''The Pictorial Key to the Tarot'' is a divinatory tarot guide, with text by A. E. Waite and illustrations by

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

. Published in conjunction with the Rider–Waite–Smith 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 (), 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 centuries. Known as a magical order, ...

. 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 generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

") 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 Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...

. 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–Smith 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 may also refer to: * Eliphaz (Job), another person in the Bible * Eliphaz Dow (1705–1755), first male executed in New Hampshire * Eliphaz Fay (1797–1854), fourth president of Wate ...

, 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 ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In Culture of Greece, Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, th ...

, 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 1916, American author L. W. de Laurence 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 or Smith.

References

External links

* * * PDF of the 1922 reprint {{DEFAULTSORT:Pictorial Key to the Tarot, The 1910 non-fiction books English-language non-fiction books Books about tarot