Fool’s Journey: The Fascinating Life of Pamela Colman Smith | Autostraddle

Pamela Colman Smith; photograph found on Autostraddle

(I just love this photograph of Pamela Colman Smith. Her posture and expression gives off a feeling of humor, and very spirited energy!)



From Fool’s Journey: The Fascinating Life of Pamela Colman Smith | Autostraddle, on the artist behind the RWS tarot deck, which is, as the article points out, probably the most popular and easily recognizable deck in the world. Yet, as the article also points out, Pamela Colman Smith died broke and is still under-acknowledged for her role in creating this ubiquitous deck. She was also a woman of color:

Pamela Colman Smith was born in 1878 in London and was the only child of a white American father and a Jamaican mother. She grew up moving between Manchester, London, Brooklyn and Kingston. (Beth on Autostraddle)

I am ashamed to say I didn't know Pamela Colman Smith was a woman of color, or, that she was a feminist. Her words on how to read the cards are interesting as well, urging us to look at the facial expressions and poses of the images.



I have always thought the "Rider Waite Smith" deck was boring, flat, but mostly just too well known and with that, carried its own baggage that made it actually hard to read the cards. In other words, its familiarity front loaded meanings to people regardless of their knowledge of tarot. Assumptions. On the other hand, don't we all respond with our own meanings to images on many levels? Isn't that what it's all about? Given the context of Pamela Colman Smith's artistic history and her contribution to tarot, reading with the deck with her spirit in mind might make for a fresh perspective and reading!