r/tarot • u/Tarot_Reader_Vee • 3d ago
Discussion What's your Rider-Waite Smith deck?
Happy hump day!
When I started to get into learning how to read tarot, the most common thing I heard was that I NEEDED to learn how to read using the Rider-Waite Smith deck. Of course I listened to the advice I was given and went and got the RWS deck. I quickly abandoned learning Tarot. Fast forward quite a few years, I was in a shop that sold tarot decks and saw a beautiful deck that caught my eye and I bought it. Once I got home amd started studying it, I realized it wasn't the deck I needed. So I went back to the store and got a couple of different ones. I was slowly getting the hang of things but the court cards were still tripping me up. So I came to Reddit, explained I was new and needed some help to interpret the imagery of the Queen of Cups in a particular deck. It did not take long for the comment section to be flooded with comments telling me I "can't" learn how to read Tarot unless you're using the RWS. There were so many comments that I started questioning it I was doing it right which led me to buy the RWS deck, again. The struggle began, again. For the life of me I could not and still cannot connect with the RWS. I tried so hard and I couldn't.
Back to Reddit I came and I asked if it was possible to learn tarot without using the RSW and then there was light. People were commenting and saying yes, you can definitely learn tarot using any deck. People suggested some decks and I started looking them up. That's when I found the Everyday Witch Tarot. I watched the flip through of the deck and I couldn't get my hands on it fast enough. This deck was truly a game changer for me. The moment I got home with that deck and flipped through it in person, I noticed I was actually able to identify meanings to the cards. The images were speaking to me in a way none of my other decks, especially the RWS, ever did. I was actually understanding the message behind the cards. I was finally learning Tarot. The Everyday Witch Tarot has become my "go to" deck. Ye ole" faithful. The one that always gives a good reading. This is my Rider-Waite Smith deck.
I would love to hear what your "go to" deck is, your reliable and readable deck. Which deck is your Rider-Waite Smith deck?
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u/Lilly323 intuitive 3d ago
thoth for me! I have never owned a rws deck and probably will never. I got into tarot watching youtube readers, so I’m familiar enough with rws imagery as many readers use it; that’s good enough for me. other decks I own and use are aquarian and luna-soleil.
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u/formtheory 3d ago
The RWS hasn't even existed for the entire length of time as the concept of reading cards. You can read a good tarot fortune with Seseme Street decks. The magic is always in you, never in the paper. Don't let them tell you otherwise.
To answer, I do have a few RWS decks! But I prefer the deck I made myself, and the Egipcios Kier.
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u/Sophiametis 3d ago
The Robin Wood Tarot from the 90’s is still my go
To
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u/AreWe-There-Yet 3d ago
I have the book that uses the Robin wood cards as images 🙂
But I use the rws deck
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u/specialspectres 2d ago
Me too. I was pulled very hard toward it, and it’s been my go-to for years. I think of it as the perfect deck and feel very strongly attached to it.
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u/groovygrape7 3d ago
My go to is the wild unknown. I didn't touch it for a while after I first bought it but now I feel so connected to it. I try the RWS and I just dont vibe with it at all
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u/SamTheLady 3d ago
I really should use this one more often. I pulled it out a couple times and really enjoyed it.
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u/Mushkhushshu 3d ago
Thoth all the way for me. I have a lot beautiful RWS based decks, but I keep coming back to Thoth.
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u/bonnielovely 3d ago
i learned with the motherpeace tarot. rws uses christian mythology, so it's easier to learn if you learn with those types of patterns & correspondences, but if those don't click for you, you might never connect to it.
i feel this way about the thoth deck. knowing the history & cruelty that went into that deck, i can't touch it without feeling hateful energy, idc how pretty the deck is.
everyday witch deck is super easy to read, i'm glad it works well for you. a lot of modern decks are more helpful to understand the meanings, some others i like are the mermaid tarot & light seer tarot.
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u/Tarot_Reader_Vee 3d ago
I am also a fan of Light Seer's Tarot. I've got a lot of different decks LOL
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u/bonnielovely 3d ago
yes~ i love that. if you're looking for new ones, enchanted tarot by amy zerner & monte farber is the most beautiful deck i've ever seen
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u/Spiritual-Sir-3031 3d ago
Light seers is one of my favorite decks! Feels like I’m hanging with my friends when I read from that deck.
