Light & Quirk

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT PAMELA COLMAN SMITH

You've seen her work. You've probably held it in your hands. Every time someone shuffles a Rider-Waite deck, the most widely used Tarot deck on the planet, they are handling her art. With over 100 million copies in circulation, her imagery literally defines what most people picture when they picture Tarot. The Fool. The High Priestess. The Tower. All her.

Her name wasn't on the box.
She was paid a flat fee, described in her own words as "a big job for very little cash" with no copyright, no royalties, no credit. The deck was named after the publisher (Rider) and the man who commissioned her (Waite). She got a monogram hidden in the corner of every single card. That was it.

She was a British woman who spent her formative years in Jamaica, absorbing Afro-Jamaican folklore, spirituality, and storytelling traditions that visibly shaped the soul of those cards. She was a mystic, an occultist, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. She brought her whole self to 78 illustrations in six months. She also wrote two collections of Jamaican folk tales, illustrated books, ran a press that centered women writers, and made art for the women's suffrage movement.

She died in 1951, penniless and in obscurity. Her belongings auctioned off to pay her debts.

The Tarot community has slowly started calling it what it always should've been called: the Rider-Waite-SMITH deck because erasure is a choice, but so is correction.
Say her name. Pamela Colman Smith.

BlackHistory HerStory Tarot OccultHistory DivinationTok fyp

Most people use alchemy and transmutation
like they're the same word. They're not, and the
difference actually matters for your healing journey
Alchemy is the whole practice. It's the ancient
system of transformation that works on BOTH the
physical and the spiritual. It's the container.

Transmutation is the act. It's the specific moment
when one thing becomes another:

fear -> love
grief -> wisdom
trauma-> power

That's transmutation. And it lives inside alchemy.
So when people say, "I'm doing the alchemical
work," they mean they've committed to the whole
practice. When something actually shifts inside
of us? That's the transmutation happening in real
time.

This is why shadow work isn't just "feeling your
feelings." It's a full alchemical process with
transmutation as the goal. You're not just sitting in
the lead. You're turning it into gold,
Which one are you currently in -- the practice
(alchemy) or the active shift (transmutation)? 🧚🏽‍♀️✨

I've been in survival and recovery mode for 16 months post hurricane.

Now I'm in spiritual, business, and creative mode again, FINALLY 😮‍💨

As such, coming very, very soon, after I finish up the testing phase, the newest member of Light & Quirk's aligned spiritual merch...

Revamped herbal smoke/tea blends, and Apothecookies™
Eat, inhale, manifest — tiny edible rituals in every box 🪄🍪🌿

Cookies made with Black-sourced herbs, high quality organic ingredients, edible flowers, and beautiful intentions.
Not necessarily for snacking, but I'm not the boss of you so... 👀

Pre-orders and special requests available soon
More details to come 🩷✨

Stay posted... We're creeping outta the woodwork around here... ✨

New Moon reading for ENTREPRENEURS & CREATIVES ✨
TL; DR: Mini entrepreneurial guidance session complete with links to grant opportunities in the comments

✨In the spirit of new moon time, this is a reading for the entrepreneurial and creative collective. New moons are a beautiful time to realign your goals, start new ones, and generally manifest. Most belief systems acknowledge the new moon phase as a time of birth, rebirth, and growth.

Read every slide that jives with what you do or want to do. And if it don't apply, let it fly 🧚 Also, my inbox is open for quick questions or chats.

👉🏽FEEL FREE TO SHARE, particularly for/to those who could use a shot at grant money through the links in the comments.
Now go continue being amazing!
🖖🏽🌿🌟