''The Pictorial Key to the Tarot'' is a

divinatory tarot Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. They formulate a question, then draw cards to interpret them for this end. A traditional tarot deck con ...

guide, with text by

A. E. Waite Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider–Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider–Waite–Smith o ...

and illustrations by

Pamela Colman Smith Pamela Colman Smith (16 February 1878 – 18 September 1951), nicknamed "Pixie", was a British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best-known for illustrating the Rider–Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider–Wait ...

. Published in conjunction with the Rider–Waite tarot deck, the pictorial version (released 1910, dated 1911) followed the success of the deck and Waite's (unillustrated 1909) text ''The Key to the Tarot''. Both Waite and Smith were members of the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th ce ...

. Waite was very concerned with the accuracy of the symbols used for the deck, and he did much research into the traditions, interpretations, and history behind the cards. The book (which Waite himself called "a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

") consists of three parts. # Part I, "The Veil and Its Symbols", is a short overview of the traditional symbols associated with each card, followed by a history of the

Tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...

. Waite dismissed as baseless the belief that the Tarot was Egyptian in origin, and noted that no evidence of the cards exists prior to the 15th century. # Part II, "The Doctrine of the Veil", contains 78 black and white plates of Smith's illustrations for the Rider–Waite deck, and a discussion of the unique symbols chosen for each card. Waite drew upon the earlier Tarot of French occultist

Eliphas Levi Eliphaz is one of Esau's sons in the Bible. Eliphaz or Eliphas is also the given name of: * Eliphaz (Job), another person in the Bible * Eliphaz Dow (1705-1755), the first male executed in New Hampshire, for murder * Eliphaz Fay (1797–1854), f ...

, at times retaining his changes to the traditional deck (as with the Chariot card, which both Waite and Levi picture being drawn by two

sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...

, instead of horses), at other times criticizing him (as with the Hermit card, which Waite thought Levi misinterpreted). # Part III, "The Outer Methods of the Oracles", concerns matters of divination with the cards, including a description of the famous Celtic Cross Tarot layout, which the book helped popularize. In 1918, American author

L. W. de Laurence L. W. de Laurence (full name Lauron William de Laurence) was an American author and publisher on occult and spiritual topics. Life De Laurence was born on 31 October 1868 in Cleveland, Ohio, the eldest child of William and Mary (née Walker) Law ...

published an exact facsimile copy of the book under the title ''The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination, Illustrating the Greater and Lesser Arcana'' without giving any credit to Waite.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pictorial Key to the Tarot, The 1910 non-fiction books English-language books Occult books Tarotology