{"id":159447,"date":"2023-05-15T03:00:48","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T03:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culture.org\/?p=159447"},"modified":"2023-05-16T03:01:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T03:01:20","slug":"the-unseen-mothers-of-the-occult-pamela-colman-smith-and-lady-frieda-harris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culture.org\/history\/the-unseen-mothers-of-the-occult-pamela-colman-smith-and-lady-frieda-harris\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unseen Mothers of the Occult: Pamela Colman Smith and Lady Frieda Harris"},"content":{"rendered":"
The occult has moved from secrecy to mainstream acceptance, and tarot card reading stands as a testament to this shift.<\/span><\/p>\n The Rider-Waite deck, named after the mystic A.E. Waite and publisher William Rider and Son, is considered the definitive tarot deck.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the captivating imagery and symbolism that define this deck come from the artistic genius of Pamela Colman Smith, a woman often forgotten in the history of the occult.<\/span><\/p>\n Smith, an artist with possible Jamaican roots, led a bohemian lifestyle and was introduced to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn by the renowned poet William Butler Yeats.<\/span><\/p>\n She joined the secret society, which explored occult and paranormal aspects, as well as philosophy and magic.<\/span><\/p>\n There, she met A.E. Waite, who would later request her artistic talents in creating a new deck of divination cards.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the immense popularity of the Rider-Waite deck, Smith’s role in its creation was largely forgotten.<\/span><\/p>\n However, many tarot enthusiasts today have started acknowledging her contributions by calling it the “Smith-Waite” deck or using decks that feature her name prominently.<\/span><\/p>\n Lady Frieda Harris, an enigmatic artist known for her work on the Thoth Tarot, had a deep connection to the occult world.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>\r\n\r\n Lady Frieda Harris, an enigmatic artist known for her work on the Thoth Tarot, had a deep connection to the occult world.<\/span><\/p>\n She was closely associated with various esoteric societies and urged the controversial British occultist Aleister Crowley to revise the symbolism of the traditional tarot deck as a legacy to his life’s work.<\/span><\/p>\n Harris spent nearly five years painstakingly drawing and redrawing the designs for the Thoth Tarot deck, which became iconic in Tarot history and Thelemic imagery.<\/span><\/p>\n The deck has remained in print since its first publication and is considered one of the most popular Tarot decks globally.<\/span><\/p>\n Harris was also a student of Anthroposophy and Projective Geometry, which influenced the Thoth Tarot’s aesthetic and symbolism.<\/span><\/p>\n The deck incorporates Astrology, Kabbala, Gematria, Gnosticism, and Egyptian mythology, showcasing Harris’s skills in visually capturing the multidimensional symbology of Crowley’s universe.<\/span><\/p>\n Though neither Harris nor Crowley lived to see the published version of the tarot deck, their work left an indelible mark on the history of the occult.<\/span><\/p>\n These two remarkable women, Pamela Colman Smith and Lady Frieda Harris, played pivotal roles in shaping the world of the occult as we know it today.<\/span><\/p>\n They were at the forefront of a quiet revolution, changing how society views religion and spirituality.<\/span><\/p>\n It is crucial to acknowledge their contributions and ensure that their names and stories are remembered as part of the rich history of the occult.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":159448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
Lady Frieda Harris: The Artist Behind the Thoth Tarot<\/b><\/h2>\n
Changing the Narrative: Acknowledging the Founding Mothers<\/b><\/h2>\n