These are the standard Rider-Waite keyword tarot interpretations based on the art of Pamela Coleman Smith. These keywords can be found in the companion book that accompanies the deck. These are not the be all / end all interpretations of tarot. They are used as a general guide of the cards meanings, but the tarot often speaks to each of us in its own voice.
Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, bewrayment.
Reversed: Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.
Skill, diplomacy, address, sickness, pain, loss, disaster, self-confidence, will, the Querent himself (if male).
Reversed: Physician, Magus, mental illness, disgrace, disquiet.
Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed, the woman who interests the Querent (if male); the Querent (if female) silence, tenacity; wisdom, science.
Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardor, conceit, surface knowledge.
Fruitfulness, initiative, action, long days, clandestine, the unknown, difficulty, doubt, ignorance.
Reversed: Light, truth, the unraveling of involved matters, public rejoice, also, according to another reading—vacillation.
Stability, power, aid, protection, a great person, conviction, reason.
Reversed: Benevolence, compassion, credit, also confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity.
Marriage alliance,captivity, servitude, mercy and goodness, inspiration, the man to whom the Querent has recourse.
Reversed: Society, good understanding, concord, over-kindness, weakness.
Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome.
Reversed: Failure, foolish designs.
Succor, providence, also war, triumph, presumption, ven-geance, trouble.
Reversed: Riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, defeat.
Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity.
Reversed: Abuse of power, despotism, weakness, discord.
Prudence, also and especially treason, dissimulation, corruption, roguery.
Reversed: Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned caution.
Destiny, fortune, success, luck, felicity.
Reversed: Increase, abundance, superfluity.
Equity, rightness, probity, executive.
Reversed: Law in all departments, bigotry, bias, excessive severity.
Wisdom, trials, circumspection, discernment, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy.
Reversed: Selfishness, the crowd, body politic.
End, mortality, destruction, corruption.
Reversed: Inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism.
Economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation.
Reversed: Things connected with churches, religions, sects, the priesthood, also unfortunate combinations, disunion, competing interests.
Ravage, violence, force, vehemence, extraordinary efforts, fatality, that which is predestined but not for this reason evil.
Reversed: Evil fatality, weakness, pettiness, blindness.
Misery, distress, ruin, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception.
Reversed: According to one account, the same in a lesser degree, also oppression, imprisonment, tyranny.
Loss, theft, privation, abandonment, although another reading suggests hope and bright prospects in the future.
Reversed: Arrogance, impotence, haughtiness.
Hidden enemies, danger, calumny, darkness, terror, deception, error.
Reversed: Instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error.
Material happiness, fortunate marriage, contentment.
Reversed: The same in a lesser sense.
Change of position, renewal, outcome.
Reversed: Weakness, pusillanimity, simplicity, also deliberation, decision, sentence.
Assured success, route, voyage, emigration, flight, change of place.
Reversed: Inertia, fixity, stagnation, permanence.
True heart, joy, contentment, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility, holy table, felicity.
Reversed: False heart, mutation, instability, revolution.
Love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sexual relations. That which nature has santified.
Reversed: False love, folly, misunderstanding.
The conclusion of any matter. Plenty, perfection, merriment, happiness, victory, fulfillment, solace, healing.
Reversed:Expedition, dispatch, achievement, end.
Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations—as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only. Another cup of wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered him, but he sees no consolation therein. This is also a card of blended pleasure.
Reversed: Novelty, omen, new instructions, new relations.
It is a card of loss, but something remains; three have been taken, but two are left. It is a card of inheritance, transmission, and patrimony. It may be a card of marriage, but not without bitterness or frustration.
Reversed: News, alliances, affinity, ancestry, return, false projects.
A card of memories and of the past. For example, reflecting on childhood, happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the past, things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, suggesting new relations, new environment and new knowledge.
Reversed: Renewal, the future, that which will come to pass presently.
Fairy favors, images of reflection, imagination, sentiment, things seen in the glass of contemplation, some attainment in these degrees but nothing permanent or substantial is suggested.
Reversed: Desire, will, determination, project.
The card speaks for itself on the surface, but other readings are entirely antithetical—giving joy, mildness, timidity, honor, modesty.
Reversed: Great joy, happiness, feasting.
Concord, contentment, physical bien-être; also victory, success, advantage, satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the consultation is made.