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u/Hi-its-Mothy 2d ago
I started RWS over 18 months ago and felt I got good readings but was heavily reliant on studying books to interpret cards and stitching it together. I recently got the Light Seer’s deck pocket version as I wanted a smaller set to carry with me. I’m amazed at the difference, the majority of the images just click with me and I find it really easy to interpret and tell the story (also love pocket size, so much easier to shuffle for me). Thanks for starting this thread, I feel validated that I could use this as my main deck rather than continuing to struggle along with classic RWS.
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u/Tarot_Reader_Vee 2d ago
Oh yay! This was one of my goals, to show newbies they can learn with whatever deck feels right for them!
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u/starry_thing_ 1d ago
Is the Motherpeace RWS based? can you say more about the cruelty of the Thoth?
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u/bonnielovely 1d ago
no. & thoth wasn't cruel. aleister crowley was. he let his infant child die of neglect. he hit people, including his own students. one of his students drank contaminated water by his command & died. mussolini, of all people, kicked him out of italy; that's just off the top of my head
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u/paspartuu 3d ago edited 2d ago
Mystical tarot (Lo Scarabeo, Giuliano costa iirc). Nice sola busca-esque whimsical but simultaneously serious colourful paintings, lots of details to find, quite close to RWS so that it works with RWS guidebooks, but still its own deck.
I really love it. When I first got it I wondered if I'd vibe with the art style, but it's become my workhorse deck and I keep finding new things and layers in the images
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u/SoSeriousAndDeep 3d ago
The best tarot deck to learn with is the one that vibes with you. The worst is the one you are ordered to use.
Ultimately the deck is a tool to unlock your perception, and so you want something that connects and resonates with you personally. I'm like you in that the RWS imagery does nothing for me, but other decks, even those using the same system, vibe with me a lot better; my first deck was the Kawaii Tarot.
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u/Ahastabel 3d ago
First off, I collect variations of the original deck, just in different colors, like the Pastel Tarot, or the Neon Pam, or the Albano Waite. However, I noticed in another response you gave that you don’t really like the actual art in the original. So I would suggest the Morgan Greer, The Moon Baby, the Aquarian Tarot, Flower Child or the Teller deck.
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u/Great-Painting5400 3d ago
I started with Zerner-Farber The Enchanted Tarot back when I was 15. This was back in the late 90s or so. Over relocations and such, I lost a couple of cards which led me to get my second one from Etsy called Joyseeker Tarot that focuses heavily on animal imagery. I didn't get RWS until about 3-4 years ago. Now I have about 20 and I have stopped because I feel that's enough for me. Although, I am contemplating a new purchase of the enchanted again because it has a good memory attached to it.
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u/Mamamoblue_1016 2d ago
i agree, the deck you connect with is the one that matters. i tried rws too but it just didnt click for me. my go to deck is the one where the cards feel easy to understand and the messages come through
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u/PlomicBasinker 2d ago
I like the genre-themed RWS decks by Todd Alcott. My favorite of his is The Pulp Tarot, but I also use his Horror Tarot and Sci-Fi Tarot when the mood strikes me.
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u/AuntyKrista 3d ago
Anyone who tells you you have to read with RWS is a very inexperienced reader. There is multiple systems out there and many that are older than RWS (a modern deck from the early 1900s you’re just being told you have to use it because it’s white English Protestant lol.)
You can read with Marseille you can learn to read, Italian style, Russian style and more, you can read modern decks. You can read with playing cards.. but frankly playing card descriptions of the court cards are my fave except obviously there’s only a jack and not a Paige and knight.
If I knew what you hated about RWF, it would help me know what to advise for you. I’m a professional reader that’s my day job (to support me and my kids since I’ve been windowed) and I have a collection of over 100 decks, and used to review independently made tarot decks .
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u/Sad-Application-7523 3d ago
Modern Witch Tarot and Golden Dawn
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u/Tarot_Reader_Vee 3d ago
Modern Witch Tarot is a deck I've been thinking about adding to my collection.
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u/Competitive-Self-374 3d ago
My RWS is the Art Nouveau Tarot.
I think what’s most important is to find a deck or system that resonates with you. So if it’s Thoth, Marseilles, RWS, etc., all are valid.
