Banners and flags in tarot
A banner announces who is coming and in what cause. Death carries a black flag with a white rose; the child of the Sun waves a great red banner; the angel of Judgement's trumpet is hung with a white flag bearing a red cross, an echo of the resurrection banner held by the risen Christ in medieval painting. In readings a banner means a proclamation: something declared openly, an allegiance, or the arrival of a new phase. Read the colour and emblem on it as the message.
Cards that show banners and flags
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Death
Death: The black banner with the white rose
The flag is black with a large white five-petalled rose, a design also seen in heraldry. Waite called it the Mystic Rose, signifying life. Death carries the emblem of life on his banner: endings and renewal on the same flag.
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The Sun
The Sun: The orange-red banner
A long banner billows beside the child, its staff rising off the top of the picture. Waite called it a red standard. A banner announces something openly, and its colour carries the vitality and action of the scene.
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Judgement
Judgement: The banner with the red cross
A square white banner with a red cross hangs from the trumpet. Waite notes that the cross 'as usual is displayed on the banner'. The equal-armed cross is often read as the meeting of opposites, spirit and matter, life and death.
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Seven of Swords
Seven of Swords: The camp
On the right are striped and patterned tents with pennants on their poles. Waite says simply 'a camp is close at hand'. It is the community or opponent being left, apparently unaware of what is happening.