The Wasteland (1922) described what it was like to live post-WWI in London. The poem is separated into four parts, each with its own title. It has been argued by famous biographer Lyndall Gordon, in Elliot’s Early Years (1977),that “the poem is the ‘spiritual autobiography’ of its author who at this point in his life, stood in a profoundly problematic relationship to a Christian faith that he glimpsed still darkly, in the hazy glass of metaphysics and mysticism” (Gordon). From the depressive imagery and melancholic characters, it is believed that the poem relies heavily on the preparation and desire for death.  During the time the poem was written, many lives had been lost due to the war. The apocalyptic setting mirrors the reality of the times and raises questions about the afterlife. The Protagonist, symbolizing everyman, is a character of many guises. At one point, he is the Fisher King of the Arthurian Grail legend. In another, he is Tiresias, the same blind prophet from the Greek tragedy. One would almost call this main character somewhat of an anti-hero, waiting for creeping death  in the described apocalyptic landscape. However, all hope is not lost. In one instance, the protagonist seeks advice from a mystic in hopes of revealing a better future. He receives a full Celtic cross spread tarot reading. It’s easy to miss the one-on-one divination session, as it is only one scene in a larger story, but with further analysis of The Wasteland and some research into Elliot’s views on the occult, the fortune-telling scene weighs in on the author’s involvement in esoteric practices and his declining faith in Christianity.

It is possible that Elliot used the tarot to symbolize his problematic relationship with God, which, by WWI, many people had lost. Early on in the poem, the protagonist visits a well-known fortune teller named Madame Sosotris:  “ Madame Sosotris, famous clairvoyant’ and her ‘wicked pack’ of tarots” (Elliot). The protagonist seeks divinatory information pertaining to their future. In fairness, and for the sake of the skeptics, it has been argued that T.S. Elliot had no serious knowledge of fortune telling or using atarot pack. However,  he did know a thing or two about the spreads and the archetypal symbols behind some of the cards. For example, he used the Three of Wands to represent The Fisher King from the Grail Legend. In Elliot’s notes onlines 43-55 of The Wasteland, he wrote:

I am not familiar with the exact constitution of the Tarot pack of cards, from which I have obviously departed to suit my convenience. The Hanged Man, a member of the traditional pack, fits my purpose in two ways: because he is associated in my mind with the Hanged God of Frazer, and because I associate him with the hooded figure in the passage of the disciples to Emmaus in Part V. The Phoenician Sailor and the Merchant appear later. The Man with Three Staves (an authentic member of the Tarot pack) I associate, quite arbitrarily, with the Fisher King himself. (Eliot and the Tarot, Pg. 726).*This is also stated in The Complete Poems and Plays of T.S. Eliot (1969).

If Elliot is aware of the “authentic” cards in the deck, then he must have some knowledge of the cards themselves, right? It is clear that Elliot had read the interpretations of the cards by A. E. Waite; however, in The Wasteland, he departed from the traditional meanings to suit his creative process. The Rider Waite deck was published in 1909, and the Wasteland was published in 1922,which made it incredibly possible for Elliot to have studied the informationand symbolism of the cards.

After the introduction to Madame Sosotris, Elliot continues with, “Madame Sosotris, famous clairvoyant / Had a bad cold, nevertheless / Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, / With a wicked pack of cards”. (CPP,62). In this part of the poem, the reader learns about Madame Sosotris and the narrator’s attitude towards her. If she is “so powerful, why does she have acold”? If she were a powerful clairvoyant, shouldn’t she be able to heal her ailments or know how to prevent them? Is Elliot simply poking fun at fortune-telling, or is the message Madame Sosotris provided through the spread deeply profound and necessary for the querent’s journey?

According to an interpretation of the cards by Robert Currie, in lines 43-55 of The Waste Land, Madame Sosotris only uses seven cards in this reading. They are:

          1) The drowned Phoenician sailor (possibly 10 of swords?)

          2) Belladonna, the lady of the rocks (two of swords or queen of wands?)

          3) The man with three staves: Elliot used this to symbolize The Fisher King (rich but languishing. His cure rests upon Christ as the man in the card rests upon a stave. The card represents both the maritime and the grail themes in The Wasteland.

           4) The Wheel (Wheel of Fortune)

           5) The one-eyed merchant (Magician?)

          6) Blank Card (Waite included blank cards to aid the student in symbolic signatures, which Elliot might have read since it was published 200 miles from Elliot’s birthplace)

           7) The Hanged Man (Currie).

