Tarot Texas Rotating Header Image

Eliphas Levi

The Rider Waite Tarot Deck

Nov 11th, 2009
by TarotTrumps.
No comments yet

The Fool card from the Rider-Waite tarot deck.

The Fool card from the Rider-Waite tarot deck.

Author: Craig Malone

Whenever you say tarot cards, you would in most cases find it means the Rider Waite tarot deck. This is because this is one of the most commonly used types of card decks.

The history of using tarot cards may take you to ancient times, however the tarot cards as they are known today can be traced to the year 1910 when Arthur Edward Waite designed these with the help of a very talented illustrator named Pamela Colman Smith.

While Waite was British, Smith was American at that time. Waite, who was a renowned publisher, also printed an excellent guide to help with the interpretation of this tarot deck titled, The Key to the Tarot. This book has often been re-run and used by a slightly modified title, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot.

This is a wonderful book for any tarot enthusiast because it assists you in every step while using tarot cards for a reading. Waite made a few changes when he designed this new set of cards. (more…)


Different Tarot Decks Designs

Oct 14th, 2009
by TarotTrumps.
No comments yet

Le Bateleur (The Magician) from Tarot of the Bohemians by Oswald Wirth, 1896.

Le Bateleur (The Magician) from the Marseilles deck.

Author: Malc Moore

The first description of tarot decks appeared as early as the beginning of the 15th century when Martiano da Tortona mentioned some card games that resembled a lot to tarot. The symbols on these early illustrations were Greek deities while the suits matched four types of birds, a pattern totally different from the basic Italian decks.

These forefathers of the tarot deck counted only sixteen cards, but they surely enjoyed great popularity. Later, other decks are described by Italian documents throughout the 15th century. Given the heraldic, social, poetical and philosophical interpretations of the cards, modern researchers are surely impressed by the vividness of the symbolism and the ideology behind it.

The oldest tarot deck preserved to our times were designed according to the specifications of the Visconti family. The sixty-six cards are presently on public display at the Yale University Library in New Haven. (more…)