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Ghosts and Swords: Hidden Lives in the Tarot

Finbarre Snarey


Region:
Anywhere
Notice Period:
Regular (more than one month's notice)
Type:
Professional speaker / journalist and researcher
Fee:
Paid: From £75, plus agreed travel expenses where applicable. Online talks by arrangement.
Category:
History
Updated:
14th August 2026

When we look at the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot today, it is easy to feel like its figures belong to an imaginary world of queens, knights, mourners, and enigmatic strangers.

Lately, though, I have become deeply captivated by a different possibility: who were the real, living people behind those faces?

For this talk, we are going to slow down and focus on just one corner of the deck, which is the suit of Swords. Together, we will explore the real people, distinct personalities, and rich cultural backdrop that surrounded the artist Pamela Colman Smith as she drew these cards in Edwardian Britain.

Restricting ourselves to a single suit gives us the time to really look. A subtle gesture, a piece of clothing, or an apparently minor background detail can wander away from the card and lead us straight into Edwardian theater, artistic inner circles, deep friendships, and vibrant social history.

I do not claim we can neatly identify every single figure, but that uncertainty is half the fun. Instead, I want to show you just how much warmth and human history comes alive when we stop viewing these pictures as symbols. More than a century after her pen left the paper, I think there are still real human ghosts hiding in those cards.

You do not need any prior tarot knowledge to enjoy this, just a curiosity about human stories.

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About Finbarre Snarey

Hello! I am an arts and culture journalist, podcast producer, and tarot researcher based in Nottinghamshire.

I founded the British Tarot Archive and created Tarot Interviews: a world-first international interview platform where tarot cards guide conversations with best-selling authors, musicians, and cultural leaders.

At the heart of everything I do is a fascination with hidden stories sitting just beneath familiar things: the real human lives that might be tucked away in century-old tarot cards, the gentle ways traditions survive as they are passed from hand to hand, and the magic that happens when you approach an interview or a piece of technology fitting into your work like a jigsaw piece.

Much of my research focuses on the iconic Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, the extraordinary life and world of artist Pamela Colman Smith, and tarot as a vibrant, continuous thread in Britain’s cultural history. I have presented my research at places like Goldsmiths, University of London, and my day-to-day work spans writing, producing podcasts, digging through archives, and speaking at festivals.

My talks almost always start with a spark of curiosity. I find a little thread, pull on it, and see where it leads us. Sometimes that thread is an easily overlooked detail in a single card. Other times it is a 400-year-old witchcraft trial, or the simple question of whether an everyday mobile phone can pull off the job of thousands of pounds’ worth of studio tech.

Above all, these sessions are crafted for curious minds. You do not need to arrive knowing anything about tarot or history, so just bring your enthusiasm and we will explore it together.


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