The Big Picture Show
Kether—Crown—Ace
The RWS deck is the best-selling tarot deck in the world to date. The RWS deck is referenced in literature and used in all forms of media, including film and television. It is often a beginning reader’s first deck. History, evolution, and circumstance created an extraordinary device that people use for fortunetelling, self-knowledge, and art. Tarot decks with new themes are created by the hundreds, maybe thousands, each year. New decks with differing themes are usually called RWS clones. Clone decks’ illustrations are derivative of Pamela’s RWS illustrations. A clone deck’s Eight of Swords will likely have a bound and blindfolded female figure evocative of the image Pamela drew for the RWS deck.
The RWS deck is an enigma. It is a complex tarot deck filled with esoteric symbols and secret meanings, yet the illustrations are surprisingly simple. A beginner can use the deck as easily and deftly as a professional. The deck is a perfect artifact of the year of its creation, 1909, yet remains shockingly modern and perfectly usable over a hundred years later. The RWS deck is a Modernist art object as important and impactful as Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon or Edward Munch’s The Scream, also painted in 1909, yet the RWS deck does not haunt history by hanging on the wall of a museum. Anyone in the world can buy, borrow, or own a copy. The RWS deck is tucked into backpacks, wrapped in silks, consecrated on alters, stored in college dormitories, and stocked in bookstores around the world.
The esoteric structure behind the RWS deck is simple yet extremely complex. It is as simple and complex as all the world’s spiritual traditions. Spiritual knowledge, dogma, and teachings can usually be reduced to a small number of basic truths, or tenets essential to each particular system, yet it can take a lifetime of understanding and study to authentically adapt and incorporate such systems into life. A person who approaches the unfolding of a system slowly and with an open mind finds that esoteric and spiritual structure becomes a path instead of a means to an end. The same is true of tarot and the RWS deck.
Tarot decks existed long before the cards were connected to esoteric or spiritual systems. Hundreds of years transpired before occultists realized they could connect Hebraic letters and the Tree of Life structure to tarot. The numerical structure of a tarot deck and the four suits of tarot make the connections possible. The major arcana, the twenty-two cards separating tarot from an ordinary deck of cards, also represent sacred and profane allegories of life.
The number three and the concept of a trinity or triad is useful in grasping the significance, emergence, and usage of the RWS deck. A triangle contains three specific points. The concept of three echoes in all facets of RWS usage, its history and its application. Keep the idea of a simple triangle in your mind’s eye as you continue reading. Using the concept of three, we can examine why tarot works, where it comes from, and how the RWS deck became the world’s most infamous tarot.
RWS Creators
Pamela Colman Smith—Arthur Waite—Stuart Kaplan
Illustrator—Author—Businessman
Pamela Colman Smith (illustrator), Arthur Waite (author), and Stuart Kaplan (author and businessman) are three people directly responsible for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and its worldwide success. Pamela was a bohemian illustrator, highly gifted colorist, storyteller, folklorist, performer, stage designer, costume designer, and author. Arthur Waite was an occult mystic and prolific author of dozens of books on esoteric subjects. Pamela and Waite both belonged to the most famous and revered magical secret society in the world, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Waite hired Pamela to illustrate his “rectified” tarot deck.
The Golden Dawn’s monumental impact is still felt today though it existed for only a brief period at the turn of the twentieth century. The Golden Dawn is considered one of the greatest influences of Western magical tradition and subsequently modern New Age thought. The organization studied and experimented in all areas of magic and the paranormal in a systematic and purposeful way. The Golden Dawn used tarot as a way to visualize, understand, and execute their magical workings, which were deeply grounded in symbolic work. It attracted artists and intellectuals alike, including W. B. Yeats, Florence Farr, Bram Stoker, and Aleister Crowley. The society was prone to wild internal disputes. Purposeful magic is a source of intense power. Wielded in irresponsible and egocentric ways, power is bound to create disagreements and squabbles between members and leaders. Waite formed his own offshoot of the group in 1903. He brought Pamela with him.
