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The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (Dover Occult) Paperback – Illustrated, June 10, 2005
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This book by Arthur Edward Waite, the designer of the most widely known Tarot deck and distinguished scholar of the Kabbalah, is the essential Tarot reference. The pictorial key contains a detailed description of each card in the celebrated 78-card Rider-Waite Tarot deck, along with regular and reversed meanings. Contents describe symbols and secret tradition; the four suits of Tarot, including wands, cups, swords, and pentacles; the recurrence of cards in dealing; an ancient Celtic method of divination; as well as wonderful illustrations of Tarot cards.
While the perfect complement to old-style fortune telling, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot also serves to make the Tarot entirely accessible to modern-day readers. It is also the classic guide to the Rider-Waite deck and to Tarot symbolism in general.
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDover Publications
- Publication dateJune 10, 2005
- Dimensions5.54 x 0.52 x 8.54 inches
- ISBN-100486442551
- ISBN-13978-0486442556
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Product details
- Publisher : Dover Publications; New edition (June 10, 2005)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0486442551
- ISBN-13 : 978-0486442556
- Item Weight : 10.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.54 x 0.52 x 8.54 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #236,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #708 in Tarot
- #2,490 in Occult & Paranormal
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942), commonly known as A. E. Waite, was an American-born British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer R. A. Gilbert described him, "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of western occultism—viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of proto-science or as the pathology of religion."
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Photo by unknown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2022
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While Waite's own words are really where most of the more recent works on the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot have their roots, many others have surpassed this work in several ways.
First, I will say that I do believe that The Pictorial Key To The Tarot (Illustrated) should be a part of every Tarot student's library. He is the creator of one of the most popular Tarot decks available today (if not THE most popular when you count in the many reworkings of the original images, such as the Centennial, Radiant, Universal, etc). In fact, a search of the "most popular Tarot decks" returns list after list, almost all of which will put the RWS, if not first, then within the top three. The RWS or one of it's direct variants, is the deck I most often recommend to anyone who wishes to start learning the Tarot. This is because of the availability of the deck as well as tons of resources for learning the deck. It is because of this popularity that I do recommend Waite's "Pictorial Key" as a part of a person's Tarot library.
Now, having said that. I do NOT recommend this book as a first reference for someone beginning their Tarot studies. A. E. Waite's "Pictorial Key" was kind of directed at people who were already members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and thus, already had some mystical training and some understanding of the Tarot. As such, this book may address topics in a way that expects the reader to already have some prior grasp of certain aspects of the material. In fact, Tarot divination was one of the topics taught to initiates of the order. So, Waite had an expectation that a person reading "The Pictorial Key to the Tarot" would have that basic understanding.
I do believe, though, that "The Pictorial Key to the Tarot" should be a part of every student's study because it is the initial reference to the RWS Tarot. If you have begun to study Tarot and have, perhaps, worked through the "Little White Book" ("LWB") or other very basic book or pamphlet, and you want to know what some of the symbols used in the images might mean, then this is a good, basic reference. Waite does not give a full in-depth explanation for every single symbol used, but he does explain many which can give us a guide to interpreting many aspects of a card we might not see otherwise.
But there are gaps as well. A famous example of a "gap" is Waite's famous statement on putting "Strength" at VIII and "Justice" at XI; "For reasons which satisfy myself, this card has been interchanged with that of justice, which is usually numbered eight. As the variation carries nothing with it which will signify to the reader, there is no cause for explanation." In other places he just does not explain things which would be helpful to some. An example of this would be on Trump XX "Judgement", where we see tall, snow-capped peaks in the background - we know they are symbolic of something (almost everything in every image is), but he does not mention them.
Still, it is good to read Waite's own words on the meanings and symbolism of the cards he designed along with Pamela Coleman Smith. Seeing his own vision can help to give us deeper understanding of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. But I do find that it is best used as an addition to the other sources I'm using for my continuing studies. When I combine it with works by Rachel Pollack, Mary K. Greer and Eden Gray, it helps to answer questions I might have as well as adding further dimensions to my understanding of the Tarot.