Reversed: Truth, loyalty, liberty. But the readings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.
Contentment, repose of the entire heart—the perfection of that state, if with several picture cards, a person who is taking charge of the Querent’s interests. Also the town, village or country inhabited by the Querent.
Reversed: Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence.
Fair young man, one impelled to render service and with whom the Querent will be connected, a studious youth, news, message, application, reflection, meditation—also these things directed to business.
Reversed: Taste, inclination, attachment, seduction, deception, artifice.
Arrival, approach—sometimes that of a messenger, advances, proposition, demeanor, invitation, incitement.
Reversed: Trickery, artifice, subtlety, swindling, duplicity, fraud.
Good, fair woman, honest, devoted, who will do service to the Querent. Loving intelligence, and hence the gift of vision, success, happiness, pleasure, also wisdom, virtue.
Reversed: The accounts vary; good woman, otherwise, distinguished woman but one not to be trusted, perverse woman, vice, dishonor, depravity.
Fair man, man of business, law, or divinity, responsible, disposed to oblige the Querent. Also equity, art and science, including those who profess science, law and art, creative intelligence.
Reversed: Dishonest, double-dealing man, roguery, exaction, injustice, vice, scandal.
Creation, invention, enterprise, the powers which result in these, principle, beginning, source, birth, family, origin, the beginning of enterprises, according to another account—money, fortune, inheritance.
Reversed: Fall, decadence, ruin, perdition, to perish, also—clouded joy.
Between the alternative readings there is no marriage possible, on the one hand, riches, fortune, magnificence. And on the other, physical suffering, disease, chagrin, sadness, mortification. The design gives one suggestion— here is a lord overlooking his dominion and alternately contemplating a globe. It looks like the malady, the mortification, the sadness of Alexander amidst the grandeur of this world’s wealth.
Reversed: Surprise, wonder, enchantment, emotion, trouble, fear.
He symbolizes established strength, enterprise, effort, trade, discovery, commerce; those are his ships, bearing his merchandise, which are sailing over the sea.
Reversed: The end of troubles, suspension or end of adversity, disappointment, and toil.
They are for once almost on the surface—country life, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these.
Reversed:The meaning remains unaltered—increase, felicity, beauty, embellishment.
Imitation, for example, sham fight, the strenuous competition and struggle of the search after riches and fortune. Hence some attributions say that it is a card of gold, gain, opulence.
Reversed: Trickery,Contradiction, litigation, disputes.
The card has been so designed that it can cover several significations. On the surface, it is a victor triumphing, but it is also great news, such as might be carried in state by the King’s courier. It is expectation crowned with its own desire, the crown of hope.
Reversed: Apprehension, fear—as of a victorious enemy at the gate, treachery, disloyalty, as of gates being opened to the enemy.
It is a card of valor, for on the surface, six are attacking one, who has, however, the vantage position. On the intellectual plane, it signifies discussion, wordy strife, in business—negotiations, war of trade, barter, competition. It is further a card of success, for the combatant is on the top and his enemies may be unable to reach him.
Reversed: Perplexity, embarrassments, anxiety.
Activity in undertakings, the path of such activity, swiftness, as that of an express messenger; great haste, great hope, speed towards an end which promises assured felicity; that which is on the move, also the arrows of love.
Reversed: Arrows of jealousy, internal dispute, stingings of conscience, quarrels.
The card signifies strength in opposition. If attacked, he will meet the onslaught boldly. With this main significance there are all its possible adjuncts, including delay, suspension, adjournment.
Reversed: Obstacles, adversity, calamity.
A card of many significances, and some of the readings cannot be harmonized. I set aside that which connects it with honor and good faith. It is oppression simply, but it is also fortune, gain, any kind of success of these things. It is also a card of false-seeming, disguise, perfidy. The place which the figure is approaching may suffer from the rods that he carries. Success is stultified if the Nine of Swords follows, and if it is a question of a lawsuit— there will be certain loss.
Reversed: Contrarieties, difficulties, intrigues, and their analogies.
Dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a postman. Beside a man, he will bear favorable testimony concerning him. He is a dangerous rival, if followed by the Page of Cups. Has the chief qualities of his suit.
Reversed: Anecdotes, announcements, evil news. Also indecision and the instability which usually accompanies it.