Waite had a personal and idealized vision of his own tarot deck. Pamela was the perfect candidate to illustrate a deck to Waite’s specifications. Tarot was required study for all Golden Dawn members, and she was well versed in the group’s esoteric secrets. Pamela was a rising star in the art world outside of the Golden Dawn. Personal letters and articles show Pamela was highly gifted, hungry for work, and eager for money. Waite enjoyed a close working relationship with the Rider Publishing Company. Rider published a regular stream of occult literature, including early works of Waite’s and an array of horror fiction, including works by Bram Stoker. They published the deck under a title combining their own and Waite’s name: the Rider-Waite tarot.
The original Rider-Waite tarot and its accompanying book, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, was published in 1909 to very little fanfare. The RWS deck kicked around for decades and through two world wars. The Rider-Waite and a few other tarot decks lingered in the back of dusty bookstores and hidden occult shops. Stuart Kaplan, a Wall Street businessman and author with a deep passion for research, wrote a book called Tarot Cards for Fun and Fortune Telling in 1970. The fate of the RWS deck took a rapid turn at this point. Stuart couldn’t keep his book in stock. It flew off the shelves, and after printing 700,000 copies, he knew he was onto something. He followed the advice of Don Weiser and licensed a little-known Rider-Waite tarot deck. It would go on to sell millions of copies, becoming the most beloved tarot of all time.
Creators’ Talents
Creativity—Occultism—Business Acumen
Each party brought a particular and unique quality to the table, paving the way for the deck’s success. Pamela was a creative genius who crafted thousands of art pieces during her career. Artists are mystics who make invisible worlds visible to the public through their works. Pamela was known for her otherworldly visions and vivid use of color. Pamela’s theater background profoundly influenced the RWS deck. Each card appears like a scene from a play. She created androgynous figures, perfect for the projection of issues, questions, and concerns from readers. Pamela’s body of work reveals a world of castles, rising mountains, and evocative oceans. Pamela’s mix of playful and theatrical, deeply grounded in symbolic reference, made for the perfect tarot deck. It speaks today as brightly as it did over a hundred years ago.
Waite published forty-six books and edited, translated, or introduced forty others in the course of his life. His tomes, as per the style of the day, are heavily worded and challenging to read. Additionally, Waite published The Pictorial Key after taking a vow never to reveal Golden Dawn secrets, so his vision is coded into his writing, making it doubly hard to ingest. Through Waite’s writing and research and through his exploration of the tarot and subsequent rectification, he created a deck grounded in profoundly spiritual structure. Raised as a Catholic, his education could not be cast aside but was incorporated into his works, so many of the RWS deck’s images feel familiar to the Western Anglo-Saxon person looking at the cards. His descriptions, words, and cards evoke an experiential spiritual experience akin to an initiation. The deeper the reader moves, the more they uncover. Waite imagined and experienced the lessons of the RWS deck, and Pamela brought the vision to life.
Stuart Kaplan is a driven businessman and passionate writer/researcher. He set out to make his mark on the world through research and commerce. Like a detective, Stuart sought to discover something the public would devour. He successfully uncovered an interest in tarot, fed the public’s desire, and proceeded to publish an anthology of tarot books and make the RWS deck available to the world. His singular focus, stellar instincts, and Ivy League education combined with a righteous work ethic ensured his success. He elevated himself out of the Bronx and created a multimillion-dollar company. U.S. Games Systems, Inc., distributes new tarot and oracle decks and books each year alongside the RWS deck. He is also the world’s premier collector of Pamela Colman Smith art objects.
RWS Uniqueness
Illustrated Minors—Gender Ambiguity—Esoteric Symbolism
Hundreds of tarot decks predated and postdated the RWS deck. What makes the RWS different? What makes it so darn special? Three variables set this deck apart from all other decks created at the time. The biggest difference is the minor arcana of the RWS is fully illustrated, which was the first time this had occurred since the Sola Busca deck (Italy, circa 1491). Every other tarot deck, with the exception of the Sola Busca, had fifty-six minor cards like traditional playing cards. No images, just symbols and numbers. Once Pamela illustrated the minor arcana with scenes, the RWS deck’s colorful and evocative visuals became easily readable. Pamela used the Sola Busca illustrations for inspiration. They happened to be on display at the British Museum at the same time she was commissioned to create the deck.
