Pictorial Key to the Tarot
From Tarotpedia
Contents |
[edit] Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Being Fragments Of A Secret Tradition Under The Veil Of Divination
[edit] Author(s)
[edit] Publication details
ISBN To be added
[edit] date of publication
- 1909 (Key to the Tarot)
- 1911 (Pictorial Key)
- 1994
[edit] publisher
U.S. Games
[edit] Description
Arthur Waite wrote his Key to the Tarot (which was not Pictorial until artwork was added in a later edition) as a companion to the Waite-Smith Tarot, providing theory, history and meanings. He covers various theories of the history of the cards, and gives a quick overview of the images themselves (the specifics of which occasionally seem to diverge from Pamela Smith's actual artwork). His symbolism and interpretations are based substantially upon his readings of Book "T", Etteilla, and possibly Robert Chamber's "Notes on English Cartomancy". Like all of Waite's prose, the book is lumbered with his archaic, hinting esotericism which often seems intended to confuse the reader. Waite was sworn to secrecy on many topics and reminds the reader of that at every turn. For all it's shortcomings, Waite's Key is a classic and a must-read, but not necessarily the best introductory text for a beginner.
[edit] Author's comments
"It should be understood here that I am not denying the possibility of divination, but I take exception as a mystic to the dedications which bring people into these paths, as if they had any relation to the Mystic Quest.
The Tarot cards which are issued with the small edition of the present work, that is to say, with the Key to the Tarot, have been drawn and coloured by Miss Pamela Colman Smith, and will, I think, be regarded as very striking and beautiful, in their design alike and execution. They are reproduced in the present enlarged edition of the Key as a means of reference to the text. They differ in many important respects from the conventional archaisms of the past and from the wretched products of colportage which now reach us from Italy, and it remains for me to justify their variations so far as the symbolism is concerned. That for once in modern times I present a pack which is the work of an artist does not, I presume, call for apology, even to the people--if any remain among us--who used to be described and to call themselves "very occult." If any one will look at the gorgeous Tarot valet or knave who is emblazoned on one of the page plates of Chatto's Facts and Speculations concerning the History of Playing Cards, he will know that Italy in the old days produced some splendid packs. I could only wish that it had been possible to issue the restored and rectified cards in the same style and size; such a course would have done fuller justice to the designs, but the result would have proved unmanageable for those practical purposes which are connected with cards, and for which allowance must be made, whatever my views thereon. For the variations in the symbolism by which the designs have been affected, I alone am responsible. In respect of the Major Arcana, they are sure to occasion criticism among students, actual and imputed. I wish therefore to say, within the reserves of courtesy and la haute convenance belonging to the fellowship of research, that I care nothing utterly for any view that may find expression. There is a Secret Tradition concerning the Tarot, as well as a Secret Doctrine contained therein; I have followed some part of it without exceeding the limits which are drawn about matters of this kind and belong to the laws of honour."
[edit] Reviews
[edit] Articles
- Tarot Divination: Three Parallel Traditions... Etteilla, Waite, Mathers by James Revak
- Influence of Etteilla on Tarot, Papus, Mathers, Waite by James Revak
- Jess Karlin's short page on Chambers' "Notes on English Cartomancy" and their impact on Waite
