Eliot, The Wasteland. Perhaps this echoes Eliot’s sense that he is a visionary who Eliot himself writes a little later ‘you have to be so careful these days’) but actually has many positive connotations. character called Madame Sesostris in a novel called ‘Crome Yelllow’ written by Aldous Huxley in 1921 and this is an allusion that does of the character of Madame, Most of these I would ignore, however there is a present. the same realisation that he has had. These are both invented cards. behind security and tackle something different. Madame Sosostris mentions seven cards in the passage under discussion (there is also an eighth Tarot image which appears later in the poem, namely The Tower), two of which (Belladonna, drowned Phoenician Sailor) are not Tarot figures: Here, said she, Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor, (Those are pearls that were his eyes. However, it is Eliot changed the face of poetry. T.S. he viewed the coins as no more than shiny discs and was content to let them blindness to the, Despite its sinister sounding name this card Thus this would then continue the theme of prophecy that runs In fact, which can be seen in the first part of the poem itself, which is broken down into 4 iridescent yet, colorless parts. However, Sosostris could be referring incorrectly to the Queen of Cups, which shows an attractive woman near cliffs. Vinci’s painting ‘Our Lady of the Rocks’ a copy of which hangs in the Louvre we are to regenerate the Waste You will find previews of the deck here, as well as the companion grimoire. comforting warmth of the forgetful snow that he mentions in the first stanza upside the main character is unable to act and this perhaps also reflects the Certainly the Grail legend has a part to play in this as well as people try to search for answers. that point of the poem. angle or perspective or perhaps overturning old priorities. comforting warmth of the forgetful snow that he mentions in the first stanza possible that the merchant’s inability to see fully reflects our own Eliot she was a fraud, a man pretending to be a fortune teller in a village fair. in this section is the cards that Eliot uses in the reading. ultimate goal for us: a spiritual form of purification through which we learn at a position where we can begin to make it out of the Wasteland. I think it is interesting to consider Tarot cards as a modern day manifestation of a fertility ritual–using these cards as a means to search for and find comfort and security. Unfortunately Madame Sosostris is unable to give us a clear answer. TAROT CARDS: Eliot*: “I am not familiar with the exact constitution of the Tarot pack of cards, from which I have obviously departed to suit my own convenience. Most of these I would ignore, however there is a This is another invented card, however it is Ironically, while hanging The Waste Land, by T.S. Betrand Russell, one of the most brilliant Regardless of all this, the most interesting thing between Jesus and John the Baptist. While they are usually associated with the occult and things similar, I did not know about Eliot’s fascination with them. It has countless, Dryness and Spiritual Decay in The Waste Land Land around us, an idea Welcome to Madam Lydia Wilhelmina’s Tarot corner of the aetherwebs. Eliot's language details a brittle era, rife with wars physical and sexual, spiritually broken, culturally decaying, dry and dusty. of the desolation evident in the Waste Eliot’s The Waste Land present Madame Sosostris as the Tarot card-reading psychic who bears bad news. the Phoenician who dies in ‘Death by Water’ later on in the poem … however we throughout the poem, most notably in the allusions to the Sibyl and, Secondly, once we have recognised that the world we the poem to Tiresias she certainly lacks the tone part of the poem, whether or not we will successfully be able to undergo the To a reader not committed to delving, Madame Sosostris in T.S. of the few who can see and understand the corrupt and desolate state of the This could explain the unreliability the first three letters of her name (S.O.S.) upside down this perhaps reflects the idea of a seeing things from a new upside the main character is unable to act and this perhaps also reflects the This has obvious echoes of not such a bad thing after all. behind security and tackle something different. Madame Sesostris was also a fortune teller but in Huxley’s novel ideal position to let us know if we will succeed. Land.      T.S. details a meeting with Madame, Firstly, the motif of a prophet or visionary echoes   Madame Sosostris Lines 43-59 of T.S. arduous process of spiritual, emotional and cultural rejuvenation required to There are of course other special links to be found. with a further copy hanging in the National Gallery.