The Pictorial Key to the Tarot

Esoterism, via the undertakings of this book, negatively reinforces its position of authority. In an apparent attempt to ensure the latter's own ensuant demand (whether attributed to a more "significant" praxis or a willful seduction of the perpetually curious, superstitious masses), Arthur Waite altogether eschews and inverts certain intuitive insights as to the deeper meanings of the various tarot symbolisms under examination—albeit, in a no less peculiarly insightful manner. For any serious interpreter, the underlying rules for reading this particular tarot guide should include: in some instances, skepticism; in others, contrariety; and even, occasionally, elaborate deconstructive analysis à la Derrida. Taken as a general point of show more departure for tarot beginners, the text will unearth a few somewhat intriguing pathways to greater knowledge—combining, of course, a vigilant understanding that, typically, wherever Waite repudiates a given iconography, therein lies a veritable nexus of narrower routes to a more holistic apprehension of the vast Cosmos represented by this obscured-in-time, mysterious-yet-systematic discipline. show less

"... the rectified and perfected tarot which accompanies this work." (page 33) a phrase which says much about its author, Edward Waite. A self-proclaimed "master" of arcane knowledge who pretentiously imposed his miscellanic recycled multi-sourced esoteric constructs, creating a distorted and childishly obvious beginner's pack of cards (RWS tarot deck) explicitly intended for the lowly divinatory use he repeatedly pretended to scorn.
Overall it's a mere set of Victorian/Edwardian caricatures of the ancient original tarot Renaissance symbolism. The gratuitously swapped "Force"/"Justice" numerals and the ugly ridiculous Wheel of Fortune card with irrelevant Egyptian, Hebrew, Arabic and obscure symbols sums-up this disgraceful deck.
Waite show more wasn't even original, copying most of the restricted and sometimes aleatory Alliette's (18th century made-up "Book of Thoth" card deck) card divination meanings and robbing some imagery of the genuine "Sola busca" Italian tarot of the Renaissance. Even the unsuspecting artist Pamela Smith seems to have been underpaid for her hard work (from her own account) all for the glory of Waite. Even the Rider company seem to have originally neglected to put Mrs. Smith name in the published pack's name ("Rider-Waite").
A very controversial pack of cards and this accompanying book which irremediably "polluted" the last century of the already more than six centuries old tarot tradition creating a large following of uninformed and misguided wannabe "tarologists" and fancy deck creators who by restricting themselves to Waite's pretentious lucubrations are condemned to remain permanently "in the dark".
A totally undeserved "classic". show less

I know that it isn't popular to like A. E. Waite in modern occultism, but I really do appreciate him. While some of his sincerest opinions are a bit ridiculous, most of his research is sound and he was clearly speaking from experience on a number of important points. His insight into the Tarot is second to none, though it should be noted that as a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, he was oathbound not to reveal certain secrets. Hence, some of his interpretations of the Minor Arcana are purposefully flip-flopped and some of the symbolism of the Major Arcana is incomplete. Those knowledgeable in the Tarot will find a lot of gold here, while those who are just beginning had best look elsewhere.

It should be noted that Waite considers the actual divinatory uses of his subject with some aversion. He prefers the 'higher' realms of thought and he seems to fancy-flowery rosy-intellectual philosophical sorts of sentences...

For all that, though, I think the boy has won his spurs more, or, at least, *at least as much* by what he has *permitted*, than by what he has thought or written or decided. It is clear to me, at least, and I think it's proven, even, that certain bits of it, say, Part III, Section 4, "Some Additional Meanings Of The Lesser Arcana", were actually written by certain others, which is really--if you think about it, right!--a rather shocking concession for a man like M. Waite, I mean, such a thing to *do*, after all, show more he protested so much, and so *earnestly* that it was really "the doctrine behind the veil" and not "the outer method of the oracles" which drew him, all the way back in distant 1909 or 1910 or 1911 or whenever this thing hit the presses of M. Rider for the first time.

And of course, you have to ask yourself, if he really loved the philosophical sort of esotericism as exclusively as he would have you believe if you actually believed some of the things he wrote--though that's really just words, and any student of myth ought to know what lies words are--well, if all that's so, why would he go out of his way to unveil what's now the most famous Tarot spread of them all, which even a newbie (and a boy!) like me now knows, I mean, what a thing to *do*, if he really scorned the oracles as much he said he did, back when the sun never set on the British Empire, and Queen Victoria wasn't even dead ten years yet, hell, she was hardly even cold, back then...

And the cards themselves are good.

(9/10) show less

This book was written with Arthur Waite's famous tarot deck in mind, illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith (aka "Pixie).
I was hoping to find detailed description of the meaning of every detail found in the pictures. It left me rather disappointed. In his book, he explains many things about his cards, but he doesn't go as deep as I would have liked. At times he writes that he is not allowed to reveal deeper meanings he has learned in certain societies. This is rather disappointing.
Furthermore, Waite's writing style is not exactly easily understandable and condescending towards fellow writers about tarot.

However, there is still some benefit to this book. His comments on other works about tarot will save time to those who are interested in show more studying cartomancy. It is revealing in how the Rider-Waite (or rather Rider-Waite-Smith) deck is ground-breaking in this art. Waite sets the scene for our modern understanding of tarot and dispels myths about the history of the tarot cards. All criticism aside, it is a solid choice to learn about the basics of cartomancy. show less

Waite is interesting, both because of his broad reading of all things occult and because of the contempt with which he holds most occultists. It's difficult to tell how much he believes anything. The Key is primarily a description of the tarot deck Waite designed. I was a little disappointed in that it doesn't discuss divination by tarot more; he doesn't seem to feel there's any validity to it, which of course is quite odd for someone who bothered to write a book on tarot. Waite draws on other tarot decks to a limited extent, but doesn't describe why he chooses particular symbols rather than others well enough, in my opinion. I think I would have preferred if he'd presented various old cards and then explained why he chose particular show more designs over others. But I suppose that would be outside the scope of the book, and would cost more to produce than he could have charged for such a popular work. show less

Good, basic, very early tarot learning based on the Rider/Waite deck, which is kind of the King James Version of Tarot (learn it, and you know the basics and can go on to other stuff).

This also happens to be the only book I ever in my life shoplifted. I took it from a mega bookstore at which I was working when the managers instituted a search everyone on entry and exit policy. Little paperback, 1.95 at the time. No, they didn't discover it in the extremely thorough search of my nice 20 something self. And I kept it. But I still feel a frisson of guilt. (it no longer exists, the stolen book; rain and mice got to it years ago).