The RWS 'stage cards'

Kosmoran

Has anyone ever wondered about the meaning of the 'stage cards' found throughout the minors in the RWS tarot? Those are the cards with a horizontal line towards the bottom, which makes the background looks like a painted backdrop. If you go over the minor arcana cards, you'll see that each suit has exactly four cards like that -

pentacles - 2-4-6-8
wands - 2-4-9-10
cups - 2-5-8-10
swords- 2-5-7-9

In the book "The Complete New Tarot", the author gives a clue about those cards, saying that they "emphasize specific phases in the traveler's way through life", and that they "indicate clearly, by means of a scene, what specifically to do -or not to do - in life for the soul to grow".

Does anyone has other ideas about that?
 

AJ

The artist who painted the cards for Waite was active in the theater at the time and often helped paint sets. So the theory I've seen posted here is therein lies the mystery of the 'set' pieces.

You also have the 'as above, so below', reasoning. What is actually on either side of the line?
 

Kosmoran

AJ said:
You also have the 'as above, so below', reasoning. What is actually on either side of the line?

The 'as above, so below' association is interesting. Could you explain it?

I don't know if I understood your question, but in one side of the line you see a scene (comprising the main character and, eventually, secondary characters); in the other side you see the background, which can be a city or a natural landscape. So in one side you see the 'actor', and in the other side you see the background - which usually provides valuable information about the cards meaning.
You can see a certain connection between some cards too - the Two and the Ten of Cups have a very similar background; the same is true for the Four, the Six and the Eight of Pentacles.
 

Abrac

There are a couple you listed that I hadn't noticed before; but by the same token, the 9 of Swords and the 2 of Wands don't seem as obvious as the others and it makes me wonder about them.
 

Kosmoran

Abrac said:
There are a couple you listed that I hadn't noticed before; but by the same token, the 9 of Swords and the 2 of Wands don't seem as obvious as the others and it makes me wonder about them.

Yeah, I've actually taken that list from the book I've mentioned in the post. Some of them don't really seem to be stage cards - like the Five of Cups, for instance. The way I see it, it seems more appropriate to consider as stage cards only the ones with a double horizontal line in the bottom - like the Two of Cups or the Ten of Wands. This said, the stage cards list would be -

Wands - 4 - 9 - 10
Cups - 2 -10 -Page
Swords - 2 - 5 - 7
Pents - 2 - 4 - 6 - 8

- Although the Ten of Cups doesn't have the double line, I included it because it really looks like a stage;
- The Page of Cups is the only non-Minor Arcana numbered card in the list. Does that means anything?
- Note that almost all the even numbers from the Pentacles suit are stage cards. That's interesting.
- Three kinds of landscapes are seen more often in the background of stage cards: cities, water and bucolic landscapes.

In the book "The Tarot and the Tree of Life", Isabel Kliegman calls these cards 'separation cards'. She says that they represent a kind of retreat from the world. Just look at cards like the 2 Cups, 7 Swords or 9 Wands. The characters in the scene really seem like retreated from the world, and that is in agreement with the cards meanings...
 

Rosanne

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=44622

I have pondered this for many years, here is my brief take on Stage cards.
Looking at Pentacles only....
Ace : Stability/Wholeness
Two: Change/ Division
Three: Being practical/Learning skills
Four: Possession/Protection
Five: Poverty/No protection
Six: Strategy/Speculation
Seven: Perseverance/Growth
Eight: Specialization/Manual skills
Nine: Success/Increase
Ten: Sharing/Commitment

This today might be called Evidence Based Practice- sort of like staged = what you do- unstaged =what you get if you do or don't do.
Makes Sense?
~Rosanne
 

Kosmoran

Rosanne said:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=44622

I have pondered this for many years, here is my brief take on Stage cards.
Looking at Pentacles only....
Ace : Stability/Wholeness
Two: Change/ Division
Three: Being practical/Learning skills
Four: Possession/Protection
Five: Poverty/No protection
Six: Strategy/Speculation
Seven: Perseverance/Growth
Eight: Specialization/Manual skills
Nine: Success/Increase
Ten: Sharing/Commitment

This today might be called Evidence Based Practice- sort of like staged = what you do- unstaged =what you get if you do or don't do.
Makes Sense?
~Rosanne

I like the way you see it. So stage cards you be like advice cards? BTW, why do you say the Six of Pentacles is strategy/speculation?
 

Rosanne

Well Kosmoran, I used the RWS for 20 some years- before branching out with other decks...(due to availability here until some 10 years ago).

Six = Strategy and Speculation?
It seems usual to think of this card as Charity and even handedness- but only one is the beneficiary. The scales seem to denote Justice so whilst there is generosity, there is also unequal-ness or perhaps inequality. Symbolically a 6 shows balance, harmony and service, but is also the winning throw at dice.
Six can also usher in a period of accomplishment- but after effort- so to me there is a strong element of speculation about what to do for the best, and that takes some strategy- so it works out correctly (harmonically).

~Rosanne
 

Bernice

Rosanne, I love how you arrived at the meaning for the number 6. A very simliar (actually almost the same...) meaning is given by Austin Coates.

Coates:-
(6): The number of active organization, commerce, enterprise and Law (the Lawyer, not judge). The 5 senses plus reason. Perspective. Balance and harmony. Evaluation. Also the number of *risk & speculation*.

I read his book (Numerology) years ago and his meanings are still stuck in my head, so I can easily see Strategy and Speculation with the number 6.

Bee :)