05/11/2025
Okay, so I’ve been thinking about the women who helped shape tarot into what we know today — the artists, writers, and teachers who quietly kept the cards moving forward long before tarot became mainstream. And so I thought it might be lovely to share their stories, one by one...
I wanted to start with Pamela Colman Smith (Pixie to her friends) for those of you who don't know who she is.
Pamela was the artist who painted every single card our beloved Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot back in 1909, working from her tiny London flat. It allegedly took her just under six months, and she was paid roughly £5 for the entire deck without royalties. It's almost inconceivable the royalties her estate would have received if there had been a contract!
Prior to Pamela's illustrations the Minor Arcana were mere simple suit symbols. She gave each card people, stories, and emotion — and in doing so, made tarot something anyone could read.
A few little details about her life:
• Born in London in 1878 to American parents, raised between England and Jamaica.
• Studied at the Pratt Institute in New York, under the same art teacher who later taught Georgia O’Keeffe.
• Moved in artistic and spiritual circles, and became friends with Arthur Edward Waite of the Golden Dawn, who commissioned her for the tarot deck.
• Converted to Catholicism around 1911, drawn to its ritual and symbolism.
• Later settled in Bude, Cornwall, where she bought a small former Catholic church and turned it into her home and studio.
• Lived modestly, supported by friends and faith, continuing to paint and write until her death in 1951.
• She was buried in St Mary’s Churchyard, Bude. Her grave remained unmarked for decades, though it’s now believed to be identified.
Pamela didn’t receive the credit she deserved in her lifetime, but her work still touches almost every tarot reader today. The next time you pick up a Rider–Waite–Smith deck, look closely — her little signature, P. C.S is right there, waiting to be seen.