It’s been a while since I have been able to review a book that is way out in left field here on Okazu. There’s been so much Yuri that I haven’t had the chance. ^_^ While I am waiting for my copy of the graphic novel version of Charity and Sylvia, I thought I’d take some time to talk about a completely different interest of mine.
Most people know Tarot cards as a form of fortune-telling, or perhaps, if you shook your head at that, as a tool for gaining insight and possibly spiritual understanding of one’s actions and thoughts. And the most famous version of that tool is know commonly known as the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. This was named after the publisher, William Rider & Sons, spiritualist and extremely influential magician, Arthur Waite, who commissioned the art from a fabulously interesting woman, Pamela Colman Smith.
Tarot: A Graphic History Pamela Colman Smith’s Story of Arcana, Symbols & Magic, written by Valentina Grande and wonderfully illustrated by Chiara Raimond , translated by Edward Forbes, tells both a (brief) history of Tarot, beginning in the Renaissance with the Visconti-Sforza Tarocchi deck, moves into the creation of the Waite-Smith (this is what my wife and I are now using to refer to it) deck. To do this, we are guided through the Tarot by Pamela Colman Smith, in a fictionalized scenario, doing a reading for friends. Smith was an extraordinary person, and worth reading about on her own. She, like so many of the people in the various spiritualist and magic movements of the late 19th and early 20th century, intersected with other extraordinary people. Her last 25 years was shared with Nora Lake as her companion.
This book was a lot of fun. It gave a very fair and balanced view of the creation of a deck that has made an eternal impact on what we think of as “tarot”. Most decks are based upon Coleman Smith’s images and the meanings associated with her work are known around the globe. (Most, although not all. My primary deck is the Silicon Dawn by Margaret Trauth, and let me tell you, that deck is prickly af with no commonalities to Smith’s work. I love it.)
We get small glimpses into Colman Smith’s life, stories from her life in Jamaica, learning myths from the people there, her life in Brooklyn as an illustrator, doing stage design and performing. She published her own magazine, collections of Jamaican folklore, did exhibits of her art, and eventually was introduced to the Arthur Waite of the Order of the Golden Dawn, whose commission is her best known work.
Smith’s name was, for decades, elided from the deck. It is still referred to in many places as the Rider-Waite deck, but witches are an uncommonly feminist group of people and more and more we’re seeing Coleman Smith’s name on her work where it belongs.
As you may infer, I am very fond of Colman Smith and her work. And as a woman who spent her last quarter of a century in the company of her dear friend Nora, I think she belongs here on Okazu. Should you be in the least interested in Tarot, or the life of an amazing woman, pick up this graphic novel. It was a lot of fun.
Rating:
Overall – 9