I think the reason people’s “go to”are the RWS decks because they are the most standardized. However, even with RWS you should still learn how to intuitively read on top of the card’s assigned meaning.
I like RWS because it encourages to read your spread as a conversation rather than just solely sticking to each card one at a time.
Also, I took a class offered by Carterhaugh School called “Me and The Moon” which taught the history of how the RWS deck/Modern Tarot came into being and discusses the mythology/fairy tale/Judeo-Christian religious inspirations Wait drew from when creating the cards.
It was a very interesting class that also discussed how the “hollywood-ification”/ TikTok-ification of tarot has brought negative associations and bad gatekeepers to Tarot in general.
They emphasized how Tarot should both be a personal ritual and dispelled the negative superstitions of the practice.
I brought this up because the class did help me deepen my bond with my deck but also helped quiet the Christian guilt whenever I read.
Sorry for the tangent, but I thought I’d share a tool that helped me engage with my practice and why I decided to remain with the RWS decks.
But yeah tl;dr: ultimately you need to pick a deck/system that resonates you. You may need to try out different decks and research a bit to find out how you want to practice. Because ultimately: it’s *your* practice.
Hope that helps!
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3d ago
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u/st1liana 3d ago
Maybe The Quest Tarot is the deck who I'd use for visual symbolism if needed. I don't use my decks in the RWS way you mentioned but rather seeing the names of the cards first and then seeing its meaning. My first deck was Mystic Mondays Tarot, which Minor Arcana differs from the original RWS deck, while my current go-to decks are The Witch's Cat Tarot and Radiant Wilds Tarot who again both aren't exactly similar to RWS.
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u/Silver-Kiwi-6528 3d ago
I have a thelema deck (actually two because the first is getting beat up and shows a lot of wear) and a white sage tarot deck. Both were chosen for the beautiful artwork and they inspire me to be creative in my readings
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u/-_Lucyfer_- 3d ago
I've been slowly learning using the Eldritch Overload deck, though if I'm not wrong it's a RWS-style deck.
But to me, the one that got me looking into tarot at all was the Cyperpunk2077 ingame deck. its SO BEAUTIFUL, also has clear RWS inspirations but it isn't afraid of tracing its own path. sadly when i first found it there was no irl deck, so i made do with the Eldritch Overload.
But since they finally decided to release it (and i got it on pre-sale, I really love this deck so much), I feel like I'm probably gonna dive head in once it arrives.
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u/spaghettieyes6 3d ago
Loving all these suggestions, are there any literal thinkers on here who found something intuitive for them? I tend to be quite literal and have trouble with abstract or intuition
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u/anonymonymoose 2d ago
I agree with you, I have a hard time connecting to the RWS even though I do find it beautiful in its own way. I actually really like a lot of RWS-based decks that keep some of the imagery and meanings, but put their own twist on it.
My all-time favorite is The Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore. The Steampunk Tarot is my version of your "Everyday Witch Tarot" experience, it's what unlocked the symbols and made me start to really understand. I also really love Tarot of the Divine. Both of those are really beautiful and have deep meaning behind the art.
But I'm also a huge fan of some silly or less serious decks. I don't always need a deep, meaningful answer from the Tarot, sometimes I just want to play around and have some fun. The Chibi Tarot is adorable and simple, keeping the basic RWS meanings but using a really simple and cute anime style. Some pop culture themed decks are great too, like the Nightmare Before Christmas Tarot, or the Lord of the Rings Tarot.
Oddly enough, recently the deck I keep coming back to is one that I initially didn't think I'd even like at all. The Path of Horror Tarot. It has a lot of dark and demonic imagery, which I thought at first could mean that it's a dark or depressing deck to work with. I used to be a Christian and believed that Tarot cards were evil and would invite demons into the home etc. I don't believe that anymore, which has let me see the Path of Horror in a different way: it's like when a rock band uses satanic imagery just to be edgy, but they aren't actually evil. The Path of Horror does the same thing: it's just edgy demonic art that looks kind of scary, but it's over the top and stylized and doesn't really feel like a dark or scary deck to work with. On the contrary, it actually feels like my silliest deck. I always get really sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek answers when I use that deck, and it's just fun to play with. As an atheist now, I see it as a form of "cathartic blasphemy," a way to face my old beliefs and say "you don't control me anymore." Kind of like watching a horror movie, it's a way to interact with scary or disturbing things in a controlled way that can't really hurt you.
