A closer look
Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith created the Rider-Waite tarot deck in nineteen hundred and nine, deliberately designing it to be the first deck where every single card featured a fully illustrated scenic image. Waite was a highly secretive member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and specifically instructed Smith to hide complex astrological and kabbalistic symbols inside the relatively simple, colorful drawings to protect the order's esoteric knowledge. The deck became an absolute global sensation, entirely standardizing modern tarot reading because the highly accessible artwork made it incredibly easy for absolute beginners to intuitively guess the meanings. A strict occultist tried to hide his deeply profound, highly guarded magical secrets in plain sight, only to accidentally create the ultimate user-friendly flashcard system for every modern spiritualist with an aesthetic Instagram account
