Ep. 124-Pamela Colman Smith And The Art That Defined Modern Tarot

You probably know the images even if you’ve never learned the name. The Rider-Waite tarot deck is the visual backbone of modern tarot, and it didn’t become iconic because people memorized esoteric theory. It became iconic because the art tells the story at a glance. We’re diving into the life and legacy of Pamela Colman Smith, the illustrator who drew all 78 cards by hand and somehow still ended up as the “invisible” woman behind one of the most recognized occult objects in history. 

We talk about how tarot works as symbolism and visual storytelling, from the major arcana everyone recognizes (yes, even the misunderstood Death card) to the minor arcana that can echo a standard deck of playing cards. Then we zoom out into the strange, dramatic world that shaped the deck: Victorian-era occultism, secret societies, and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where ritual, coded meaning, and theatrical vibes weren’t a costume, they were a lifestyle. 

From there, we get specific about what makes Pamela’s work hit so hard. Her scenes feel like dreams staged on a theater set, emotionally alive without being overexplained. We break down why her women feel powerful across the deck, especially in cards like The High Priestess, and why that resonance lasts for generations of tarot readers. And we don’t dodge the frustrating part: the deck goes world famous while the artist’s credit fades into the background. 

If you’ve ever owned a tarot deck, used a tarot app, or felt pulled toward tarot symbolism, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves tarot history, and leave a review so more people can find Pamela’s name. What’s the first tarot card image you remember?

Transcript

Tarot Without The Reading

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today we're diving into the world of tarot. But we aren't here to do a reading. We're here to talk about the woman who actually drew the cards. This is Hold My Sweet Tea. I'm Holly.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

And I'm here to make fun of your past. I'm Pearl.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

That was totally unscripted. Yeah, absolutely. Most of our intros are we just like go, okay, we're ready. And then we just come up with some crap.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah, we that was a good one. Do whatever comes to mind in the moment. Fresh thoughts. Right. They're not always the best, but sometimes they're golden.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Exactly. Some things just fly out of our mouths, and we're like, love it, love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

That just happened.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yep. Exactly. Well, I I am, you know, here with my my cards, which can tell your future with symbolism. Um, they can tell you about things that have happened in your past, if you believe in tarot, that is. But it's we're not gonna talk about just tarot cards today. Like, we're gonna talk about the woman who drew them, like literally illustrated the tarot cards, and how she kind of just got forgotten. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

The invisible lady.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

And I mean, tarot's been around forever. Like, I think even back to like the Egyptian days, like way back, they used to have uh card games, which if you take a pack of cards, like the normal 52 cards in a deck, you can use those to symbolize your minor arcana of tarot. So the cups, the wands, the pentacles, you know, the the swords, those are all like ace, spades, hearts, clubs, all that stuff. So you can use a regular deck of cards for your minor arcana cards. Um, but you also have your major arcana, which are your like your magician, the fool, death card. A lot of people know what that one is. And they're like, oh, don't get the death card.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

I know everyone sees that one and goes, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

It just really means rebirth and a restart of your life, not you're gonna die.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

I mean, I guess sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

I mean, it could be it could be. That's true. It could definitely lead to death for real. But um the most recognized, of course, tarot deck is the Ryder Wait deck.

The Scholar Behind Rider Waite

SPEAKER_01 3:49

And is that the one she literally illustrated?

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Yes. So I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you a little bit about uh Dr. Arthur Edward Waite. Um, he was born in 1857, died in 1942.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

He was a genuine scholar of occultism, and his published published work included um the holy kabbala and the key to tarot, which were first issued in England in 1910. Um Waite utilized symbols as the key to the tarot pack. He wrote that a true tarot is symbolism, it speaks no other language, and offers no other signs. Period. That's it. That's it. That's the end. That's the end, Janet Jackson. So Dr. Waite had studied um all of these things, and this is how um the Ryder Deck came about when they were having these secret little underground occult clubs and things. But we're gonna get into So secret readings. Yes, because it was a it it still is a very taboo like sure thing. People look at and go and clutch their pearls. Not you though. They don't clutch you.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

I am no one's pearls.

unknown 5:39

Right.

