First published 2023
Rachel Pollack examines the collaboration between Arthur E. Waite and Pamela Colman Smith, who created their influential Tarot deck in London in 1909. The book reveals how these creators developed cards that would experience an unexpected revival sixty years later. Pollack analyzes the psychological power of the Waite Smith cards, explaining why they function as mirrors and guides for personal insight. Essays by Mary K. Greer and Robert A. Gilbert bring both creators to life, exploring their backgrounds, artistic work, and driving interests. The book presents all 78 cards with detailed interpretations across multiple levels, from concrete practical guidance to deeper symbolic meaning. Readers receive a complete toolkit including the original Waite Smith deck and Waite's companion text The Key to the Tarot. The work offers spread patterns with position meanings and introduces a quick reference system for card interpretation. Pollack demonstrates how these particular cards succeeded in becoming psychological tools that help users find new answers and personal solutions to life's questions.
Genres: history, art, reference, biography-memoir, occult
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical, non-fiction
Setting: London
Period: 1909, 20th-century
444 pages · Hardcover · TASCHEN