Arthur Edward Waite (1857–1942), commonly known as A. E. Waite, was an American-born British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters and was the cocreator of the Rider-Waite tarot deck.

Pamela Colman Smith (1878–1951), nicknamed Pixie, was a British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best known for illustrating the Rider-Waite tarot deck in collaboration with Arthur Edward Waite. This tarot deck became the standard among tarot-card readers and remains the most widely used today. Colman also illustrated over twenty books, wrote two collections of Jamaican folklore, edited two magazines, and ran the Green Sheaf Press, a small press focused on women writers.