Animals in tarot and what they mean

Animals turn up all over the tarot, and they are easy to miss next to the human figures. They usually stand for something instinctive: whatever in us reacts before we think. Whether the animal is tame or wild, calm or fighting, tells you a lot about the card.

Dogs and wolves

Dogs are loyalty and instinct. The small white dog jumping at the Fool's heels is often read as a warning he is not listening to, or as a friend who comes along anyway. Two white dogs sit with the old man in the Ten of Pentacles, at home with the family. On the Moon card, a dog and a wolf howl at the sky side by side: the tame and the wild in us, both stirred up by the uncertain light.

A travelling companion, the family dogs, the dog and the wolf.

Lions

The lion is courage, pride and appetite. In Strength a woman closes a lion's mouth with her bare hands, gentleness mastering force. A lion sits at one corner of the Wheel of Fortune and the World, as the sign Leo. Lions are carved on the Queen of Wands' throne, and a winged lion's head floats above the couple in the Two of Cups.

The lion tamed, the lion carved, the lion with wings.

Horses

A horse is the drive that carries you somewhere. The child in the Sun rides a white horse bareback; Death rides a white horse too, slow and unhurried. The rider in the Six of Wands comes home on a white horse in triumph. And the knights show four ways of moving: the Knight of Wands' horse rears, the Knight of Swords' gallops, the Knight of Cups' walks and the Knight of Pentacles' stands still.

A joyful ride, an unhurried ending, a charge.

Sphinxes, bulls and rams

The Chariot is pulled by two sphinxes, one black and one white, which pull in different directions unless the driver's will keeps them together. A sphinx with a sword also sits on top of the Wheel of Fortune. The Emperor's throne is carved with rams' heads, for Aries, his sign, and the King of Pentacles' throne with bulls' heads, for Taurus and the earth.

Two sphinxes, a ram, a bull.

Birds

Birds carry thoughts and messages. A dove carrying a wafer dives towards the Ace of Cups, a sign of love given freely. The woman in the Nine of Pentacles holds a hooded falcon on her gloved hand: an instinct trained and under control. A small bird, often read as an ibis, sits in the tree behind the Star. And birds fly in the skies of the Swords court cards, the suit of air.

A dove, a falcon, a bird in the tree.

Fish, crayfish and creatures of the water

Water creatures come up from below, from feelings and the unconscious. A small fish looks out of the cup held by the Page of Cups, a surprise from nowhere. A fish leaps from the sea beside the King of Cups' floating throne. On the Moon card a crayfish crawls out of a pool onto the path: something from deep down coming to the surface.

The fish in the cup, the sea, the crayfish.

Cats, rabbits, snakes and salamanders

A black cat sits at the Queen of Wands' feet: independence, and a hint of the uncanny. A rabbit crouches in the corner of the Queen of Pentacles, a sign of fertility and plenty. Salamanders, the lizards that old legends said could live in fire, decorate the clothes of the Wands court cards, the fire suit, and one sits at the King of Wands' feet. A snake winds up the tree behind the woman in the Lovers, the serpent of Eden, and another slides down the side of the Wheel of Fortune.

A black cat, a salamander, the serpent.

Rider–Waite–Smith, 1909 · art by Pamela Colman Smith