The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
BEING FRAGMENTS OF A SECRET TRADITION UNDER THE VEIL OF DIVINATION.
By Arthur Edward Waite
[b. 1857 d. 1942]
WITH 78 PLATES, ILLUSTRATING THE GREATER AND LESSER ARCANA, FROM DESIGNS
By Pamela Colman Smith.
[b. 1878 d. 1951]
London, W. Rider
[1911]
Although there were many Tarot decks prior to the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, and many after, none has gripped the popular imagination as much as this set. Waite covers the significance and deeper implications of each card, and gives practical instructions as to how to conduct a reading. The symbolism of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck is based on profound occult studies by Waite, and his exposition in this book of its use and meaning is unexcelled. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the Tarot.--J. B. Hare
Preface
It seems rather of necessity than predilection in the sense of apologia that I should put on record in the first place a plain statement of my personal position, as one...
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Introduction
The pathology of the poet says that "the undevout astronomer is mad"; the pathology of the very plain man says that genius is mad; and between these extremes, which...
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Trumps Major - Greater Arcana
1. The Magus, Magician, or juggler, the caster of the dice and mountebank, in the...
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The Four Suits - Lesser Arcana
The resources of interpretation have been lavished, if not exhausted, on the...
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The Tarot in History
Our immediate next concern is to speak of the cards in their history, so...
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The Tarot and Secret Tradition
The Tarot embodies symbolical presentations of universal ideas, behind...
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The Art of Divination
We come now to the final and practical part of this division of our subject...
Ancient Celtic Method
This mode of divination is the most suitable for obtaining an answer to...
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An Alternative Method
Shuffle the entire pack and turn some of the cards round, so as to invert their tops...
