The Rider Waite - Centennial Edition

Title: The Rider Waite

Alt Names: Smith-Waite, Waite-Smith, Rider-Waite-Smith, Rider tarot deck

Artist: Pamela Coleman Smith, commissioned by Mystic Arthur Edward Waite. 

Dimensions: Various 

Publisher: Various

Date: 1909

Style: Ye Olde 

Hype or Drag: Ye Olde HYPE 

Google stock photo

The most popular deck

The Rider Smith-Waite is considered the blue print deck, the ultimate deck. It is very popular and it is every fucking where but is it the best deck?

A little History

A lot of cards on the market are inspired by this deck, almost all use similar imagery to convey the meanings associated with the deck. Although it IS the Blueprint for a lot of decks it was ONLY actually designed in 1909.

Which means it's still relatively new when you consider that the court cards were being used as tarot from 1440 onwards, the Marseilles tarot (which is an even older blueprint), not the Smith-Waite. If we want to go back further there is evidence that can be traced back to Ancient Egypt.... But i digress. 

Also, i've always been a bit annoyed that the Artist Pamela Coleman-Smith is never credited, most people call it the Rider-Waite

Imagery 

So let Me be very honest before you start reading, I have rejected this imagery on this deck for a long time. Honestly, I hold my hands up. I had it and i gave it away because i hated it that much. Its never been about cost, I bought it to learn, and to strengthen my tarot ability because if every famous reader is using that deck then I too wanted to use. So I had this deck and then I got rid of it, but in the interests of this blog I realised that it would be impertinent of me not to discuss the Smith-Waite. Considering that so many of my decks follow the same rules or are just different versions of the imagery. (Also I am going to go through each card as a series at one point)

However! 

When I reordered this I did not realise that I had ordered this version.

It came with these little bonus pip cards. I like them! 

The Centennial Edition, as with all Tarot decks, comes in all sizes and even lengths

The deck I bought was small, but I struggle to shuffle huge decks.

Card stock is standard, normal thickness and bendy but nothing alarming. Even though it is normal and decent, i am still the terrible shuffler. I even watched a Youtube video to try and learn, using this deck!

So what's the difference? Well the imagery is clearer, lines more defined. The colours are a lot less garish. Thats about it!

So lets revisit some of the imagery.

Aces

I genuinely have all the love for the Boons of the deck. 

Iconic Cards

Imagery

I've always struggled to resonate with this deck. The imagery is so old fashioned and when i was further back on my path i struggled to connect meaning to the imagery. I actually found it really hard to learn.
Pamela Colman-Smith's artistry is very dated and whimsicle. For some reason they agreed to style it in an almost Medieval style, so it was not relative to the post Victorian era, for me a visual person this is one of the major reasons i found it difficult initially. 

Looking at this deck now i have come to really love it, but i believe it's because i already know the meaning of the cards. So now i can read them having done the ground work.

Conclusion

This deck has it's place.

It's enjoyable to use it sometimes, but i do not recommend it for beginners unless you have a love for the style of art. Also, i highly recommend the Centennial Edition because it's a lot clearer to see.

It IS a Classic, there is no doubt about that. 

I ordered this deck with the intention of dragging it, but since really looking at it and looking in to the life of Pamela Coleman-Smith, i have this new found respect for this deck. I've actually enjoyed using it, and i will continue to use it.

I will also do a short blog about Pamela Coleman-Smith, as i feel that her undoubtful contribution to Tarot needs to be spoken about in more depth.

My only issues..... 

1. In this modern era, with all the inclusion is this deck painfuly white. After all, Pamela was commisioned to draw these and no doubt wouldn't have had the final artistic say. She was a woman of Mixed heritage, and there are examples of artwork which is more multicultural. As times change this deck is a great nostalgia piece, synonymous with the Occult and Tarot.

2. It's incredibly dogmatic, visions of Angels and church everywhere. Considering that both creators were part of the Hermetic order of the golden dawn, you'd think they wouldn't have chosen such Catholic references. I guess they were only responding to the visuals in day to day life.

3. This isn't the only way to use Cartomancy, Smith-Waite/ Waite Smith whatever way you want to call it, is just one example of Cartomancy. Once you learn this version in all it's forms, why not branch out to Lenormand and others. Or even to be really fancy look to playing cards that have a Major Arcana.

I would advise everyone to have this at some point, even if it's just to feel the connection to Tarot of old. (ish, only a century)

One thing is for sure, i have a new respect for the deck. I will never call it the Rider-Waite again, I will call it The Smith-Wait as it rightly should be. To reclaim the space for Pamela that seems to have been overshadowed completely through time. 

Drag or Hype - HYPE