Meet Pamela Colman Smith

SPEAKER_00 5:43

But a woman named Pamela Coleman Smith. She was an illustrator with wild dark curls, flowing robes, and a fascination with ghost and theater, and a talent so unusual that people described her as if she were channeling images from somewhere else entirely. Like she sounded like a really cool woman. She's like Stevie Nicks. Pretty much. Like she had that whole like flowy robe, like ethereal, just witchy vibe. Um, she helped create one of the most influential occult objects in modern history. And then she died nearly forgotten. So, you know, we're gonna we're gonna dive into that. So she saw the world differently. She was born um in 1878, and from the beginning, she sounded like the kind of child Victorian society probably frowned upon. Uh oh. Yeah. She was a creative girl, and creative girls in that era were expected to do like watercolored flowers and sit politely near windows and look vaguely delicate, you know, Bridgerton.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah. Well, that sounds like Handmaid's Tale. That too. Like, or well, the testaments.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Right. But Pamela, she wasn't doing that. She was theatrical, she was restless, intensely imaginative. She was drawn to folklore and myth and performance and symbolism. All the strange liminal spaces respectable society tried very hard to avoid.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

So she's the one that other little kids are pointing at, going, which, witch, you're a witch. Exactly. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Her family uh moved frequently between places like London, Jamaica, New York.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Well, they moved frequently to cool places.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

I want you guys to know I move frequently to not cool places.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

You're like, why couldn't we have been to cooler places, Dad?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

But those shifting cultural influences shaped her artistic voice in a way that made her difficult to categorize later. And, you know, society hates women it can't categorize. Or control. Especially artistic women, mystical artistic women, like who dress dramatically and seem vaguely capable of summoning ghosts in a parlor. So which was kind of her whole aesthetic. By her late teens, she enrolled at the Pratt Institute in New York, where she studied under illustr illustrator Arthur Weasley Dow. And I was like, Weasley? Arthur Weasley?

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Wow. Um does Harry Potter maybe Arthur Weasley.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

I mean, they are magical, and these cards are pretty magical. So this part matters because Dow emphasized mood, symbolism, movement, and emotional composition over like strict realism. That influence is everywhere in Pamela's later tarot work. Her art doesn't just show like scenes, just you know, blah. It feels like something. The cards feel suspended between dreams and theater sets. Flat and symbolic, but emotionally alive. Because if you, you know, all right, let's see. The the card on top here is the lovers. If you pick it up, there's there's so much going on in this card with the scenery in the background, the the two, you know, the male and female that kind of look like Adam and Eve. They're naked. Um there's the angel in the cloud, there's a snake, and there's an apple tree, and the like there's there's so much symbolism going on in these cards. The detail that she put into them is just wild. And people like started, they noticed Pamela had quickly become known in artistic circles for live storytelling performances where she would tell eerie folk tales while illustrating scenes in real time.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Oh my goodness, she was us.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yeah. So she would just like start drawing and flinging and doing all these things and tell these cool stories while she was painting or drawing or whatever, whatever she was using at that moment.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

She would have been a painting podcaster.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Right. Which honestly sounds freaking amazing.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

We're gonna start painting while we podcast now.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Right. Like and even back in that time, like you can imagine like this dim, like gas-lit room with velvet curtains and like cigarette smoke, you know, rising through the air, and like this charismatic cigarette smoke. Without all the chemicals, so it didn't smell as bad. But this charismatic woman, like rapidly like sketching spirits and strange figures as she speaks, like I would have immediately wanted to go to that. I would have been like, here's my money, let me in.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Entertain me.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Right. Entertain me with your drawings and your stories.

The Golden Dawn Goes Mainstream

SPEAKER_00 12:01

But here's where the story turns deliciously witchy. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, occultism exploded among intellectual and artistic circles in Europe. And I'm not talking like hot topic crystal starter kit way. Like it was like really, it was a serious business to them. There were like secret initiations, ceremonial robes, astrology charts, ritual magic, ancient Egyptian symbolism.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Really cool headpieces, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Kabbalah, alchemy, like spirit communications. They're like, let's talk to the spirits. We're gonna like that's your dead grandmother, like speaking to me, like all these things. So it was a it was a hot like moment there that all this stuff was going on. It was like really popular. And Victorian people were out here doing the most. And sitting right in the corner of that strange mystical web was the hermetic order of the Golden Dawn.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

That sounds interesting.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Sounds dramatic.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

You do.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

The Golden Dawn operated like a mix between a magical university, Harry Potter, a secret society, and an occult theater troupe. Like a very emotionally unstable group chat kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Theatre de vampires.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Yeasts.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

But uh not with the vampires.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

But members, they would perform elaborate rituals involving colored robes, coded language, um, symbolism, candles, swords, invocations. Like it's like I would have totally been within that myself. And the membership like list is honestly like ridiculous. And we're talking like Alistair Crowley, W.B. Yeats, Arthur Edward Waite, like just these like legendary, but maybe, maybe so. Alistair Crowley. Right. I was like, Alistair Crowley? But like imagine walking into a secret ritual and realizing half of the room is either famous poets or future occult legends, and you know, it's just back then you you didn't have social media, you just you knew who people were, you know. And Pamela, she joined around like 1901. And unlike some members who treated occultism like intellectual cosplay, Pamela seemed deeply emotionally connected to symbolism itself.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Like she was living in right.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

