Why Scenic Minors?

Zephyros

I think one of the problems is the lack of information regarding the formation of the deck. When it comes to the Thoth, there is so much to go on, including letters exchanged between Crowley and Harris detailing the process of the work.

Assuming the images are indeed stories, wouldn't there be some sort of paper trail? Even if Waite kept his secrets to himself, he would still have to instruct Coleman what to do. If he didn't simply hand her a list, the instructions would have to have been conveyed orally. Did they spend so much time together? Even considering her lowly grade, lacking access to Book T, would she understand what she was painting? What was their relationship like? Not that this proves or disproves anything, just wondering.
 

Lee

And, no, I'm not going to reproduce my book (in DVD-format) here in full as that removes my right as a creator to earn a living (ha!-as if that happens!) from my original research and writing (even if it is a fantasy).
I never said you should. In fact I understand and agree with your reasons for not doing so. I was responding to ravenest's question as to where he might find the attributions.
 

Teheuti

I think one of the problems is the lack of information regarding the formation of the deck. When it comes to the Thoth, there is so much to go on, including letters exchanged between Crowley and Harris detailing the process of the work.

Assuming the images are indeed stories, wouldn't there be some sort of paper trail? Even if Waite kept his secrets to himself, he would still have to instruct Coleman what to do. If he didn't simply hand her a list, the instructions would have to have been conveyed orally. Did they spend so much time together? Even considering her lowly grade, lacking access to Book T, would she understand what she was painting? What was their relationship like?
I don't think anyone has found any papers at all regarding Smith and the deck she illustrated. The only statement regarding it is in a letter from Smith to Alfred Stieglitz:

“I just finished a big job for very little cash! a set of designs for a pack of Tarot cards – 80 designs. I shall send some over—the original drawings as some people may like them! I will send you a pack (printed in colour by lithography)—(probably very badly!) as soon as they are ready—by Dec. 1— I think.”

There is no mention anywhere, to my knowledge, about her and a knowledge or use of tarot other than her illustrating the deck.

Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin will be coming out with some more information on the deck, including photos of places and people that were probable models for many of the cards. There's no doubt that another level of the cards includes images from Pixie's own experiences and environment.

M. Irwin McDonald, in an article “The Fairy Faith & Pictured Music of Pamela Colman Smith” in The Craftsman (Oct. 1912) describes her:
"She does not dabble in psychology, as is the fashion now, and she knows next to nothing of philosophical theories, transcendental or otherwise. Her understanding and knowledge are wholly intuitional. Perhaps this is why she sees so much that is hidden from the ordinary sight.”

A description by Yeats' father is similar (can't find it right now).

In his autobiography, _Shadows of Life and Thought_, Waite wrote:
"“Now, in those days there was a most imaginative and abnormally psychic artist, named Pamela Coleman[sic] Smith, who had drifted into the Golden Dawn and loved its Ceremonies—as transformed by myself—without pretending or indeed attempting to understand their sub-surface consequence. It seemed to some of us in the circle that there was a draughtswoman among us who, under proper guidance, could produce a Tarot with an appeal in the world of art and a suggestion of significance behind the Symbols which would put on them another construction than had ever been dreamed by those who, through many generations, had produced and used them for mere divinatory purposes. My province was to see that the designs—especially those of the important Trumps Major—kept that in the hiddenness which belonged to certain Greater Mysteries, in the Paths of which I was travelling.”
And: "“I saw to it . . . that Pamela Coleman Smith should not be picking up casually any floating images from my own or another mind. She had to be spoon-fed carefully over the Priestess Card, over that which is called the Fool and over the Hanged Man.”

in an article: "The Tarot: A Wheel of Fortune" Waite proposed to “rectify the symbolism by reference to channels of knowledge which are not in the open day;” for which they had “other help from one who is deeply versed in the subject.”
This person has never been identified. Possibilities include William Butler Yeats, Florence Farr (who taught Tarot to GD members), and his best friend, Arthur Machen (who worked closely with him on the Grail book).

Here's a list of things synthesized in the Five of Pentacles (not necessarily in order of importance):
1) the number 5
2) implications from the V-Hierophant card,
3) the suit of Coins or Pentacles,
4) the Earth element,
5) the 5th Sephira Geburah,
6) Mars, the planetary ruler of Geburah,
7) the final He of the Tetragrammaton,
8) the World of Assiah,
9) Mercury in Taurus (fixed earth, first decanate) - faulty reasoning about material matters
10) The Golden Dawn title: Lord of Material Trouble ("material trouble" appears in PKT text).
11) the Book T description: "loss of money or position, poverty, unimaginative, harsh, stern, kindness and sometimes money regained after severe toil."
Waite notes that in addition to material trouble, “for some cartomancists [i.e., Etteilla], it is a card of love and lovers—wife, husband, friend, mistress.”
He concludes, “These alternatives cannot be harmonized.”

However, it should be noted that Pixie’s illustration integrates all of these ideas quite cleverly.

Additionally, it might be seen to hint at Masonic "discalceation" - having one shoe off during the initiation as a token of humility and respect when entering holy ground (among other things), about which Waite wrote: "The candidate enters into Freemasonry neither clothed nor shod. He gives his shoe as the sign of an agreement." [The other Masonic allusions don't make sense except as one piece of the candidate's experience as described by Waite - much too complex to go into here.]

Masons have long recognized what is to them clear masonic allusions in the Pentacles suit. There's no indication that PCS was a Mason. She would have appeared on the Masonic roles if she was (by this point there were some female Masons in England).
 

Lee

Sorry to go a bit off-topic -- Mary, what do you think of R.A. Gilbert's biography of Waite? I have it but haven't read it, I've just nibbled around the edges so far. I did read Gilbert's book "The Golden Dawn Scrapbook," which was entertaining but unflattering.
 

Richard

Sorry to go a bit off-topic -- Mary, what do you think of R.A. Gilbert's biography of Waite? I have it but haven't read it, I've just nibbled around the edges so far. I did read Gilbert's book "The Golden Dawn Scrapbook," which was entertaining but unflattering.
I'm also curious about Gilbert's Waite Bio.
 

Teheuti

Sorry to go a bit off-topic -- Mary, what do you think of R.A. Gilbert's biography of Waite?
I haven't read it in years and don't remember details from it. My sense is that it fills in many of the blanks regarding basic facts about Waite. You should also read Waite's own autobiography, despite its being less than absolutely truthful - which is where Gilbert's book is very helpful.

Personally, I find that the way people lie about themselves in autobiographies is the most revealing thing about them. I used to teach a college course in "Biography and Autobiograohy."
 

light2000

I'm not sure and i don't read any prove of it.

But we can remember a lot better with the pictures also makes it more appealing.