I agree that the images don't particularly look like any of the known decanic images, but I feel that the gist of them is there, coupled with the Sephirotic influences. As Teheuti said, Smith's expertise was in translating people's thoughts into images, and looking at the Minors it appears to me that Waite may have told her the cards' general "energy," leaving her to portray that as best he can. Mind you, I'm not
intuiting what the cards mean, merely trying to reverse engineer a given image.
A rather easy example, the Four of Cups, the Lord of Blended Pleasure suggests some somnolence perhaps, a certain surfeit or ennui.
Liber Θ said:
Traditional Description: Four cups, the upper two overflowing into the lower two (which
do not overflow). A lotus stem ascends, bearing one flower at the top of the card, from which
water flows into the two upper cups. From the center, two lotus leaves pass right and left, making
a cross between the four cups. Above and below are the symbols and for the Decanate.
Chesed of Water: Luxury, leisure, an abundance of pleasure. Pleasure that is ordered , stabilized. Receiving pleasure or kindness from others, but some discomfort therewith. Laziness, dispersion, excess, negligence; loss of impulse from over-satisfaction. Philosophy, contemplation, introspection. Devotion (of all kinds, including spiritual devotion).
Luna/Cancer: Success or pleasure fulfilled. Strong feeling nature. A stationary period in
happiness, which may, or may not, continue. It does not mean love and marriage so much as the Three of Cups. It is too passive a symbol to represent perfectly complete happiness. Swiftness, hunting, pursuing. If ill-dignified: acquisition by contention; injustice; drawbacks or dissatisfaction regarding pleasure is implied.
Jupiter + Luna: Happiness, kindness, generosity, sociability, popularity, pleasure, rich living, noblesse oblige. Indifference, negligence, jadedness, lazy justice, opportunism.
I'm guessing Waite described the general mood of the card in general terms, perhaps even using keywords. Now, granted, I don't think the image is the
best way to portray these ideas, but the general feel is, indeed there. The fault here is a feature of the deck, but when you translate the ideas into an image you're freezing the card into one interpretation, far more than abstract pips would do. But there it is, that broken telephone again; Waite described the cards imperfectly to Pam, who then interpreted Waite as best she could and made an image which imperfectly described the card. Any subsequent decks use that truncated meaning and image and there is the inevitable further degradation of the original "signal."
It would be difficult, though, to really separate Waite's and Smith's influences, especially in the Minors. One can always find this or that mitten on a card, or other small details but then you have very vague cards like the one above. Even when Waite "spoon fed" her, I'm guessing he was still stingy on the details (barring a few cards he attributed especial importance to).
In my opinion what the cards do not show is any inherent occult knowledge on Smith's part. Quite the contrary, in fact. It is evident that despite at least some sources of knowledge being available, Smith did not consult them. Anything remotely esoteric has Waite's fingerprints all over it and the rest have the quality of "almost" reaching the bullseye but not quite. This, because whatever "other" influences may have been inserted into the deck, which can be debated forever, we do in fact know what Waite's primary sources were, and they are slathered all over the place. Even if one knows nothing about the man, these sources are quite evident in the deck itself.
ETA: I don't know anything about Payne-Towler (sp?) but I have noticed this unfortunate tendency among many Gra scholars. I wonder if this is due to some superiority at not using the "cheap" Tree everyone uses. However, one thing those same scholars fail to account for is that the GD system is meant to go hand in hand with practical work. I am by no means an expert, but there are things that make little sense until you actually start working with them, and then they seamlessly become part of the greater pattern. For this reason many aspects of GD lore give the feeling of peering over a fence at a party you weren't invited to.