Trees in tarot

Trees join earth and sky, and Genesis plants two in Eden: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Smith's Lovers stand before two such trees, one with fruit and a serpent behind the woman, one with flames behind the man. The Hanged Man hangs from a T-shaped tree of living wood. A small tree holds a bird beside the Star, and woods grow behind the Empress. Esoteric tarot also leans on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. In readings a tree means growth, rootedness and life over time. Notice whether it is bare or in leaf.

Cards that show trees

The Empress
The Empress: The trees and waterfall
Dark, tall trees stand behind her, and on the right a stream pours down over rocks. Water feeding a green landscape suggests feeling and life flowing freely, the source that keeps her garden alive.
The Lovers
The Lovers: The tree and the serpent
Behind the woman stands a leafy tree with round orange fruit and a green serpent coiled up its trunk. This is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: temptation, choice and the knowledge that comes with experience.
The Hanged Man
The Hanged Man: The living T-shaped beam
The gallows is a tau-shaped tree: a trunk with a crossbar, both sprouting green leaves. Waite pointed out that it is living wood. The man is not hanging from a dead instrument of punishment but from something still growing, which turns the scene from execution towards renewal.
The Star
The Star: The bird in the tree
On a small tree on the hill to the right sits a reddish bird with spread wings. It is often identified as an ibis, sacred to the Egyptian god Thoth, though Smith's drawing is too small to be sure. Birds carry the idea of messages and of the spirit.
Ace of Wands
Ace of Wands: The river and trees
A blue river winds across the valley floor, with a few round trees on the far side. Water and growing things in the background soften the card: the fire of this suit is fertile, not destructive.
Ten of Wands
Ten of Wands: The house among the trees
A red-roofed house stands among trees on the right. It is the destination where the load might be set down; Waite adds, darkly, that the place he approaches may suffer from the rods he carries.
Four of Cups
Four of Cups: The tree
A tall tree with a pale trunk and hanging foliage shelters him. Sitting beneath a tree is a traditional image of contemplation and retreat, which gives his stillness a more generous reading.
Five of Cups
Five of Cups: The ruined tower
On the far bank to the left stands a small crumbling tower among dark trees. Waite calls it a 'keep or holding'. It can be read as the security or home that still exists beyond the loss, weathered but standing.
Ten of Cups
Ten of Cups: The house
A small house with a red roof stands on a rise among trees. Waite calls it 'a home-scene beyond': the stable, modest place that holds the family's life together.
Six of Swords
Six of Swords: The far shore
Across the water lies a low bank with a few round-topped trees and a gentle rise. It is not grand, but it is solid ground, the modest destination of a recovery rather than a dramatic new world.
Page of Swords
Page of Swords: The wind-bent tree
On the left a small dark tree leans and streams in the wind, matching the page's blowing hair. It makes the invisible air visible, and the sense of restlessness that comes with it.
Knight of Swords
Knight of Swords: The wind-bent trees
Two thin trees on the left lean hard in the wind. They show the force of the air the knight rides through, and the effect such force has on anything standing in its way.
Queen of Swords
Queen of Swords: The clouds and trees below
Banks of clouds gather around the lower part of the card, with dark trees at the far left. She sits above the clouds, calm and upright, while weather moves beneath her.
King of Swords
King of Swords: The clouds and trees
Low white clouds and dark trees stand on either side of the throne. He is set high and calm in his element, with weather and growth around but not above him.
Five of Pentacles
Five of Pentacles: The lit window
A tall stained-glass window glows yellow in the dark wall, showing five pentacles set among green leafy branches with small red flowers. It suggests shelter, charity and spiritual help: warmth that is present and visible, though the figures pass beneath it.
Nine of Pentacles
Nine of Pentacles: The yellow sky and trees
A bright yellow sky fills the top of the card, with two leafy trees and low purple hills on the horizon. Smith uses yellow skies for her most contented scenes, and the trees suggest growth that has had time to mature.
Ten of Pentacles
Ten of Pentacles: The tower and courtyard
Through the arch a tall square tower rises above red-roofed buildings and trees under a blue sky. The family's home is solid, established and walled in.
Page of Pentacles
Page of Pentacles: The trees and mountain
A small grove of round trees stands on the left and a blue mountain rises on the right horizon. The trees suggest steady growth; the distant mountain, a goal still far off.
Knight of Pentacles
Knight of Pentacles: The yellow sky
A clear yellow sky fills the background, with a couple of small trees on the far right. The mood is calm and steady, without the urgency of the other Knights.