She was there because it's always been a part of her, like she's always been on that edge of like just the strange and unusual. Lydia Dietz. Mm-hmm. She wasn't like obsessed with like power or anything like that. She was obsessed with meaning. There was a softness in her work that separates it from a lot of cold, ceremonial, occult image imagery from that era. Even her like her darker tarot cards feel still feel somewhat human. They have like a an emotional connection with them, not cruel, but like there's things in there that are like even the the devil card, there's some softness to it. So then, you know, we go to the tarot deck, the deck that changed

Building The Deck That Changed Tarot

SPEAKER_00 16:00

everything. And at the time tarot existed mostly as like a niche occult tool, and most decks looked like kind of plain, just like regular plain cards, like I was saying. Um and the cards like the Two of Cups or the Eight of Pentacles were often just arrangements of symbols, so it just had like a bunch of cups on it or pinnacles, no emotional scene, no narrative movement. Then along came Arthur Edward Waite with an idea for a new deck, a deeply symbolic tarot deck layered with esoteric meaning. And for the artwork, he had chos Pamela, which was like honestly the best decision of his life, because what Pamela created in like 1909 completely transformed this deck forever, which they promptly named the Rider Wait Tarot Deck. But here, like the thing that people didn't realize was that Pamela illustrated all 78 cards by hand in a very short period of time. Like that's some artistic skill.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

That's a lot of work.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Yeah. Like she she like popped these cards out and she was like, but she was so like just artistically talented, you know. Um, the imagery she created became the foundation for the modern tarot interpretation. Um, like the lonely figure carrying swords away through the dark, the exhausted wounded man clutching one final staff, the woman calmly taming a lion beneath an infinity symbol. These they weren't just decorative, they told emotional stories instantly, understandably, on a subconscious level. And I think this is why like the deck has survived so long. Not because people like memorize the cult theory, but because like humans respond instinctively to like visual storytelling, which is what she was known for. And she understood symbolism, symbolism emotionally instead of academically, and that was her her genius right there.

The Feminine Power In The Cards

SPEAKER_00 18:47

So let's talk about the high priestess card specifically, I think, because this is where like Pamela's feminine divine energy becomes impossible to ignore. The car show the card shows like a calm, mysterious woman, and she's seated between a black and white pillar. There's moon symbolism everywhere, there's veils and water and hidden knowledge, intuition instead of force. And this was created during an era where women were routinely dismissed completely, like intellectually, spiritually, creatively, creatively, creatively. I can't speak today, politically, and yet Pamela painted women throughout the deck as powerful spiritual figures, not just like passive decorations, not mortal warnings, like powerful. There's the Queen of Cups, the strength, the star, the Empress, the High Priestess, like these were women connected to intuition, emotion, mystery, all all the things. And I think that's part of why the deck still resonates so deeply with women over like a century later. Because if I'm being honest, most people who read tarot and still, you know, and believe in the occult and the and things like this are women. So like when you connect with something like that, it's on a level, an emotional like level with these cards.

Credit Erasure And A Lasting Legacy

SPEAKER_00 20:46

But then there was like the erasure period where the deck became world famous, but Pamela did not. In fact, for like decades, many people like barely knew she existed at all. And the deck became widely known as the Rider Wait deck, not the artist whose imagery defined the entire thing. She has been added as of recently on the deck, her name, but like back then, she like no credits, no credits at all. So, you know, this woman creates an emotional and visual language of something culturally massive, and history just quietly like pushes her name into the background. Sounds about right. But Pamela Now, if it was a guy who did look at what he did, his name's all over it. Everybody wouldn't right. But Pamela continued creating art. Writing, illustrating, and exploring spiritual ideas throughout her life, but financially things became very difficult for her. Um, she never gained the level of recognition her that was like later given to male occult figures connected to the deck. Um, she eventually she died in 1951 with relatively little public acknowledgement of what she had contributed to this modern spiritual culture, which is honestly just horrible. Because like today, her her imagery is everywhere. Like, there's tarot apps, books, jewelry, clothing, social media, like it's on everything. If you if you think of a tarot card, it's one of her cards, it's from that original deck. Now, there's like thousands of different tarot decks now. I have like probably like six different tarot decks, and you know, they have like different things on them, but like my original deck is always this one, and it stays in the little box that I decorated back in like 1998, 99, somewhere around. I'm pretty sure that's when I got this one. I'm like saying, but I like painted the little box and put some little moons and stars on the top of it.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

So she painted it back when I was either 18 or 19.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Yes, it was right around there. And I feel so old now. This deck is old, but I always has like kept it in the box. I have the original little booklet, the instruction booklet that comes with it. And you know, it's it says Rider Tarot on it on the front. It's Rider Tarot deck. And um, it's got the the magician card, which is the first card of the the major arcana um on here. But um it's just crazy how something so I don't want to say famous, but like so recognized, but you never like knew who did this. Like who drew who drew all this? Was it just some random like person was like, oh, these these look pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Or you would assume it was like one of the people whose names is right.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

