Pamela Colman Smith, nicknamed "Pixie", was a British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best-known for illustrating the Rider–Waite tarot deck for Arthur Edward Waite. This tarot deck became the standard among tarot card readers, and remains the most widely used today. Smith also illustrated over 20 books, wrote two collections of Jamaican folklore, edited two magazines, and ran the Green Sheaf Press, a small press focused on women writers.
Smith in the October 1912 issue of The Craftsman magazine
World War I-era poster encouraging people to buy a bulldog, with proceeds going to benefit soldiers
Pamela Colman Smith, The Blue Cat (1907), watercolor on paper board
"The Fool" card from the Waite–Smith tarot deck
The Rider–Waite Tarot is a widely popular deck for tarot card reading, first published by the Rider Company in 1909, based on the instructions of academic and mystic A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, both members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Also known as the Waite–Smith, Rider–Waite–Smith, or Rider Tarot, the deck has been published in numerous editions and inspired a wide array of variants and imitations. Estimates suggest over 100 million copies of the deck circulate across 20 countries.
0 – The Fool
I – The Magician
II – The High Priestess
III – The Empress