Dodal, linked reproduction
Valet d'Epees
Jean Dodal’s Marseille pack · Lyon, 1701–1715.
Read the BnF catalogue record ↗A raised blade becomes a downward stroke
The standing court figure changes from holding a weapon to a more visibly forceful action.
Start with the pictures
Page of Swords
Pamela Colman Smith · 1922 printing, p. 233
Open the source scan page ↗Notice what changes
Dodal
Valet d'Epees
A standing figure holds a sword in one hand and its long sheath in the other. The two implements frame the upper body at different angles.
Smith
Page of Swords
A figure on rough ground grips a sword in both hands and looks to the side. Clouds and birds fill the windblown sky.
Harris
Princess of Swords · Princess
A standing figure drives a long sword downward through a turbulent grey field. Angular ground or altar forms lie below the blade.
Open Harris’s painting and reference page ↗Now read the authors
Waite’s explanation
Waite develops the alert posture into vigilance, examination and watching for an adversary. His reversed account includes being unprepared for what was not expected.
Crowley’s explanation
Crowley describes a figure before a barren altar, stabbing downward with a sword beneath angry clouds. He explains her earthy air as an idea taking material form.
What changes when you describe the action of the blade rather than the character of its bearer?
Write one thing you can point to in the image, one interpretation from a named author, and one inference of your own. Keeping the three separate gives you something useful to revisit.
Sources and image credits
The Dodal cards are one early-eighteenth-century Marseille witness. The black-and-white Smith plates come from the 1922 Rider reprint, whose title verso lists first publication in 1910. Colours in later editions can differ.
Foolmade supplies the linked Dodal reproductions. Its surrounding commentary is not the basis for our historical claims. These images are linked externally; the Smith illustration reuses the public-domain source scan with its full page context.
Harris’s paintings are linked on their host’s reference pages. Crowley’s text is the separately identified Thelemagick transcription of The Book of Thoth. Neither a modern reproduction nor a transcription replaces examination of the original artwork or edition.