Beginners and professionals agree the Rider-Waite Tarot deck from 1910 is one of the best tools for you to use to study the Tarot. Its reputation comes from the symbols contained in the deck’s images. The Tarot card deck’s origin can be traced back to Renaissance Italy. You’ll find the deck still in use in contemporary European card games like Italian tarocchini. Outside Europe the cards are primarily used as tools by clairvoyants and other intuitive as maps of spiritual or mental pathways.Tarot decks are composed of 72 cards broken up into two general classifications called Arcanas. The most powerful cards, called Trumps or the Major Arcana, signify life or spiritual changes. These cards represent forces outside your control that affect your life. The Minor Arcana cards are the ancestors of today’s four-suit playing cards. This Arcana represents the mundane in your life, your day-to-day cares at home or work and are tied to the basic elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s Arthur Edward Waite, a Freemason and scholar of occultism, designed this popular deck of Tarot cards to reflect his research into divination. His concepts were brought to life by the American artist Pamela Colman Smith, a member of the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn along with Waite. The deck is ripe with symbols you can use to fuel your interpretation of the cards as you develop your own intuitive skills. –
- The Rider-Waite deck is one of the most popular Tarot decks today.
- Arthur Edward Waite’s research inspired the design of each card.
- The graphic design of the cards was created by Pamela Colman Smith.
- Her graphics are recognized world-wide today.