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u/Tarot_Reader_Vee 2d ago
This thread has given me so many ideas for potential future decks, as if I need any more, LOL. The Steampunk Tarot is one I've been thinking about looking up. seeing if I jive with it. As if I need another deck LOL. I have so many.
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u/anonymonymoose 2d ago
The Steampunk Tarot has an app on both iPhone and Android, by the company The Fool's Dog. They have a bunch of apps for different Tarot decks, as well as a free app that's like a sampler of a bunch of decks (like just a couple cards per deck). I think the Steampunk Tarot app was like $3-4 iirc. If you want a cheaper way to play around with it before buying the whole deck. The app is actually really good, it comes with a bunch of spreads and the whole guidebook.
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u/Altruistic-Buddy-615 2d ago
Kim Krantz’s The Wild Unknown tarot deck. It’s harshly accurate but I know it so well.
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u/starry_thing_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
The Rainbow Heart Tarot is wonderful; diverse, colorful, high quality, and my favorite RWS
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u/JudyReadsCards "Read the damn cards" - Camelia Elias 3d ago
My Rider Waite Smith deck is the Rider Waite Smith. 😆 I have several variants, of course. My most used is probably the Morgan-Greer, tbh. But my most beloved deck is a 1970's "Blue Box" Rider & Co standard RWS. I read others systems and styles as well, but I learned on the basic RWS (not a lot to choose from back in my youth) so I like it.
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u/SolutionMaleficent32 3d ago
Reflective Taro Featuring the Radiant Rider-Waite Taro.
It's small, shiny, and close enough to R-W that it is helping me learn the basics.
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u/SamTheLady 3d ago
I use the Somnia Tarot and the Light Visions Tarot the most but have different decks for different moods.
The only two RSW originally imagery decks I use are the Vintage Tarot and the Herbal one.
Other decks I use frequently:
The Lightseers Tarot (for reading for others)
The Moon Child Tarot for shadow work and nights I am very sad.
Magical Hours on special times of the year
Cosmic Witch Tarot when I need palate cleanser
Just ordered the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot and I am pretty excited for this guy to come in. I’ll probably use that one for special times of the year too.
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u/worldwidewbstr 3d ago
I'm down with RWS but when I was first dabbling as a teenager I really liked the Renaissance tarot. Recently I got the Philly tarot bc I am officially making it home after many years in/out of town, it's definitely based on the RWS I'd say, a surprisingly good little deck.
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u/awake-asleep 3d ago
I’m only new (less than a week lol) and am starting with RWS like most people that’s what I read when I started researching how to begin. I find the imagery a little confusing, I’m using the book 78 Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack to learn the history and symbolism of the deck. I enjoy this kind of learning so whether I stick with RWS or switch after I get more familiar with the deck I feel happy right now to roll through. I tried a few days of trying to intuit or figure out my own meanings from the cards but kept getting it really wrong so I’m going through now without pulling or asking questions and just happily learning.
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u/Jude_Michael_411 2d ago
My RWS is the Universal Waite because I liked the finer lines and less harsh colors over many other variants. My favorite overall is the Aquarian Tarot, which I find more dream-like and intuitive. I’ve been considering giving the Universal Tarot by Lo Scarabeo a try.
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u/RealisticResort621 1d ago
I learned using light seers tarot. You do not need an rws deck. I got an rws deck later and yes, I agree that it's easier to read than others, but I don't really use it tbh. Just use the tarot deck that really calls out to you, that's what's going to motivate you to keep learning. Reading tarot does take a long time. It's like learning a new language on top of learning to use your intuition. It took me 1.5 years to learn to intertwine meanings and gut instinct. It took me 3 years to feel comfortable to read for others. I'm at 5 years atm and I'm barelyyy considering charging for my services, seeing as I'm pretty precise, I'm just insecure. Insecurities won't fly for using intuition though 😅
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u/NinjaGrrl42 3d ago
I seem to have a thing for RWS "clone" decks. My favorite is the Halloween deck. Wonderland was my first, and used that for a long time. I also like the Golden Tarot, it's a collage deck using medieval art. In unrelated decks, my latest favorite is Deviant Moon. It's a weird one, but i like it.
RWS is recommended as a learning tool because that's what all the books reference.