The Original Rider Waite Tarot Pack - Arthur Edward Waite, Pamela Coleman Smith

Author's product rating:   

Degree of Information	High
How interesting was the book?	Interesting because I'm interested in that subject
How useful was it?	Very useful
Would you read it again?	Absolutely
Value for money	Good

Advantages:	The symbolism of each card is easily understood .
Disadvantages:	The cards are rather too large for easy handling .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Old grandma-zeeman was the 7th daughter of a 7th daughter … which meant that she was destined to be quite a spooky individual from the cot onwards. She put her psychic powers to good use by becoming an amateur fortune-teller ... peering into other folks' destiny via tea-leaves left stranded at the bottom of a bone china cup, following a brew.

Despite intensive tuition, young mr-zeeman never quite got the hang of this method of predicting the future ... it's an abstract approach, and quite tricky, even when employing the *correct* esoteric drinking vessel. So instead I plumped for reading tarot cards as my preferred modus operandi.

There's a vast array of tarot cards for the punter to choose from ... some more likely to prompt an insightful response from the novice reader than others. Each to their own ... although the Rider Waite tarot deck is the one which is most often recommended to beginners, as the symbols in the illustrations are clear and easily understood. A reasonably intuitive soul should be able to interpret these cards with a fair degree of accuracy. And it should be noted that popular tarot instruction books frequently use the Rider Waite cards to provide sample readings.

In terms of general practicality though, I've found many tarot cards to be far too large and unweildy for my size 7 (average) female hands ... hence shuffling is a fairly awkward task, for both me and my (mainly female) sitters. Typically, the Rider Waite cards measure 4.75 x 2.75 inches ... which is why I often drop them. So I was delighted to find the Barbara Walker tarot deck, as each card measures just 4 x 2.5 inches (ie: about the same size as *ordinary* playing-cards) which makes handling them a breeze.

Unfortunately though, Those Who Must Not Be Questionned at Ciao refuse to list the Barbara Walker cards, claiming that they are "unsuitable" as a product. Perhaps unbeknown to TWMNBQ this response is EXACTLY what Barbara herself would have expected ~ a staunch feminist, she wages a perpetual war against all actions and opinions which serve to "suppress female spirituality". And to be quite frank, I am at a loss to understand why this particular deck should be regarded as an "unsuitable". The pictures are by no means pornographic ~ in fact, the designs used are based upon images of traditional mythological deities from cultures all over the globe.

So, I will ignore TWMNBQ's peculiar product listing policy ... as I intend to write about the Barbara Walker tarot deck anyway. I will do this by comparing and contrasting these cards with the Rider Waite deck - which have already met with TWMNBQ's stamp of approval.

Tarot Cards per se ...

There are 78 cards in a complete tarot deck. The 22 Major Arcana (trump) cards are numbered 0 - 21. They mirror we humans in all our manifold phases ... joys and sorrows, hopes and despairs, friendships, enemies, marriage, illness, and of course *final transition*. The 56 Minor Arcana are the numbered cards which divide into the four suits of: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. Generally speaking, Wands govern intellectual activities and career; Cups cover the querent's love life and emotions; Swords represent all forms of aggression and struggles; and Pentacles refer to matters concerning money and property. There are four 'face' cards in each suit which are normally interpreted as actual people: The King, an older man; The Queen, an older woman; The Knight (or Prince), a young man; and The Page (or Princess), a young woman.

Each number on the cards has its own symbolism ... which is read in conjunction with the symbolism of the suit. (It would be inappropriate to list all the numerical meanings here). When reversed, the cards should be read in opposition to their upright meaning. Confusing? Yes, at first ... although it does become easier with practise. (Lots of practise!)

The Rider Waite Tarot Cards ...

Arthur E Waite was strongly influenced by Roman Catholic ritual and an interest in divination. During 1909 he encouraged artist Pamela Colman Smith to illustrate a deck of tarot cards. Her resulting designs, based upon universal stereotypes, are both simplistc and powerful. Using the predominant colours of lemon yellow and aqua blue, Pamela has captured subtle changes of emotion in the features and postures of her characters.

