Pamela Colman-Smith: artist, occultist, true bohemian. Her illustrations defined the iconography of the classic tarot deck, but she is all too often forgotten.
Born in London in 1878, Colman-Smith moved to Jamaica with her parents at the age of eleven and then to New York to study art. She dropped out of college following her mother's death in 1896, and after her father died in 1899 she found herself back in London, joining the infamous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society dedicated to the study of occultism. It was there that she met Arthur Edward Waite, with whom she created the classic Rider-Waite tarot deck that is still in print today.
This beautifully illustrated graphic history tells Colman-Smith's tale and relates it to the iconic cards she helped to create, from the Fool, the beginning of every new adventure, to the Magician, who focusses energy, to the Hanged Man, who helps us see things from a different angle, until finally we embrace the World and fulfil our destinies.
A unique take on a perennially popular subject, you'll never look at a tarot deck in the same way again.