Pamela’s tarot figures are infused with gender ambiguity. Many characters appear to be both masculine and feminine. The characters are soft, open, and inviting. Her characters’ abstract expressions can be colored by anyone’s experience. Additionally, Pamela’s theatrical costume design experience came in handy. The characters are dressed in Shakespearean clothing that feels timeless and evocative. The clothing is faintly ceremonial yet grounded in Elizabethan realism. The costuming is true to its time period yet abstract enough for anyone to encounter it. It acts like Waite’s underlying mysticism, grounded in the truth of experience and available for anyone to consume. Ultimately, any experience can easily be projected onto the cards.
Pamela and Waite encoded clever Western esoteric symbolism into the cards. Astrology and mythology, Christian and Hebraic symbols fill the images. Symbols rich with meaning can be unraveled and explored to provide new discoveries. The cards can be aligned with multiple schools of study. The esoteric symbols merge seamlessly with Pamela’s clothing and theatrical setting. It is as if a great performance unfolds before our eyes. Infinite possibility exists.
Triple Threat Threefold Examination
Hindsight—Insight—Foresight
Past—Present—Future
Fate—Fortune—Destiny
Tarot has always involved the examination of the forces at play in our lives (except when it was used for gaming in ancient Italy and France). Ancient tarot was predictive. Modern tarot leans toward empowerment. It puts power squarely in the reader’s hands. Tarot, no matter whose hands it is in and how it is used, has always been tied to a threefold quality inherent to everyone’s life. What was once fate, fortune, and destiny became past, present, and future and has evolved to hindsight, insight, and foresight.
Hindsight is the ability to look at past events to gain clarity. Hindsight makes our lessons and mistakes worth learning so we don’t repeat them in the future. We glean understanding from an event after it has unfolded. This equates to the “past” space in a past/present/future spread. A “past” card is flipped to express an event that has already unfolded. It also aligns with fate. Fate is the situation, life circumstance, and family we were born into.
Insight is understanding the context of the circumstances surrounding and enveloping you. Insight is the ability to peer directly into the present moment and see the root of any issue at hand. Grasping the root allows you to sustain it or pull it free. Insight provides a grounded place from which to make decisions. Insight provides self-knowledge and knowing who you are. It aligns with the “present” space of a past/present/future spread. This card suggests what is happening in the present moment. It aligns with fortune, which reflects what a person has going for them in the present moment. Fortune is all the gifts, talents, and sensitivities each and every one of us is born with.
Foresight is having a sense of what has the highest probability of happening based on past and present events. Colleges use foresight to shape their admission policies. They believe examining the past and present habits and achievements of students will give them the highest degree of foresight into the future achievements of their students. Personal foresight allows you to make good and sound decisions based on the information in front of you. This aligns with the “future” section of a past/present/future spread and describes potential future events. Destiny is how an individual makes use of their fate and fortune.
Tarot’s Usage
Divination—Self-Knowledge/Empowerment—Creative Arts
Divination is the cross-cultural act of using any variety of objects or means—sticks, stones, or bones, etc.—to foretell future events. Early tarot was used for trick-taking card games in the rowdy taverns of Europe. Tarrochi was a game of chance. It offered gamblers an opportunity to play the odds, perhaps even altering their personal destiny. Tarot, with its twenty-two illustrated major arcana and numerical structure, was a no-brainer for fortunetelling and divination aficionados. The card’s major arcana illustrations create easy-to-read narratives. Cards have always been a metaphor for life, whether under the auspices of gaming or fortunetelling.
