A look at how Pamela Colman Smith's theatrical knowledge and experience came into play when she drew the iconic cards of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
The "secrets" in this book have been known all along, and they work in all who read Tarot on a subconscious level. This insightful book delves deeply into the images Pamela Colman Smith created for the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, and reminds us of what we may have known intuitively but had not been aware of on a conscious level.
- A brand-new approach that focuses on how, in her images, Smith utilized a sense of direction, body movement, posture, gait, facial expression, and more
- Compares the Tarot Minors to technical elements of theater, including plot, conflict, elements of a play, thought/theme, dialogue, music, and actors' positions on stage
- Provides powerful tools for interpreting the cards and discovering new meanings that the reader can make their own
- Includes thought-provoking exercises that guide the reader in the mastery of these new insights
The result is a fresh take on Tarot that brings new meanings to light and enables the reader to evaluate what the Tarot provides like never before.
Anyone who's studied tarot on more than a casual level knows about Pixie Colman, the almost-forgotten illustrator who drew the artwork for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, and revolutionised tarot as she was doing it. This isn't a memoir, but it did teach me something about Pixie I hadn't known; namely, that she was very experienced in theatre work. This book looks at the cards in that light, imaging their positioning as if on a stage and using the old shorthand language of movement and position to interpret them anew.
Most of the book's attention is on the Minors, as Pixie had a free hand to illustrate them; Arthur Waite had a clear vision for the Majors but much less interest in the Minors and allowed her to illustrate them as she saw fit. The book helpfully gives us a diagram of a typical stage, explaining the various terms like 'downstage' and 'proscenium' before moving into the cards and discussing things like 'characters facing this way are typically confident' and 'this body stance indicates this feeling'.
There is literally a ton of information in this. I've read it cover to cover, and I'll be going back to copy bits and pieces into my journal, and keeping it nearby to refer to. I recommend having a classic style RWS deck, not just one based on it but an actual RWS, at hand as you read; the book does have illustrations, in colour, of all the cards, but the necessities of printing mean the images are quite small, and having your own to hand will make it easier to match to what you're reading. Of course if you don't have that deck to hand the book is still a wonderful resource on its own.
I started tarot a few years ago thinking I could learn it all. Every time I pick up a book like this I'm reminded that there are so many layers and points of view and new facts that I will never learn it all; there'll always be something new to discover. Isn't that a wonderful thought?
New Directions in Tarot publishes on the 28th of April, 2024. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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