Eden Gray (June 9, 1901 – January 14, 1999), was the professional name of Priscilla Pardridge, an American actress, and writer on the

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...

meanings of

tarot cards 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 ...

and their use in

fortune-telling Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical wi ...

Life

She was the daughter of Albert Jerome Pardridge. She was born and raised in Chicago. She changed her name when she moved to New York in the early 1920s when she began her acting career. Her acting career was temporarily put on hold during World War II when she became a lab technician with the Woman's Army Corps. She also earned a Doctorate of Divinity degree from the First Church of Religious Science in New York. She opened a bookstore in the 1950s called Inspiration House Publishing, selling books on the occult and metaphysical issues. In the 1950s she wrote "Tarot Revealed" which was an introductory work to the tarot. She moved to Vero Beach, Florida in 1971. She was a member of the Vero Beach Art Club, Riverside Theater and Theater Guild. In the 1960s, through her books, Gray had an integral part in the creation of the contemporary interest in esoteric Tarot in general, and the Waite–Smith Tarot deck and the Fool's

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

interpretation of the Tarot trump cards in particular. She was married to Lester Cohen and had a son, Peter Gray Cohen. Peter was also known as Peter Gray. She was survived by her grandson, Daniel H. Cohen, the professional water marbler. He lives to share her legacy. She was 97 years old when she died in a Florida hospital on 14 Jan 1999.

Works

* ''Tarot Revealed: A Modern Guide to Reading the Tarot Cards''. Inspiration House, New York, 1960. reprinted,

Signet Books The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publish ...

1969 * ''Recognition: Themes on Inner Perception'', Inspiration House, 1969 * ''A Complete Guide to the Tarot''.

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

and

Crown Publishers The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded int ...

, New York, 1970 * ''Mastering the Tarot: Basic Lessons in an Ancient, Mystic Art''. Crown Publishers, New York, 1971

Dutch editions

*''Het geheim van de Tarot: de magische kaarten die verleden en toekomst onthullen'', translated by

Wim Gijsen Wim Gijsen (20 August 1933, in Zwolle – 30 October 1990) was a Dutch science fiction and fantasy writer. Biography Wim Gijsen was one of the Netherlands' most successful writers of modern science fiction and fantasy books. Previously he had bee ...

, Kosmos-Z&K, 1996

Spanish editions

*''Guía completa para el Tarot'',

Editorial Diana An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, such ...

, Mexico, 1976

Partial filmography

*''

Lovers in Quarantine ''Lovers in Quarantine'' is an extant 1925 American silent comedy film starring Bebe Daniels and directed by Frank Tuttle. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distributi ...

'' (1925) *'' The Man Who Lost Himself'' (1941)

References

Sources

Birth information is from the 1910 U.S. Census (on Ancestry.com) and death information is from the Social Security Death Index, also on Ancestry.com. Father's identity is from a news article in the Chicago Tribune, 13 Nov 1934, page 17.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Eden American occultists Cartomancy 1901 births 1999 deaths Tarot readers