Tarot predates Europe’s first printing press. The deck is older than printed and bound books. Offering lessons and allegories in place of words, the major arcana’s images likely spoke to a largely illiterate public. Historical documentation of card divination is not well recorded. The practice was passed generationally, orally, or it sprang up intuitively. It usually occurred behind closed doors. Modern tarot divination exists at every level of western society. Tarotists are hired as entertainment for parties and events. College students cluster and giggle around tarot in dorm rooms. Wise old grannies read tarot on Formica tabletops. Metaphysical shops across the county offer tarot in addition to other modalities like astrology, Reiki, and angel readings. Storefront gypsies entice customers with glowing neon signs and sparkling crystal balls. Tarot readers work online via email, video, or even phone texts. Newcomers often purchase a tarot deck in hopes of divining their own future. Tarot use often switches from a fortunetelling device to self-knowledge and empowerment as it is incorporated into daily life.
Tarot becomes a contemplative practice for readers who look at the cards and toss aside conventional fortunetelling questions such as “When will I be rich?” Instead, they ask introspective questions: “What do I need to know?” “What gift does this challenge bring?” “What can I do to obtain the outcome I desire?” These questions place the reader in the driver’s seat of their life. They may ask philosophical questions such as “What is my life’s purpose?” or “What is the nature of God?” Self-knowledge and empowerment blossom when symbol and archetype are blended with psychology, offering a deeper human experience of tarot. The deeper experience of tarot fosters a richer experience of life. Tarot is an excellent visual aid and powerful tool for spellcasting. Tarot is used as a portal into guided meditations. It brings us into the inner recesses of the psyche or outward into the elemental world.
Tarot’s creative use is infinite. Writers and authors pull cards for plot points, character traits, and writing prompts. Painters and visual artists use tarot archetypes for creating single or unified sets of original work. Tarot crafts and goodies are sold online and at fairs and festivals. Movies, literature, and all forms of media pull from the tarot when it suits them, often from the RWS deck. Tarot images inspire tattoo and skin art. Companies borrow tarot images to suit their advertising needs when wishing to appear mystical, trendy, or edgy.
Tarot is more popular today than it has ever been. Tarot use will continue to unfold, evolve, and move to the outer reaches of human creativity and innovation. What new and exciting ways do you use tarot? How do you incorporate the cards into your life? You move tarot forward with every spread and spell. Each time you enter a card via contemplation, you tread into an unfolding world of dazzling possibility.
Western Esoteric Pillars
Kabbalah—Astrology—Numerology
Nineteenth-century European occultists studied medieval grimoires on alchemy, magic, and mysticism in the great libraries of Europe. Tarot already existed independently and apart from all esoteric studies. Occultists realized they could place tarot’s perfect structure on top of their work, integrating it with their systems. Joseph Campbell described the “Hero’s Journey” as a similar narrative reaching across all myth, religion, and storytelling. Tarot, too, contains this narrative. It aligns perfectly with metaphysical systems used to describe the nature of reality and man’s relation to the Divine. Imagine the occultists’ delight when they discovered the systems they worked with could be quantified with this mysterious deck of cards.
Kabbalah is an ancient Hebraic mystical system. The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a visual representation of the divine manifestation of life on earth. The tree contains an all-knowing, all-loving, divine source at its top. This source filters down through the tree’s branches until it manifests at the bottom, on the earthly realm. Rabbinical scholars created Kabbalah, and it was later adapted by other mystical schools of thought. The Tree of Life contains a numerical structure of the nature of divinity. The Tree of Life links linguistic, astrological, and numerical associations. It aligns with tarot’s structure. Tarot’s major arcana connects to the tree’s paths; tarot’s four suits connect to the tree’s four worlds.
Astrology is the ancient practice of looking skyward and observing the motions and positions of celestial bodies to explain and express an individual’s psychology and the human condition and predict future events. Astrology, like tarot, can be used for prediction or empowerment or both. Astrology slices the firmament into twelve segments, thus creating the twelve signs of the zodiac. The Golden Dawn tweaked their tarot and made minor adjustments so their astrology would fit on top of the deck with near-perfect symmetry. Once the Golden Dawn had unified the two systems, each tarot card assumed additional astrological richness, meaning, and symbolism.
