{"id":14029,"date":"2025-06-25T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=14029"},"modified":"2025-06-25T07:46:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T13:46:40","slug":"tarot-thoughts-and-eden-grays-surprising-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=14029","title":{"rendered":"Tarot Thoughts — And Eden Gray’s Surprising Story"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I decided to get more serious about Tarot after all these years. Maybe some day people will see me as a wise old man, but I will need some props \u2013\u00a078 of them, to be precise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I actually learned to use the I Ching in a superficial bohemian way before I encountered the Tarot, The former probably matches the last year of high school, when I was being educated in these things by a 20-year-old from North Beach (San Francisco), who became a sort of honorary big sister, and when all “alternative” spiritual practices came from the East.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I finally touched Tarot cards as a college freshman, eventually buying my own pack, which given the options of the time was of course the “Rider Tarot” (today better called the Rider-Waite-Smith deck), from Samuel Weiser, Inc. It came with the obligatory “little white book,” but of course a student soon wants more. The most accessible how-to book at the time was Eden Gray’s The Tarot Revealed<\/em>,<\/a> which was matched with that deck. She included a section on Tarot meditation, but essentially this was a bigger, better version of the little white book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That name “Eden Gray” sounded like a pseudonym through: an unusual first name balanced with a plain English last name. I did not think much about it; I wanted the “woo,” not the history. My wish list included reading in a night club, and I did it — once — it went OK but I was not asked back. A slow midweek night, what can I say? And then other things like grad school got in the way. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Mary K. Greer, the grande dame<\/em> of American Tarot,<\/a> wrote a short piece about Eden Gray in 2008 (they knew each other). As Priscilla Pardridge she was the good-lookingl daughter of a well-off Chicago businessman. Born in 1901, she defied Daddy’s wishes and ran off to the bright lights of Broadway. She was a reasonably successful actress on the stage, in radio, and a few movies,2<\/a><\/sup> before taking a metaphysical turn in the middle age. (You may have heard that narrative before.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary Greer writes, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eden Gray ran a bookstore and publishing company called \u201cInspiration House,\u201d one of the few places where a person could buy tarot cards and take tarot classes in the late 1950s and \u201960s. Her customers complained that the available books were not easy to understand, so she spent weekends in the country coming up with a more accessible way of approaching the cards.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read the rest at Greer’s blog: “Eden Gray\u2019s Fool\u2019s\u00a0Journey.<\/a>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time passed, and I bought some other books too, getting more interested in the history of the cards. But when my paperback copy of The Tarot Revealed<\/em> wore out, I bought another one, just out of loyalty\/<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. In another timeline, she was probably my first lover, but not in this one. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. Eden Gray was in one movie with Ronald Reagan, where they shared their interest in astrology, says Mary Greer in the linked article. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I decided to get more serious about Tarot after all these years. Maybe some day people will see me as a wise old man, but I will need some props \u2013\u00a078 of them, to be precise. I actually learned to use the I Ching in a superficial bohemian way before I encountered the Tarot, The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"In another timeline, she was probably my first lover, but not in this one. \",\"id\":\"722c89c7-1b86-4634-bc86-28e8f5bc651c\"},{\"content\":\"Eden Gray was in one movie with Ronald Reagan, where they shared their interest in astrology, says Mary Greer in the linked article.\",\"id\":\"8675f31c-e2be-4f48-bb60-1fe803ec527e\"}]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[159],"class_list":["post-14029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-tarot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-3Eh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11873,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11873","url_meta":{"origin":14029,"position":0},"title":"How Makers and Creators Might Price Their Work","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When I graduated from college, I owned three Tarot decks: the Rider-Waite\/Pamela Coleman Smith deck (of course), the Marseilles deck (for history), and David Palladini's Aquarian Tarot (well, it fit my personal aesthetic at the time). This is fun, I thought, I should collect more Tarot decks. And then the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"art\"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=art"},"img":{"alt_text":"King of Cups Tarot Card","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Palladini-King-of-Cups.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8366,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8366","url_meta":{"origin":14029,"position":1},"title":"Thinking How the Tarot Smuggled Paganism to the Present","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In my twenties, the Tarot was about the most \"occult\" thing around that I could bring out in public settings. I learned to read the cards semi-competently and had some adventures thereby. When I made it through an evening of reading for casual strangers in a nightclub, I figured that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"esotericism\"","block_context":{"text":"esotericism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=esotericism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=soutrocknatub-20&l=am2&o=1&a=0715645722","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5867,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5867","url_meta":{"origin":14029,"position":2},"title":"Tarot Cards \u2014\u00a0They Are for Catholics Too","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Thomas L. McDonald, Patheos' \"Technology | Culture | Catholicism\" blogger has a five-part series on the history of the Tarot cards. It starts here. The real history of the Tarot, however, begins in the early 15th century in Italy, and their story is an important part of gaming and cultural\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"history\"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4856,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4856","url_meta":{"origin":14029,"position":3},"title":"Pentagram Pizza: Eat It Back in the Cave","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2022 You knew this was coming: the zombie Tarot deck. \u2022 On cave paintings, art, and cognition. \u2022 More old stuff: were those ancient figurines of voluptuous women goddesses . . . or toys? Don't suggest the latter to the idol-makers of today. \u2022 Have beautiful handwriting by Christmas. You\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"pentagram pizza\"","block_context":{"text":"pentagram pizza","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=pentagram-pizza"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/pentagrampizza1-126x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10222,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10222","url_meta":{"origin":14029,"position":4},"title":"A North American Tarot Deck","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This would make a nice bookend to the American Renaissance Tarot \u2014 Emi Brady's North American Tarot. For more than a decade, Denver artist and printmaker Emi Brady toyed with the idea of her own tarot card deck. She \u201cwasn\u2019t ready\u201d until more recently. \u201cTechnically, I wasn\u2019t ready and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/cpr-swolf_brady-tarot_dsc6869.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/cpr-swolf_brady-tarot_dsc6869.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/cpr-swolf_brady-tarot_dsc6869.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/cpr-swolf_brady-tarot_dsc6869.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8581,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8581","url_meta":{"origin":14029,"position":5},"title":"A Haitian Take on the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Members of a Haitian artists' group are re-creating the Tarot designs of Pamela Coleman Smith, otherwise known as the Rider-Waite Deck. Photographed by Alice Smeets, they are calling it the Ghetto Tarot. They have lots of machetes to substitute for swords. 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