The Privileged Rebel of the Occult Aleister Crowley was never destined for an ordinary life. Born Edward Alexander Crowley on 12 October 1875 in the genteel town of Leamington Spa, England, he arrived into the world cushioned by serious wealth. His father, Edward Crowley, had retired young after making a…

Pamela Colman Smith (16 February 1878 – 18 September 1951) was an artist, storyteller, folklorist, and theatre designer — and the woman who painted the images that would become the most recognised Tarot deck in history. Born in London to American parents, Pamela grew up between England, New York, and Jamaica, absorbing…

Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) is a name most Tarot readers know — even if they’ve never read a biography about him — because his Rider–Waite–Smith deck has become the “default” Tarot of the modern age. Born in Brooklyn but raised in England after his…

If Florence Farr was the High Priestess of Tarot meditation, Moina Mathers was its visionary artist. As the wife and magical partner of Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, she brought the Golden Dawn’s complex system of correspondences to life with her art. Trained at the Slade School of Fine Art…

Born 7 July 1860, Florence Farr was one of the most dynamic and unconventional figures in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. A celebrated actress and writer, she brought a theatrical sensibility to the order’s esoteric work. Within the Golden Dawn, divination was respected, but meditation stood higher…