Rider-Waite 100th Anniversary talk

Image via Wikipedia

At last the day arrived. Held at the Devereux Pub just around the corner from Temple in London, where so many esoteric talks have taken place. Mary Greer spoke eloquently on the spiritual and religious dimensions that Waite incorporated into his tarot deck, and interpreted by Pamela Coleman Smith.

Mary demonstrated how the Minor suits closely followed Masonic rituals, particularly the murder of Hiram Abiff for the Swords. After my talk on the influences of the Golden Dawn on Waite, we cut a beautiful cake featuring the Magician. Mary then spoke on synesthesia, the ability to experience senses in a different way, and how Pamela Coleman Smith was able to use this ability in her art. Mary led us through an exercise to ‘step inside’ a tarot card to gain extra insights, probably the way Pixie Smith did it.

The evening was for socialising. I was surprised how many people had seen me speak before, and it was great to catch up with everyone.  Any more anniversaries coming up?

Photographs of the 100th Anniversary of the Rider-Waite deck in London