Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Rider-Waite Deck, the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set will be cherished by tarot collectors and art lovers.
The deluxe set includes the Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot Deck and two books;
The Artwork and Times of Pamela Colman Smith, by Stuart R. Kaplan, with over 100 examples of her non-tarot art, and The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite, in a new format.
The Smith-Waite Centennial Edition Tarot Deck is reproduced from the original 1909 deck and comes with a 78-card deck with drawstring organza bag.
The set also includes: 2 prints of Pamela Colman Smith, one photo and one self-portrait, both 5” X 7” suitable for framing; six color postcards of artwork by Pamela Colman Smith; and Spread Sheet Guide. Everything is attractively packaged in a deluxe keepsake case.
The New Orleans Voodoo Tarot, based on the stunning paintings by Sallie Ann Glassman, stirred some controversy when it appeared in 1992. Some questioned the wisdom of this heady blending of Kabbalah, Vodoun, and Santeria with modern occult philosophy. But they rarely doubted the power and beauty of Glassman’s visionary artwork. Over the years this deck has secured its reputation by proving its potency as a divinatory tool.
Frankly this tarot wipes the floor with any other so-called gothic or urban decks. Interestingly this is because it nods firmly in the direction of the Marseilles and surrealist traditions- both currently unfashionable in the English-speaking tarot scene.
The ingredients really shouldn’t work: bold computer graphics, collage, an eighties goth/industrial sensibility, humour, and a desire to depict tarot concepts in modern life. But it works. This deck was conceived by Patrick Valenza in his childhood. We eagerly await his next project.
The story of the artist of this most familiar of Tarot decks is seldom known. Pamela Colman Smith was an active member of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn- a founding movement of modern Western esotericism. She brought with her a background in Swedenborgian mysticism, Jamaican folklore and theatrical design. It is generally believed that she proposed the unusual idea to fully illustrate each ‘pip’ card, and that she strongly influenced how each scene was depicted.
This concept set a standard for every deck published since.
Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Rider-Waite Deck, the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set will be cherished by tarot collectors and art lovers.
