Card XXI, Major ArcanaThe World tarot card meaning
Upright and reversedThe World in shortIn short
The World is the closed circle. A woman dances inside a green garland, a wand in each hand, while four creatures watch from the corners. The journey of the major cards ends here: you've arrived, everything fits, and a new road opens.
- Completion
- Wholeness
- Travel
Piece oneThe night
Behind everything lies a deep blue night, scattered with small gold stars. Waite reads the card as a story of the past too, the first day, when all was declared good and the morning stars sang together. The dancer turns against that sky.
"...that day when all was declared to be good, when the morning stars sang together and all the Sons of God (Nature) shouted for joy."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe night is the space the dance happens in. Its stars repeat the ones on her dress, so she and the sky are made of the same stuff. The garland frames a window into it, and the four creatures sit outside on clouds. The deck ends here, in open sky.
Piece twoThe four creatures
An angel, an eagle, a lion and a bull fill the four corners. Waite names them the four living creatures of Revelation and Ezekiel's vision, given to the four evangelists in Christian art. They guard the dancer from every side.
"The four living creatures of the Apocalypse and Ezekiel's vision, attributed to the evangelists in Christian symbolism, are grouped about an elliptic garland..."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe four creatures hold the corners, so the dancer is covered on every side. They sit on clouds outside the garland, watching her. They tie the centre to the four directions. The garland and the night inside it are what they guard.
Piece threeThe garland
An oval garland of green leaves, dotted with red berries and flowers, rings the dancer. Waite reads it as a chain of flowers standing for everything you can sense. Eliphas Lévi calls it a crown.
"as if it were a chain of flowers intended to symbolize all sensible things"Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe garland is the frame of the finished world. It surrounds the dancer like a doorway of leaves, and the creatures sit just outside it. Red flowers tie it at top and bottom. Inside the ring she moves freely, and the night shows through.
Piece fourThe dancer
In the middle a woman dances, eyes closed, stars in her hair, a wand in each hand. The Magician held one wand. She holds two, in balance. Waite reads her as joy reached in the body.
"She is in the act of dancing, and has a wand in either hand."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe dancer is the end of the journey. She holds two wands where the Magician held one, so she has both sides of a thing in hand. Her eyes are closed and her body moves. The garland, the creatures and the night all hold still around her.
Colour, and where else it appearsEchoes
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The night
Deep navy with small gold stars, so the green garland and the corners glow. The Star kneels under the same kind of night, lit by one great gold star. The Moon has a navy sky with gold stars too, and a sleeping face in the moon. The World has no single light, and the stars are everywhere.
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The four creatures
A gold-haired angel with cream wings, a gold eagle, a lion and a rust bull, all on pale cloud. The Wheel of Fortune has the same four, winged, each reading a book. On The World the books are gone and the creatures rest. The wheel still turns, and here the turning is done.
Also in -
The garland
Sage leaves dotted with red-orange flowers, the one growing thing on the card. Strength wears a garland of roses round her head and body. The Six of Wands hangs a laurel wreath from one wand. The Four of Wands strings a garland between four tall wands. The World's ring is the largest, and a person dances inside it.
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The dancer
A blue dress scattered with gold stars, cut from the same night as the sky behind her. The Magician lifts one wand to the sky. The Hanged Man crosses his legs the way she does, upside down and tied. The World dances the same pose free.
Also in
Colour notes are ours, read from the picture; Waite does not explain the colours.
The WorldUpright
Completion and success. Waite's words: assured success, recompense, voyage, route, emigration, flight, change of place. Something you've worked on for a long time comes together, and it pays off.
Travel, too, and wide horizons: a move, a journey, a life somewhere else. The circle closes, and a new one can start.
The WorldReversed
Waite's words: inertia, fixity, stagnation, permanence. The circle stays open. Nothing moves and the last step doesn't get taken.
You're close to the end and holding back, or stuck somewhere you've outgrown. Name what's unfinished, and what finishing it would take.
Yes or noYes.
Yes. Success is assured and the matter gets finished. Asking about a move or a trip? Also yes.
The World in your lifeIn your life
Love
A full, settled relationship, or a new stage like moving in. Single? Love may find you on a trip or in a new place.
Work
A project done, a goal reached, credit earned. Work abroad or a move may be coming.
Money
Waite's word is recompense: you get paid for what you did. Close your accounts and enjoy it.
Health
Wholeness and balance. A card can't diagnose you; if something's wrong, see a doctor.
Spirituality
You feel part of something whole. Waite calls it the soul aware of divine vision.
Advice
Finish what you started, celebrate, then pack for the next trip.
As a person
Accomplished, open-minded, at ease anywhere. Often well travelled.
Past, present, future
Past: a chapter you finished well. Present: success and arrival. Future: a journey, a move, or a new cycle.
Written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
Symbols and correspondencesAt a glance
- Number
- XXI
- Hebrew letter
- Tau
- Astrology
- Saturn
- Element
- Earth
- Upright
- Assured
- Reversed
- Inertia
QuestionsCommon questions
Yes, one of the best: completion, success, reward. Waite calls it assured success.
A fulfilling relationship or a new stage together. Single? Love can come through travel or a move.
Yes. Success is assured and the matter gets finished.
An angel, an eagle, a lion and a bull. Waite calls them the four living creatures of the Apocalypse and Ezekiel's vision, given to the four evangelists in Christian art. Wheel of Fortune has the same four.
Saturn, in the Golden Dawn system. Its element is earth, its Hebrew letter Tau.
Waite says the card shows the cosmos finished and perfect, its secret, and the joy of a universe that understands itself in God.
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911Card meanings and quotes: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911. Hebrew letter, sign and element: the Golden Dawn's Book T. Colours, life situations, yes or no and questions: written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
All 22 major cards