Tarot readings have exploded in popularity online over the past decade, spiking especially during the pandemic, when many reached for spiritual comfort in times of uncertainty. In an interview with CNN, James Alcock (professor of psychology at York University) says The U.S.’ unstable political climate and global climate change may also be contributing to the rising need for spiritual relief. Vogue reports, “U.S. searches for ‘tarot cards’ and ‘how to read tarot cards’ increased by over 30% during the pandemic, while another study suggests the tarot and oracle industry is slated to become a $93 million market by 2027.”
If you’ve seen a Tarot-tok video on your social media feed, it was likely a reading using the Rider-Waite-Smith deck (more commonly known as the Rider-Waite deck). The lesser-known artist behind the cards’ illustrations is Pamela Colman Smith. While the record of her life is largely unknown, her artwork has continued to resonate with Tarot readers in the century following her artistic career.
Unknown Photographer via Wikimedia Commons
According to a Pew Research Center survey published in 2025, the demographic using Tarot most largely comprises women, queer people, people of colour, those who are lower income and those who identify as liberal. These groups may be inclined to turn away from traditional forms of Western religion like Christianity, which centre men (i.e. requiring “fathers” and “priests” as spiritual conduits), heteronormativity, whiteness and conservatism. In an interview with CNN, Instagram astrology Kirah Tabourn posits that through mysticism in Tarot and astrology, divination is democratized to the user, eliminating a “literal middleman.”
Pamela “Pixie” Colman Smith was a champion of progressive feminist ideals herself, contributing her artwork to the suffragette movement in the early 1900s. Her Tarot illustrations featured feminist symbolism and women depicted as androgynous heroes. The following information is pulled from “Pamela Colman Smith: The Untold Story,” a comprehensive biography of the Tarot artist’s life by Stuart R. Kaplan with Mary K. Greer, Elizabeth Foley O’Connor, and Melinda Boyd Parsons.
While Pamela was active as an artist, she was likely influenced by the Spiritualism movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. Spiritualism was a religious movement that drew suffragists as it consisted of primarily female mediums who communed with the dead — a source of solace at a time when death was rampant. In addition to communing with the dead, Spiritualism supported reform politics as it allowed women to be critical of working-class conditions and gender inequality. While women couldn’t speak openly about politics at the time, they could communicate their ideologies “through the dead” (ibid.) to progress socialist and suffragist agendas while avoiding culpability.
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Pamela was hired by Arthur Edward Waite, a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn (a British secret society founded by Freemasons practising occultism in the 19th-century) to design a modernized Tarot card deck. She deemed the gig “a big job for very little cash”. Pamela, herself a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, was reported to have psychic abilities of her own. She was known for creating “music paintings,” in which she would paint a scene while listening to music that evoked the respective musician’s vision of their piece without her prior knowledge of the music.
Pamela’s tarot illustrations depicted numerous androgynous figures and gender-role reversals. For example, the Knight of Wands is depicted with feminine traits such as curling red hair and rosy lips. This depiction may allude to Joan of Arc, which is supported by the probability that Pamela attended stage productions featuring Joan of Arc in 1909.
Pamela Colman Smith via Wikimedia Commons
Pamela also modelled cards after her friends. For example, actress Ellen Terry is depicted as the Queen of Wands, which closely resembles Ellen in a photograph of herself acting as Ophelia.
Pamela Colman Smith via Wikimedia Commons
Ellen is also depicted in the Nine of Pentacles as an older woman with her estate behind her. The bird she holds may allude to Pamela’s suffrage poster, “Bird in the Hand,” symbolizing the unrealized goals of the suffragist struggle. This symbolism may indicate Ellen’s unfinished fight against “Victorian gender limitations in her career” (ibid.).
Pamela Colman Smith via Wikimedia Commons
Pamela Colman Smith via Wikimedia Commons, 2018 Public Domain
Furthermore, Ellen Terry’s home, Smallhythe Place, near Tenterden, Kent, is seen in the 6 of cups (a card representing nostalgia and familial comfort) and the 10 of cups (a card representing familial stability and emotional fulfillment). Smallhythe Place is where Pamela most likely completed the tarot deck illustrations.
Pamela Colman Smith via Wikimedia Commons
Pamela Colman Smith via Wikimedia Commons
Ellen Terry’s daughter Edith Craig also appears in Pamela’s cards as an androgynous figure. Edith Craig was an openly bisexual woman and an active member of the suffragist movement. She is depicted in the Magician as “a willful youth resembling Apollo,” as characterized in Arthur Waite’s Tarot descriptions. Her depiction as Apollo, an androgynously portrayed Greek god, may allude to Edith’s gender fluidity and to her will to fight for women’s rights.
Pamela Colman Smith via Wikimedia Commons
Lastly, an older Edith Craig is depicted as the King of Pentacles — another example of Pamela’s gender role reversals in Tarot. This King is adorned in a crown of flowers and a robe of grape designs, which indicate sacrifice and revival. This is the only King wearing armour, which may indicate Edith’s legacy as a suffrage warrior.
Pamela Colman Smith via Wikimedia Commons
Pamela staunchly aligned herself with feminist and socialist movements in her lifetime. Fittingly parallel to Pamela’s political endeavours, current-day Tarot users largely comprise women, queer and lower-income populations. Tarot is ultimately a tool for these groups to redirect power and agency back to themselves outside of a conservative heteronormative cultural landscape. Today, we continue to see pushback against the advancement of women’s and LGBT rights. While Pamela died in debt and obscurity, her Tarot designs have remained a prominent self-actualization tool for the groups she sought to support today.
