury. He has no reins to control his contrasting-colored horses, which seem to be wandering off in opposite directions. Following the card of marriage, he represents youthful complacency and pride in life’s early successes, but his lack of reins hints that he is not in control of his fate. The ancients used chariot images to remind each triumphant hero that his glory couldn’t last forever. “The road of the chariot” also means the road to death. The tarot’s black and white horses (sometimes sphinxes) stand for uncontrollable drives and the vicissitudes of life. The Ch…

8: Justice Under the All-Seeing Eye, a throned woman wearing feathers of Maat holds a balance and retributive sword. Maat was Egypt’s Mother of Truth, who weighed each deceased soul against her feather in the balance. If the soul was heavy with sins, it couldn’t enter paradise. Like Maat, the Goddess Libra or Justice demands payment of the proud charioteer’s karmic debt. Accounts can be balanced by voluntary renunciation of worldly glory, shown by the next card, the Hermit. Justice’s numeral 8 is the lemniscate symbol of perfect equilibrium. She stands for compensation, fairness, rationality, clear vision, payment of debts, punishment of the guilty.

9: The Hermit Bearing a lantern and a Hermetic caduceus-staff, an old man begins a journey into the dark, in the opposite direction from that of the Fool. He suggests the lone pilgrimage into the mystical realm of the unconscious, recommended by Asian religions. This journey takes place in one’s later life, after the duties of marriage, parenthood, and secular achievement. The Hermit’s staff invokes the Psychopomp, or “Conductor of Souls.” His lantern symbolizes the quest for enlightenment. His card means isolation, meditation, rejection of secular concerns, delving into the unconscious, self-imposed exile or solitude, a process of rehabilitation.