Does the name Pamela Colman Smith ring a bell to you? You’ve probably seen her illustrations dozens (if not thousands!) of times.

“Pixie” was the artist who developed the now archetypal artwork of the ‘Rider Waite Smith’ tarot deck. She was born in Britain in 1878 and attended art school in Brooklyn NY at 15. She exhibited in NYC galleries but saw no financial success in her lifetime despite her tarot designs having such a societal (and commercial) impact. She was also a writer, illustrated books, created a magazine, designed costumes and sets, ran a small publishing company that promoted the work of women writers, and was a suffragette. And of course that only scratches the surface of who she was. Safe to say, she lived a really remarkable life — I recommend typing her name into your browser to learn more.

You may have heard of the ‘traditional’ tarot deck referred to as the ‘Rider-Waite’ deck. Those are the names of the publishing company (read: $; Rider) and ‘British poet and scholarly mystic’ (read: man; Waite) who Smith co-created the deck alongside. The omission of her name and lack of acknowledgement of her enormous contributions are an example of the marginalisation and Intellectual Property theft that shaped the world she lived in and the one we inherited. So, naming her when referring to the Rider Waite Smith deck is an important way to honour her artwork and legacy. You might even like to say a little ‘hello and thank you’ to her before you start shuffling ... (I do!)