Rider-Waite tarot deck
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The Rider-Waite tarot deck may be the most popular Tarot deck in use today. Over the years it has also been known as the Rider-Waite-Smith, Waite-Smith, Waite-Colman Smith or simply the Rider deck.
The images were drawn by artist Pamela Colman Smith, to the instructions of academic and mystic A. E. Waite, and published by the Rider Company. While the images are deceptively simple, almost child-like, the details and backgrounds hold a wealth of symbolism. The subjects remain close to the earliest decks, but usually have added details. Significantly, Waite had the Christian imagery of older tarot decks' cards toned down—the "Pope" card became the "Hierophant," the "Popess" became the "High Priestess." The minor arcana are also, for the first time, fully illustrated with designs created by Pamela Colman Smith. The chief aesthetic objection to this deck is the crude printing of colours in the original: several decks, such as the Universal Waite deck, simply copy the Smith line drawings, but with more sophisticated coloring.
The cards were originally published in December 1909, and the symbols used were influenced by the 19th century magician and occultist Eliphas Levi. In 1910, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite was published, providing an overview of the traditions and history behind the cards, criticism of various interpretations, and extensive descriptions of their symbols, along with 78 black and white plates of each card in the deck.
U.S. Games currently claims copyright on the cards, although the actual copyright may only be valid on certain colorized versions of the card. While others argue that it is in the public domain in the US, their claim may be valid because the derived version of the cards were not in the public domain when US Games created their copyright. [1]
The Rider-Waite tarot deck has been extremely influential in the development of modern tarot decks to the extent that many are called 'Rider-Waite clones' to indicate that they are easily read by those familiar with Rider-Waite. Examples of Rider-Waite clones include, to varying degrees, the popular decks: Universal Waite tarot deck, Golden Tarot, Aquarian tarot deck, Nigel Jackson Tarot, Gilded Tarot, Golden Rider, and many more.
Some of the Major Arcana of the Rider deck:
