The Rider Waite (or Waite Smith) deck is simply the most popular deck of all time. It’s one of the first decks most readers come to use, and was the first mass produced tarot deck.
The deck was a collaboration between Arthur Edward Waite, and the artist Pamela Colman Smith, bith embers of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Waite was very cautious about breaking the oaths he undertook, so the deck by design removed much of the esoteric and Kabbalic imagery that was key to the tarot. In fact even in Waite’s own book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, his caution is tangible and much of the book is pure waffle in my personal opinion. He spends more time skirting around the topic, keeping his secrecy than actually giving clear information.
The result nonetheless was beautiful, with Pamela Colman Smith breaking boundaries for the first time by illustrating the pips of the tarot. She listened to readings and then illustrated all the cards according to what it sounded like they meant in context. As such, the cards look like their meanings at a glance.
Some of the cards have more depth and symbolism, and it is a clearly a rich deck, but it isn’t exactly seeping with occult and esoteric meaning, which is the main reason that like many others, I’ve been finding myself more pulled to Thoth and Golden Dawn decks and away from the pedestrian Smith Waite.
So imagine my joy when I found out that Waite had a second secret deck! The Waite Trinick deck. This deck was commissioned by Waite to John Trinick. John Trinick was a stained glass window artist, and his work can be found around the UK.
The deck was made as part of “The Great Symbols of the Paths.” It was meant solely for private use by the members of the Rosy Cross, after the Golden Dawn disbanded. This deck contained all the Kabbalic correspondences, as well as linking in lots of the Christian symbolism which was central to the Rosy Cross.
Waite would later turn his back on his work with the Tree of Life, and focus sincerely on his Christian faith. I don’t know why this happened, but I only hope it never happens to me.
The Trinick deck first made small waves in the tarot community when it was written about in Ronald Decker and Michael Dummett’s book “A History of the Occult Tarot”, but it was Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin who really undertook a deep dive into the work.
They discovered a battered deck on eBay, and then contacted Trinick’s family who still possessed original copies of the artwork. I can only imagine their joy when they sifted through these amazing pieces, their sleepless nights with brains buzzing at their discovery.
The pieces now reside with the British Museum, and you can see them here.
Katz and Goodwin went on to write a book on their incredible findings, with a foreword by the amazing tarot scholar, Mary Greer. The print run of “Abiding in the Sanctuary” was super limited, so copies are now rare as rocking horse poop… I can only pray I’ll ever get my hands on a copy. I can only recommend that you see where this rabbit hole can lead you with online resources. But really, go check out the images the British Museum has. Again, that’s here.
I hope delving brings you the spring in your step it’s given me!
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