Some further notes on the Kindle edition; I purchased the Kindle edition of "The Pictorial Key to the Tarot" for the convenience of always having a Tarot reference with me. The ease of searching for terms, as well as having the interactive table of contents available at a touch is invaluable when using it during my studies. Of course, with the Kindle app, it is also very easy to highlight a word, phrase or passage in the book as well as being able to add brief notes along with those highlights. This particular Kindle edition does have color images of the cards in the appropriate section, so that's another plus. Although those images are fairly small on my cell phone.
Overall, I really do love the Kindle edition of this book. I love the convenience of having it to hand any time that I need to look something up. The things that bring this down from 5-stars for me is the small card images, but it does at least have the images. Then too, just the work itself - Many of Waite's write-ups on the cards are a little hard to follow, plus you have to look at three separate sections of the book to see everything about each card. But, it is still an excellent resource and a good look at how Waite worked with each card.
It begins with a sensible review of past theories of the Tarot's origin. It drops hints about deeper meanings behind the images. Then it proceeds with the famous trumps (which are fanciful versions of the Tarot de Marseille given a heavy layer of occult paint). There is some worthwhile reading about descriptions and meanings, and the cards are reproduced in black-and-white. PCS's artwork is evocative. As far as interpretations go, you could do worse for starters. and reversals are included. The "Ancient Celtic Method of Divination" (otherwise known as the Celtic Cross, without explanation what Celts were doing with cards from Italy and the south of France) is included, plus another, complicated spread. My point is that this is a HUGE part of what we have as the Tarot today, for better or worse. Overall it is sensible and interesting.
It should be noted that the Tarot de Marseille that formed the basis for the trumps does not have the forced "occult" symbolism of the RWS deck. Le Bateleur probably went on to invent three card monte to fleece the fair-goers. Or maybe he is an adept, as Waite portrayed him. You see, it all depends. Depends on what? Yes. If you want to go back further into the history of Tarot and explore a bit more intuitive form of reading, you might consider checking them out sometime.
"...this [little treatise] also serves to introduce the complete and rectified Tarot, which is available separately, in the form of colored cards, the designs of which ***are added to the present text in black and white***. They have been prepared under my supervision--in respect of the attributions and meanings--by a lady who has high claims as an artist."
Waite's notes and instructions on Reading the Tarot Cards (at the end of the book) are interesting.
The pictures of the black and white cards, meant to be an integral part of Waite's book, have been left out by the unnamed publisher of this edition. They can be seen, though, in Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot, by Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin (4th printing, 2018).
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 30, 2018






To my horror this book contains NO PICTURES whatsoever. How it has the nerve to call itself a PICTORIAL GUIDE but docent have ANY pictures I don't understand.
I will be returning it very quickly. Not happy at all with this misleading purchase.


"...the pictures are like doors which open into unexpected chambers, or like a turn in the open road with a wise prospect beyond" ~A.E Waite
The English is a little difficult to understand and he doesn't seem to give that much information on his deck, since there is a lot more information available published by other authors. But, he does give simple meaning for his cards in the upright and reversed positions and, as the name of the book suggests, a good explanation of each picture. He also offers a good overall view of what his deck is about, its development, possible origins and its true purpose. It also provides a full reference list to all the sources Arthur has used in his book, which would of excellent use for those wishing to study the Tarot's origins and development.
If you are a serious Tarot student, then it would be a good thing to have read this book and to have it on your shelf. And not just because Arthur is the creator of the original Tarot deck but because there is some information in this book, that is overlooked by today's authors on the subject.
ETA: I highly recommend the new Tarot student starts with 'Tarot Card Meanings: Fundamentals' and 'Tarot Card Meanings: Interpretations' - By Paul Foster Case. He tells you what A.E. Waite didn't!