Numerology is a practice using mathematical principles to define the nature of the material and spiritual world. Humans organize the world by counting, organizing, and detecting patterns. Childhood’s earliest lessons include counting and numbers—hours in a day, days in a week, etc. The nature of reality can be measured numerically. It is possible to discover meaningful patterns and cycles and glean personal empowerment and information. Tarotists can use numerology to gaze through the veil of the material world and into otherworldly realms of sacred imagination. Once patterns are detected, meanings can be placed behind the patterns. Tarot reading always displays numerical information via card numbers. Like a poker game, repeating suits and numbers are important in tarot. Tarot’s numerical structure makes it infinitely adaptable.
Tarot’s Psychic Trinity
Conscious—Subconscious—Possibility
The human mind can be understood in a threefold manner. The threefold nature of the mind includes the conscious, subconscious, and possibility. The conscious mind consists of present thought patterns, which are the thoughts you are aware of. We all experience inner dialogue in the conscious mind. Right now, my present consciousness is entering your consciousness. You read the words of this book, which were written in the past, yet the writing of these words occurred in my present. You, mysterious reader, loom in my future. The words you read are at the forefront of your conscious mind this very moment. The magic of this book has brought our consciousnesses together. We are having a dialogue though we are miles apart in time and space.
The conscious mind is what the individual is aware of at any given time. It is revealed through speech. The subconscious mind reflects possibilities rumbling around like a subway beneath the surface area of your mind. The subconscious is a darker, murkier place where deep desires, repressed feelings, and forgotten events exist. Events unprocessed by the conscious mind reside in the subconscious alongside memories. Memories of memories are stored here. The subconscious is also the breeding ground of creativity and renewal. It acts like the rich, fecund earth of the mind, from which all things are born.
Human possibility exists outside, above and beyond the conscious and subconscious mind. Possibility is everything an individual is capable of doing, experiencing, and embracing. Human possibility knows no bounds and is inescapable. It always exists. All spectrums of human behavior exist inside and alongside possibility. Possibility is the space between thoughts. It is the silence between sound. Possibility is the space between stars and solar systems. It is the space inside the atoms that make your body. Tarot can be used to activate the threefold presence of the human mind.
Tarot opens an active dialogue between the conscious and subconscious mind through symbols. The subconscious recognizes and responds to symbols in the same way the physical body intuitively responds to any sensorial input like music, taste, or beauty. A meaningful song will transport you back fifteen years in a flash, like childhood comfort foods or the whiff of a particular fragrance. The memories exist side by side between the physical body and the subconscious. Useful memories and associations are put away like toys in a chest until they are needed. It is often easier to identify an underlying problem or issue using symbols. Tarot symbols and images communicate directly to the subconscious.
Possibilities become meaningful reality because tarot induces questions. The cards inspire advice, action, and direction. Problems are taken out of the head and spread as cards on the table before the reader. A personal bird’s-eye view unfolds. Issues are examined. Root issues are identified. Action steps are encouraged. Personal impulses, hunches, and instincts are validated. The act of forming tarot questions paves the way for mindfulness. It leads the psyche in new directions. The brain is like a computer trying to find the quickest route from A to B. The subconscious is made conscious. What is conscious is acted upon and moved into the real world. New possibilities appear. The ripple effect of inner and outer events unfolds.
Tarot Activation
Art—Storytelling—Lesson
Tarot, whether for divination or empowerment, works via a threefold synthesis. The card’s artwork, first and foremost, provides a framework and image, no matter the deck. It holds true even if the card is selected electronically. Pictures and images appear, cards are flipped like sections of a graphic novel. Numerous symbols, actions, and activities are interpreted by the reader. The power of tarot stems purely from the reader’s interpretation and not from the cards, as many people assume.
