Product Overview
The classic Rider-Waite Tarot is a must have for any tarot enthusiast.
In 1909, artist Pamela Coleman Smith, under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite, created an innovative 78-card tarot deck that would come to be recognized as revolutionary. With descriptive pictures on the 56 Minor Arcana cards, the Rider-Waite deck digressed from the tradition of tarot deck used for centuries and set the standard for nearly every tarot deck published.
The cards were drawn in 1909 by Pamela Colman Smith under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite. Smith's vibrant drawings transformed the standard tarot deck.
"A unique feature of the Rider-Waite deck, and one of the of the principal reasons for its enduring popularity, is that all of the cards, including the Minor Arcana, depict full scenes with figures and symbols. Prior to the Rider-Waite Tarot, the pip cards of almost all tarot decks were marked only with the arrangement of the suit signs -- swords, wands, cups, and coins, or pentacles. The pictorial images on all the cards allow interpretations without the need to repeatedly consult explanatory text. The innovative Minor Arcana, and Pamela Colman Smith's ability to capture the subtleties of emotion and experience have made the Rider-Waite Tarot a model for the designs of many tarot packs." -- (from The Encyclopedia of Tarot, Volume III)
Rider-Waite Tarot was named one of the Top Ten Tarot Decks of All Time by Aeclectic Tarot.
Pamela Colman Smith
Born February 16, 1878, in Middlesex, England to American parents, Smith's childhood years were spent between London, New York, and Kingston, Jamaica. During her teens, she traveled throughout England with the theatre company of Ellen Terry and Henry Irving. Thereafter, she began formal art training at Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, graduating in 1897.
Smith returned to England, where she became a theatrical designer for miniature theatre, and an illustrator -- mainly of books, pamphlets and posters. Around 1903, she joined the Order of the Golden Dawn. In 1909, under the guidance of Arthur Edward Waite, she undertook a series of seventy-eight allegorical paintings described by Waite as a rectified tarot pack. The designs, published in the same year by William Rider and Son, exemplify the mysticism, ritual, imagination, fantasy, and deep emotions of the artist.
Arthur Edward Waite
Born in America in 1857, Waite was raised and educated as a Catholic in England. Beginning at the age of 21, Waite pursued research and writing on psychical and esoteric matters. Soon after joining the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, he became the Grand Master, and redirected the focus of the order from magic to mysticism. The Golden Order, whose structural hierarchy was based on the Kabbalah, is considered the single greatest 20th century influence on the occult. Waite was a prolific author of occult texts, works on the Holy Grail, and the body of mystical knowledge, which comprises the basis of modern Tarot. He is best known as the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck and author of its companion volume The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, first published in 1910.
Cards measure 2.75" x 4.75"
Easy Instructions to get started today with your new deck of cards.
- Open your tarot box.
- Hold the cards in your hand. Take a few deep breaths and ask your spirit guides (or whomever you believe is out there communing on your behalf) to be with you during the reading. Ask your guides for clear messages that will most benefit your highest destiny path.
- While still holding the cards in your hand, “knock” or tap the pile of cards several times to spread your energy into the deck.
- Give the cards a thorough shuffle.
- Cut the cards into three piles and then put them into one pile again.
- Now you are ready to start the reading as you have jazzed up the cards.
- Spread the cards on the floor or table.
- Choose the cards you are drawn to.
- Consult the guidebook and your intuition!
