Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) was a British scholar of mysticism and symbolism, a leading member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the co-creator of the Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot with artist Pamela Colman Smith. A prolific author on alchemy, Kabbalah, and Christian mysticism, Waite sought a “Secret Tradition” that united image and spiritual doctrine. His 1910 classic, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, codified modern Tarot interpretation and remains the definitive companion to the world’s most influential deck.