Skip to content
The Forgotten Artist Behind the Most Famous Tarot Cards episode artwork

Jan 23, 2020 26 min

The Forgotten Artist Behind the Most Famous Tarot Cards

from Imaginary Worlds Hosted by Eric Molinsky | Daylight Media

When it comes to tarot cards, there is an artistry to designing a world of emperors, fools, priestesses, hermits and other iconic figures. But few people know about Pamela Colman Smith, the woman who illustrated the best selling deck of all time. Professor Elizabeth Foley O’Connor and author Susan Wands explain why Pamela Colman Smith was uniquely suited to design tarot cards that stimulate our intuition and our imagination – and how figures on the Rider-Waite (a.k.a. Smith-Waite) deck are based on a real troupe of famous actors, including Bram Stoker. Here's the link to Susan Wands' novel about Pamela Colman Smith: https://www.amazon.com/Magician-Fool-Susan-Wands/dp/1999764676

Episode details come from the podcast's RSS feed.

Embed this episode

Ready to play

The Forgotten Artist Behind the Most Famous Tarot Cards

0:00 26:56

No transcript yet.

Requests help us decide what to transcribe next.

Frequently asked questions

How long is this episode of Imaginary Worlds?

This episode is 26 minutes long.

When was this Imaginary Worlds episode published?

This episode was published on January 23, 2020.

Can I download this Imaginary Worlds episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.