Currie felt that Elliot did not take the Tarot seriously and that the use of the Tarot in The Wasteland was nothing more than a poetic, metaphysical, and mystical Christian revision of the Tarot cards.

In another extensive deep dive into Madam Sosotris’s spread, Author Betsey B Creekmore has a different interpretation. This is where the Celtic Cross divination spread theory begins, and more cards are added to the reading. Instead of 7, there are now 10. If Elliot knew very little of the deck, how did he know how to use the Celtic Cross spread that Madame Sosotris gives the protagonist during their reading? In The Wasteland, the fortuneteller answers the question, “May I die?” The protagonist (or querent) wishes to escape his insufferable life through death to rebirth.

Madame Sosotris first chooses a card from the pack representing the querent. This is known as the significator card. According to Creekmore, the cards appear as follows:

          1) Signifier card: Death. A drowned man is lying near a horse on the card. Upon the horse is death themselves. Death holds a flag with the deadly nightshade flower. Deadly nightshade has tiny, pearl-like balls in the center. “Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!” (Tempest reference). This could relate to Ariel’s song, which is symbolic of a rebirth. In the background of the death card, there is a sun rising between two pillars. There will be are birth.

          2) 1st card: What covers you? Queen of Pentacles, but reversed. Queen sits upon a rocky throne. In the  reversed position, the card means “certain evil, suspicion, suspense, and mistrust” (Waites) . The poem mentions “fruity vines” and “cupidons,” which are both in the card.

          3) 2nd card: What crosses you? 3 of Wands. A merchant stands looking out to sea with ships, but the sea is the same color as the desert, symbolizing stagnancy.

          4) 3rd card: What crowns you? Wheel of Fortune. In the Wheel of Fortune, the card contains Egyptian symbols and also one of the “living creatures” of Ezekiel’s vision.

          5) 4th card: The foundation. The one-eyed merchant could be the 6 of pentacles reversed. The 6 of Pentacles is a merchant weighing money on apair of scales and giving to the needy.

          6) 5th card: Past. Blank. The Fool is card zero. (Past position)

          7) 6th card: Future. Hanged man reversed because when the card is upright, he isn’t hanging; therefore, he is not seeing things from a different perspective and avoiding enlightenment.

          8)  7th card: The Self. Judgement: The protagonist standsto be judged after their death. This recognition determines whether they will receive salvation or damnation. There will be a rebirth here.

          9) 8th card: Environment. The Justice card shows how the querent’s close friends and family view them. Justice is the governing principle of the Wasteland.

          10) 9th card: Hopes and Fears The High Priestess card provides the protagonist with the secrets of how death can lead to rebirth.

          11) 10th card: Final Outcome. The Tower card shows what will come to the protagonist. This card relates to the main points of The Wasteland: misery, calamity, deception, and ruin. The card reminds the protagonist that although you feel as though you have lost everything you have built for yourself, the tower will crumble and you will rise from the ashes to begin anew, therefore, reaching a rebirth.

A visual reference of what this spread would have looked like, taken from The Tarot Fortune of the Wasteland by Betsy B. Creekmore (1982):

Not only do the aforementioned cards relate to the Rider-Waite deck, but Eliot also brings in many references from well-known plays and myths. For example, when Madame Sosotris sees  “the drowned Phoenician Sailor,” this is a reference to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This also applies to the Fisher King legend, the tale of Ezekiel in the bible, and lastly, the hanged man as James Frazer’s Hanged God.

Whether you call it occultism, theosophy, spiritualism, or psychical research, T.S. Eliot saw this as the blending of intellect and intuition. At a time when death served as a constant reminder that life is imminent, the mystical fortune-teller in Elliot’s masterpiece showed how desperate people were to know their fate, regardless of the melancholic outcome.

References:

ChildsDonald J. Fantastic Views: T.S. Eliot and the Occultation of Knowledge andExperience. Texas Studies in Literature and Language. Winter. 1997. pp 357-374.

Creekmore,Betsey B. The Tarot Fortune in The Wasteland. ELH, Volume 49, No 4 (Winter,1982) pp 908-928.

Currie,Robert. Eliot and the Tarot. ELH, Vol. 46. No.4. Winter. 1979.

Gordon,Lyndall. Elliot’s Early Years1977.

TheComplete Poems and Plays of T.S. Eliot. 1969.

Image Credit:

Creekmore, Betsey B. The Tarot Fortune in The Wasteland. ELH, Volume 49, No 4 (Winter,1982) pp 908-928.