But then what do we make of the letter Shin on The Fool?
It is not exactly unusual that Waite doesn't mean what he says and doesn't say what he means. I am always ready to take his words with a grain of salt. But pictures are quite a different story.
Already the equally secretive Alchemists emphasized that they left clues in images that they would never express in words. Waite may well have thought about his Tarot deck similarly.
Although there is no hard evidence, I think Mary may be on to something with the statement that I quoted.
I particularly resonate with her "multi-dimensional" take on symbols. It reminds me of the two different suggestions regarding the Trumps VIII and XII. Strange as it sounds, both seem to hold true, as i.e. my research regarding birth cards on Aeclectic suggests. Based on the usual ToL, this is hard to understand. However, Robert C. Stein's three-dimensional "quantum tree" might reconcile both views.
Apparent contradictions in occultism are often two sides of a thing. To understand their unity, a higher perspective must be adopted, which is difficult to express in words. However, THIS is the true content of Waite's Secret Tradition.