Each of the 78 cards depict full scenes with figures and symbols. This runs contrary to the design of earlier decks, where only the 22 Major Arcana cards are fully illustrated. For example, the Ancient French cards use what may be described as *an economy of imagination* by portraying the ten of swords as ... ten swords! Meanwhile, in the Rider Waite pack, the same card shows ten swords stuck into somebody's back. Indeed, the said card does represent the nadir of fortune ... evil, desolation, affliction, martyrdom, and pain ... so Smith's illustration serves as a useful prompt.

The Major Arcana cards of tarot decks are fairly bog standard and traditional with regard to design features ... accomodating just a few changes made by individual illustrators (usually by the addition of extra symbols). The cards are comprised of : 1. The Magician, 2. The High Priestess, 3. The Empress, 4. The Emperor, 5. The Hierophant, 6.The Lovers, 7. The Chariot, 8. Strength, 9. The Hermit, 10. The Wheel of Fortune, 11. Justice, 12. The Hanged Man, 13. Death, 14. Temperance, 15. The Devil, 16. The Tower, 17 The Star, 18. The Moon, 19. The Sun, 20. Judgement, 21. The World and 0. The Fool. You will notice that The Fool has no number - it is designated 0. Even *experts* cannot agree about where this card belongs in the deck. Interestingly, A.E Waite places it between 20. Judgement and 21. The World. Others place it either at the very beginning (eg: Barbara Walker) or at the end (eg: me).

Personally, I find the imagery of the Rider Waite deck to be rather too benign-looking for my own taste. Smith's art-work is very typical of the style employed by many book illustrators during the first decade of the 20th century. A Tudor rose design in blue and gold decorates the reverse of each card.
United States Games Systems Inc. ISBN 091386613X

The Barbara Walker Tarot Cards ...

Designed in 1986, this deck may appear rather disturbing to those unfamiliar with the myths depicted. The images on the cards refelect Barbara's knowledge of religious symbols and pagan rights. So although modern in terms of the style of illustration, the deck reaches back to an older, more balanced world, that was deeply influenced by feminine spirituality. The dominant colours here are yellow, white, red, and black ... the last three being the traditional colours of the original feminine trilogy ~ virgin, mother, and crone. Each numbered Minor card is assigned a helpful *keyword meaning* that's printed at the top. Both keywords and card titles are given in five languages English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. To return to the ten of swords example ... in the Barbara Walker deck, the blades pierce the body of a naked man who is bound to a pillar on a bleak sea-coast - attended by a black-clad priestess and her bird of doom. The keyword here is "Ruin".

Indeed, it is with the Minor Arcana where Barbara Walker has made the most significant design changes, when compared with more traditional cards, such as the Rider Waite deck. Her imagery is far removed from the rather wistful scenes drawn by Pamela Colman Smith. Walker's six of cups, for another example, shows a giant figure towering above a small naked child, sitting amongst six empty chalices. The keyword is "Childhood". Smith's version, however, depicts two children in a lush cottage garden - their half-dozen cups filled to the brim with blossom. The divinatory meaning of the six of cups is that of nostalgia ... looking back upon happiness and enjoyment, but coming from things that have vanished into the past (eg: reflecting upon one's childhood).

In terms of the Major Arcana, Walker has re-named three cards. Thus the High Priestess becomes The Papess, the Hierophant is The Pope, and The Tower is called The House of God. Strength and Justice are switched numerically, so that Justice becomes card no.8, and Strength no. 11. She has added a butterfly to the image of The Fool, two white columns to The Papess, an all-seeing-eye to Justice, and placed snakes on the staff of The Hermit.

The back design of the Barbara Walker cards is a black ground, with two red circles superimposed with two triangles outlined in white. A small instruction booklet is included with the cards ... this is handy, as the illustrations vary so significantly from those generally found in D.I.Y tarot-reading literature.
United States Games Systems Inc. ISBN 0-88079-292-2

Now then, the tradition with tarot cards of any sort is that it's unlucky to buy them for oneself. Which means that you need to pursuade someone to give them to you. So how much will the donor need to fork out?
The Rider Waite deck is currently available from spiritadventures.co.uk for £10.89p.
The Barbara Walker deck can be obtained from Amazon for about £7.35p
(These prices are considerably lower than the amounts charged by off-line, incense-fuelled, New Age shops).

NB: A number of the multiple choice options below aren't really applicable to this product ~ so I've chosen random answers.