THE RIDER-WAITE TAROT

The Rider-Waite tarot deck was created over a hundred years ago. Although it differed greatly from traditional tarot decks, it became popular in Europe quickly, and is still considered by the Europeans one of the best and easy to understand decks.

Waite spent his whole life studying mysticism, occult sciences, and ancient magical teachings. He was a prominent member of the order of the Golden Dawn. He set a goal: to create a deck which could be understood by all. He wanted to share his knowledge not with regular people, but with other members of the Order, especially its followers who lived in other cities and abroad. Today this deck is called the Rider-Waite tarot.

Waite wasn’t a painter, so he offered American artist Pamela Colman Smith to become his co-author. Waite thought through each detail to be depicted on his cards, and Pamela managed to fulfill all his ideas. However, her name was never reflected in the deck’s name. Later, it was William Rider of London who people thought was Waite’s co-author (he was the first to publish the deck).

The Rider-Waite tarot deck’s main special feature is that the pictures, which are drawn on them like illustrations in children’s books, can tell the fortune teller most of what he might want to know. One shouldn’t be a medium or a professional fortune teller to be able to draw their meaning. Just look at the picture attentively, paying your attention to the emotional state of the central figure (each Arcanum has one). For an attentive person, it won’t be a problem to figure out what these cards predict.

The Waite cards

The Waite deck has one more peculiarity. He switched two Major Arcana – Power and Justice. Nobody knows why he did it, but it didn’t affect the power of the cards.

Don’t forget that these cards are special. They can talk with you, like a friend does. But to have such a conversation with these cards, you have to be more than just curious to know what future has prepared for you. The tarot cards are extremely powerful. They can become your good friends, or can bear a grudge against you becoming your worst enemy. You should handle these cards properly, unless you want them to affect your life, turning it into a nightmare.

Remember that the tarot cards don’t like idle curiosity. You should use them only if you need their advice badly. There is hardly anyone who never spread cards, making a wish, three, five, ten times in a row, until the desirable answer was received. Don’t do that with the tarot! Never ask them the same questions. You can repeat your question only if something changed in your life since your last spreading and you want to know what to do next.

The tarot cards also dislike neglect, dust, and dirt. Buy a nice velvet cloth to spread the cards on. After each card-reading session, wrap them in this cloth carefully. And there is one more thing. These cards require a payoff, so put some money on top of them (as much as you want) after you’re donе telling fortunes to break the connection of the cards with the person you ask questions about. Otherwise, the cards might take offense, and the good things they predicted will never come true, while the bad ones will and their effect will be even stronger than