The narrative of a story is crafted after the art images are ingested. The human mind is ensconced in storytelling structure. Storytelling is how we organize ourself and our placement in the world. Someone asks us how our day went, and we respond with the story of our day. Someone inquires as to how we grew up, and we respond with the story of our childhood. We place ourselves in the leading role of events and circumstances all day long. We weave stories about ourselves in our own head, telling ourselves what we are worth, what we deserve, and how situations should go. We can look to the cards and allow them to describe elements of our story or give us advice. Often it leaps out at the reader. The resulting story can be formulated in a variety of ways. The reader creates the framework for the story by phrasing questions or intentions around the card or tarot spread.
The story told by the cards results in confirmation, a lesson, or advice. Subsequent action is usually taken. Information is devoured like a child’s bedtime story, even if the reader reads for themselves alone. Insight is gleaned. The world is examined from a different perspective. Possibilities are entertained and weighed. The individual walks away from the cards with a takeaway from the experience. An exchange of energy occurs, and the subtle body changes.
Tarot Reader’s Triad
Physical Body—Cards/Client—Higher Self
Tarot readers activate a threefold process each time they read the cards. The energetic exchange is familiar to artists, writers, poets, actors, photographers, musicians, dancers, etc. This process is often taken for granted. Readers need to be aware and open to examine how they engage with the cards. The triad process involves three distinct sensibilities, which can be refined and honed with time and practice.
The reader activates the physical body when preparing to read the cards. Ritualized behavior puts the body on alert. Readers will light candles, ignite incense, burn sage, or drink tea or coffee. Light meditations or energy work may be performed to cleanse and open the body and invite insight and inspiration. Alternatively, grounding work or protective energetic shields may be placed for readers who read for the public. Prayers, blessings, or consecrations may be uttered. Touching, feeling, and listening to the cards as they shuffle is a simple and effective activation. Consider the way you prepare for a reading. Every person contains subtle differences. Each body is unique. Consider the physical and spiritual ways your body can prepare for a reading. This helps you to cultivate and understand what you are doing energetically. This can be considered the warm-up.
Attention moves away from the body once the cards and client are engaged. Conversations are had and questions posed; if readers read for themselves, they have the conversation with themselves and perhaps write down questions and notes. The cards are shuffled and laid out according to the reader’s choosing. The images wash over the senses of the reader. Information hits the reader in any number of ways according to the reader’s sensitivity. The reader looks to see what is before them like the moment a painter turns their attention to the subject.
The higher self, inspiration, muse, spirit, or (insert your preferred name) is activated for information and the resulting narrative. This is the sacred imagination and creative mind space. This space is opened and experienced in a million different ways by different people. It is as unique as each person’s kiss. Doing so, the reader accesses insight, story, guidance, and inspiration for the reading and the conclusions. It is the same energetic process used by poet/imagination/paper and dancer/music/stage. This triad is at the heart of creative work and is a three-part participatory act.
Tarot’s Traditional Publishing Trinity
Author—Illustrator—Publishing House
Tarot publishing usually contains a three-part process between author, illustrator, and publisher. People who purchase, play, or read the cards rarely think about how the cards were created. Authors conceive of ideas and themes for decks and sell their ideas to a publisher. Conversely, publishers conceive of decks and seek authors to flesh the idea out. Tarot themes are wildly imaginative, from cats to vampires, from historical decks to futuristic decks. A tarot theme can be any imaginable subject. Once the tarot deck idea is outlined by the author, each card is described and written out in detail. An artist is sought to illustrate the cards and bring the writer’s (or publisher’s) vision to life.
The search for an illustrator begins once an author’s proposal is approved by a publishing house or once the publisher finds a theme they would like to create. Finding the right artist is time consuming and not as easy as one might guess. Conversely, artists often find themselves drawn to tarot as a theme. The illustrator may innovate a deck themselves and sell it to a publisher. Designing a seventy-eight-card deck is time consuming. It involves many approvals and revisions between author, artist, and publisher.
Once the deck is complete, accompanying text is written. This could be a little white pamphlet or a full-sized companion book to the deck. Variations to the publishing trinity exist. Artists often conceive of decks on their own; self-published decks are readily available, yet the triad of author, illustrator, and publisher is common. This is the process employed in the original creation of the RWS deck between Waite as author, Smith as illustrator, and Rider as the publisher.
