Jasper Reviews: Rider Waite Smith Tarot
For the first thorough deck review using my new system, I figured we should get a baseline of the RWS itself, against which all other decks shall be judged. I will not be going into the history of the RWS in this post, just my assessment and personal review of my copies of it.
Please note that there are things that I just do not know, so there will be things that I miss. Please check the tier list page on my blog for the categories and other decks that I have ranked. All six main categories are judged on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best.
(Note: the tarot dividers on this post were made by me over on @jasper-graphics)
This RWS deck is brightly-colored with chunky lineart and stored in a cardboard box.
Appropriation VS Appreciation: 3
The middle of the road. Due to being created by occultists who did a lot of casual appropriation of Jewish mysticism, there are a lot of those symbols in this deck that are extricated from their original meanings. Combined with the Christian and Catholic imagery throughout the deck, it creates the classic but jumbled religious symbolism that many future decks copy without hesitation. Hell, there's probably more that I'm missing just because I haven't learned much about them.
It also gets slightly higher than I initially estimated due to the usage of a slur for Romani people, which is unfortunately incredibly prevalent in tarot decks, not least of which because of this deck.
Blatant Bullshit: 4
So this is very clearly and obviously just a reproduction of the original RWS, meaning that someone else (Stuart R Kaplan) wrote the introduction leading into the deck. I generally disagree that the origins of the tarot are as "obscure" as Stuart suggests, and no, I don't agree that tarot was the source of playing cards, because playing cards were most likely invented in China during the Tang Dynasty. I will believe Wikipedia many times before I believe decks trying to mystify and shill shit. Beyond that, it's. Fine. I'm not impressed with the written focus on Arthur Edward Waite, because Pamela Colman Smith did just as much work considering she actually illustrated all of it.
Cohesiveness: 4
Speaking of Pamela Colman Smith, she did a WONDERFUL job on keeping 78 separate cards cohesive. Every figure visibly belongs in the same world and time period. Having said that, I personally dislike the fact that the Majors, Minors, and Courts are all labeled differently. The Majors have their Roman numeral centered in the top of the card's art along with their title written in a grey bar below their art, the Minors have their Roman numeral centered in the top of the card's art, and the Courts have their title written in a grey bar below their art. It is technically cohesive and doesn't look bad, but it's not identical, which is what a 5 would be.
Connectivity: 4
Yeah, I was surprised too, but when you look at some of the cards...they don't really line up with what we've come to expect from them and their art. Here, let me show you the examples that stood out to me:
IX The Hermit: Prudence, also and especially treason, diddimulation, corruption, roguery. Reversed: Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned caution.
XVII The Star: Loss, theft, privation, abandonment, although another reading suggests hope and bright prospects in the future. Reversed: Arrogance, impotence, haughtiness.
Two of Swords: Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, affection, concord in a state of arms, intimacy. Reversed: Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.
Two of Wands: Between the altenrative readings there is no marriage possible, on one hand, riches, fortune, magnificence. And on the other, physical suffering, disease, chagrin, sadness, mortification. The design gives one suggestion--here is a lord overlooking his dominion and alternately contemplating a globe. It looks like the malady, the mortification, the sadness of Alexander amidst the grandeur of this world's wealth. Reversed: Surprise, wonder, enchantment, emotion, trouble, fear.
The King of Cups is, interestingly, called a man of business, law, or divinity.
The King of Pentacles is associated not just with material wealth but also intelligence and intellectual aptitude that leans into business aptitude.
The Queen of Swords is associated with widowhood, "female sadness" and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, and separation, reminding you that this deck's meanings were written up by a man and potentially compiled by another man.
In some meanings, there is some interplay between which cards represent the Querent and which opposite-gender cards are interested in the Querent, but in most Court cards, that's missing entirely.
Besides those, the deck overall connects to the meanings presented in its little white booklet.
Guidebook Usefulness: 2
Yikes. Outside of the divinatory meanings laid out in it, this guidebook is mostly rambling about the history of Arthur Edward Waite, and at the very end of the booklet, there's a three-page guide to doing the Celtic Cross spread with an additional Significator, which is chosen either as the Magician/High Priestess based on gender or based on physical attributes of the querent. It also wants you to hand the entire deck to the querent to shuffle and cut and lay out, basically cutting you (the deck owner and supposedly the tarot reader) out of most of the process of reading. It also overly-mystifies tarot and provides little functional information outside of the card meanings and a single tarot spread. There is no advice for actually beginning reading tarot, it kind of just expects you to already know that.
Coolness: 4
Look, fundamentally, the RWS is an icon and a classic. Pamela Colman Smith hit the artwork out of the park. The artwork and vibrant colors in this one are fantastic. I truly must commend it.
Final Ranking: 21/30, B Tier
Bonus Round: Centennial RWS
This is another RWS with more diluted art and stored in a metal tin rather than a cardboard box. The guidebook is identical. Overall, there are not enough differences between this deck and my main RWS to give it a different rating.
Final Ranking: 21/30, B Tier
Bonus Round: Radiant RWS
This is another RWS with bright coloration and thinner lineart that is stored in a metal tin rather than a cardboard box. The guidebook is identical.
Coolness: 5
I enjoy the thinner lineart and the starry card back more than the other two. I also regularly bring this one to family events to try to get the younger cousins into occultism.
Final Ranking: 22/30, B Tier