That's what I was saying. Like was it writer or was it weight? Right. Because I never I never knew who did it until I started looking into it and I was like, well, that's interesting, you know. But I think there's something strangely poetic about Pamela Coleman Smith becoming inseparable from like the tarot itself, because like tarot is about interpretation and hidden meanings, layers beneath the surface. And Pamela pretty much became exactly that a woman hidden beneath the cards, quietly influencing generations from the shadows. So maybe that's why her work still feels alive. I don't know. It's like right. And I think like the cards, when you look at them, they still they still feel like very handmade and not something, you know, like you see so much AI art now and you see so much other stuff. This is like very like less commercial, yes, hand illustrated. Because like I said, I have other decks, and like you can tell that they're just like printed like decks that were created on a computer or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

This is like made like Jong tiles.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Like they were they were painted by someone who understood that symbols are never just symbols, I think. Like they're sometimes they're mirrors. And I honestly think that you know that might be more powerful than than magic itself. Like I think it's really cool the little history behind the tarot cards. Interesting. I wanted to break away from doing a true crime case, so I was like, I'm like, oh, tarot cards. I love these.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

So, you know.

Listener Requests And Closing Notes

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Something a little different for you today.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Absolutely. And and you got a little bit of like history and knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

We are now history teachers. No, I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Folklore, there we go. But not. But I think Pamela Coleman was a Pamela Coleman Smith was a badass bitch. And I think badass bitches should be recognized even more.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah, not just on reality TV. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

You know who else is a badass bitch?

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Patty Salzetta.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

That's right. Because we don't hide her in the shadows.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

No, we tell everyone all the time that she created our theme music and they're probably tired of hearing it.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Well, guess what? It's gonna be on every episode. Too bad, so sad. Exactly. But if you, you know, have anything that you wanna have us look up, because we did get an email the other day.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

From um Jay, and he wanted us to look up a episode on a cannibal.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

So we'll hook it up. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

We will find you one. Thank you. We're gonna we're gonna find that one for you and uh do a little do a little re case on that one.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Yeah. Probably ruin some something else, not just uh beef jerky for you there.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

Right. No more beef jerky for you. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

We're good we're good at that sometimes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

But if you did watch Apex, the movie, did you watch that? Did you finish it?

SPEAKER_01 28:29

I've not finished it.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Okay, I can't say it. It'll ruin beef jerky for you too again.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Well, I mean, I don't really eat it anyway, so it's fine. But but it really wasn't beef jerky. Because honestly, it puts the lotion on the skin or it gets the hose again was that's right. Was enough for me. It looked like beef jerky a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

You gotta stay moisturized. So speaking of which, my little uh Buffalo Bill cardboard cutout.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

I I gotta I need to do something with it. I need to make something out of it so I can use it for Halloween or something.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

You should put it above your desk at work. Nobody will mess with you.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Oh my gosh, that would be hilarious. I'd be like, what is that? I could put my fingernail clippers in the bucket.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

There you go. Nobody will mess with them and steal them.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

They won't get stolen again.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

We had the case of the missing fingernail clipper.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Yeah, they they oddly turned up in one of my little drawers, and I'm like, Oh, did you you found them?

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Yeah, okay. Where did these come from?

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Because I looked in there, mind you. I looked in there thinking, you know, sometimes I'm a little off my game, and I won't put things back exactly where I got it. And I was like, did I put it in a drawer? Because I was just like just off that day doing six things at once and didn't put it back where I always put it. Well, no, my friend, they were not in the drawer. So the mystery remains.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Well, the Queen of Sword card says off with her head.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Maybe it was the resident work ghost. I don't know. We do have a resident work ghost, or the raccoon that lives in the ceiling.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Oh my gosh, they're scampering all the time. Scampering. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 30:24

But I don't think the raccoon would have brought it back. So there's that.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

They like shiny things and they keep them.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Yeah, so who knows? Who knows?

SPEAKER_00 30:33

But if you have a mystery, like the missing fingernail clippers, or you have something you want us to look up, hit us up and where can they do that?

SPEAKER_01 30:44

I mean, we'll even look for your dad.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

You can send us an email at holdmysweet tea podcast at gmail.com. Yep. Message us on social media or anywhere you listen. You can also use the little send us a text link because we can reply now. Yes. So, so, you know, so many options.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

Lots of options.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

Real easy.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Just a click of a button.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Be like Nike.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Just do it. Just finger tap. And as always, Hold My Sweet Tea is a drunken bee production. And you guys remember to stay safe out there. And just because we're dipping doesn't mean you can't keep dipping.