A couple of words about where I am coming from in this review: I have been studying the Tarot and doing readings for over 25 years. It is important to note that the Tarot is, for me, a never-ending study. As such I always have a few decks and a couple of books with me. With the Kindle app on my phone, I always have "The Pictorial Guide to the Tarot" with me.
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.
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Wish I had spend more money for the actual book.
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2022
I'm pretty sure this book is counterfeit. Firstly, this is not the pictoral key, it's just the key as there are no pictures.The picture on the cover of the book is obviously tarot clip art and not good clip art either. See picture.I wish I'd spent the extra 10 bucks and I could be assured I got the actual book. I will be buying the actual book and will be updating this review to let you guys know whether it's missing anything or not
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2022
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