Departure, absence, flight, emigration. A dark young man, friendly. Change of residence.
Reversed: Rupture, division, interruption, discord.
A dark woman or a countrywoman, friendly, chaste, loving, honorable. If the card beside her signifies a man, she is well disposed towards him; if a woman, she is interested in the Querent. Also, love of money.
Reversed: Good, economical, obliging, serviceable. Also signifies opposition, jealousy, deceit, and infidelity.
Dark man, friendly, countryman, generally married, honest and conscientious.
Reversed: Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.
Triumph, the excessive degree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. A card of great force, in love as well as in hatred.
Reversed: The same meanings, but the results are disastrous; another account says—conception, childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity.
Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, affection, concord in a state of arms, intimacy.
Reversed: Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.
Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally.
Reversed: Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.
Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit’s repose, exile, tomb and coffin.
Reversed: Wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament.
Degradation, destruction, reversal, infamy, dishonor, loss.
Reversed: The same—burial and obsequies.
Journey by water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient.
Reversed: Declaration, confession, publicity. One account says that it is a proposal of love.
Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence—also quarrelling. A plan that may fail, annoyance.
Reversed: Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling.
Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny—also sickness.
Reversed: Disquiet, difficulty, opposition, accident, treachery, the unforeseen, fatality.
Death, failure, miscarriage, delay, deception, disappointment, despair.
Reversed: Imprisonment, doubt, suspicion, reasonable fear, shame.
Whatsoever is intimated by the design— also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation.
Reversed: Advantage, profit, success, favor, but none of these are permanent. Also power and authority.
Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging.
Reversed: More evil side of these qualities, what is unforeseen, an unprepared state, sickness is also intimated.
Skill, bravery, capacity, defense, address, enmity, wrath, war, destruction, opposition, resistance, ruin.
Reversed: Imprudence, incapacity, extravagance.
Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, separation.
Reversed:Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, deceit.
Whatsoever arises out of the idea of judgment and all its connections—power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, offices of the crown, and so forth.
Reversed: Cruelty, evil intentions, perversity, barbarity, breach of faith.
Perfect contentment, felicity, ecstasy— also speedy intelligence, gold.
Reversed:The evil side of wealth, bad intelligence. Also great riches.
It is represented as a card of gaiety, recreation and its connections, which is the subject of the design. But it is read also as news and messages in writing, such as obstacles, agitation, trouble, embroilment.
Reversed:Enforced gaiety, simulated enjoyment, literal sense, handwriting, composition, letters of exchange.
Métier, trade, skilled labor. Usually, however, regarded as a card of nobility, aristocracy, renown, glory.
Reversed: Mediocrity in work and otherwise, puerility, pettiness, weakness.
The surety of possessions, cleaving to that which one has, gifts, legacy, inheritance.
Reversed: Suspense, delay, opposition.
It foretells material trouble above all, whether in the form illustrated, that is, destitution, or otherwise. For some cartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers—wife, husband, friend, mistress— also concordance, affinities. These alternatives cannot be harmonized.
Reversed:Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy.
Presents, gifts, gratification. Another account says attention, vigilance, now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc.
Reversed: Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion
These are exceedingly contradictory, in the main, it is a card of money, business, barter—but one reading gives altercation, quarrel, and another innocence, ingenuity, purgation.
Reversed: Anxiety about money.
Work, employment, commission, craftsmanship, skill in craft and business.
Reversed: Voided ambition, vanity, cupidity, exaction, usury.
Prudence, safety, success, accomplishment, certitude, discernment.
Reversed: Roguery, deception, voided project, bad faith.
Gain, riches, family matters, archives, extraction, the abode of a family.
Reversed: Chance, fatality, loss, robbery, games of hazard; sometimes gift, dowry, pension.
Application, study scholarship, reflection. Another reading says news, messages and the bringer thereof—also rule, management.
Reversed: Prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury, unfavorable news.
Utility, serviceableness, interest, rectitude, responsibility.
Reversed: Inertia, idleness, repose of that kind, stagnation— also discouragement, carelessness.
Opulence, generosity, security, magnificence, liberty.
Reversed: Evil, fear, suspicion, suspense, mistrust.
Valor, realizing intelligence, business and normal intellectual aptitude, sometimes mathematical gifts and attainments of this kind—success in these paths.
Reversed: Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril.