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Finbarre Snarey takes a selfie in front of a packed audience at Tarot Cultures, a conference organised by Goldsmiths, University of London, after presenting his paper on Rider-Waite-Smith tarot reading as living heritage.

Finbarre at the Tarot Cultures conference

Finbarre Snarey

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Finbarre Snarey takes a selfie in front of a packed audience at Tarot Cultures, a conference organised by Goldsmiths, University of London, after presenting his paper on Rider-Waite-Smith tarot reading as living heritage.



This weekend I presented my paper, “Tarot Reading as Living Heritage: Documenting Contemporary Rider-Waite-Smith Practice in the UK,” as part of Tarot Cultures, a conference organised by Goldsmiths, University of London.

The paper drew on my work coordinating the UK living heritage submission for Rider-Waite-Smith tarot reading practice.

The process involved gathering public testimony and documentation from readers, teachers, writers, artists, archivists and tarot communities about how the practice is carried, taught, adapted and understood today.

For the talk, I used the Three of Pentacles as my central image: an unfinished structure, worked on by many hands over time. It felt like a useful way to think about tarot as living heritage: a practice sustained through use and care.

The Rider-Waite-Smith Three of Pentacles tarot card shows three figures inside a stone building or cathedral. One figure stands on a bench holding tools, while two others, possibly patrons or planners, look up at the carved pentacles above them. The image suggests skilled work, collaboration, planning and a structure still being built.


I’m grateful to the organisers, speakers and attendees for such a well organized and generous conference. It was a real privilege to place contemporary tarot practice in conversation with wider questions of art, esotericism, culture and heritage. 

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