Smith-Waite tarot
The Smith-Waite Tarot — originally published as the Rider Tarot by William Rider & Son of London in December 1909 — is the most influential and widely used tarot deck in history, with over 100 million copies in circulation across more than 20 countries. It was conceived by Arthur Edward Waite, a British-American mystic, scholar, and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who commissioned fellow Golden Dawn member Pamela Colman Smith ("Pixie") to illustrate the deck. Smith completed all 78 paintings in just six months between April and October 1909. The deck was originally published to little fanfare, but over the following century it became the definitive tarot paradigm. U.S. Games Systems acquired the rights and has published numerous editions, including the faithful Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot Deck (2009) — which notably places Smith's name first — featuring reproductions in the muted original colors chosen by Pixie herself, plus four bonus samples of her non-tarot artwork.
Official Website →Art Style & Visual Character
Smith's illustrations are rendered in a flat, folk-art-influenced style with bold outlines, simple but evocative compositions, and a muted palette of yellows, blues, reds, and grays. Her artistic background included Symbolist-inspired watercolors exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz's famous 291 gallery in New York, and her work was partly influenced by her synesthesia — she experienced visual sensations triggered by music, lending her art a dreamlike, intuitively resonant quality. The most revolutionary aspect of her art was that every single card, including all 56 Minor Arcana pip cards, received a fully illustrated narrative scene with human figures and symbolic details — a radical departure from earlier tarot decks which used simple geometric pip arrangements for the Minors. This innovation fundamentally changed how tarot could be read and learned.
Core Concept & Symbolism
Waite drew the deck's symbolic framework from Hermetic Qabalah, the teachings of the Golden Dawn, the writings of 19th-century occultist Eliphas Levi, and various Western esoteric traditions, while deliberately obscuring or rearranging certain elements to preserve initiatory secrets. Smith translated these abstract esoteric instructions into accessible, emotionally resonant visual narratives that anyone could interpret intuitively — the Three of Swords as a heart pierced by three blades in rain, the Ten of Cups as a family beneath a rainbow, the Tower as a lightning-struck edifice with falling figures. This marriage of esoteric depth and visual accessibility is what made the deck universally usable. The fully illustrated Minors meant readers no longer needed to memorize abstract number-suit correspondences; they could simply look at the picture and feel its meaning.
Reading Experience
The Smith-Waite is not merely the most popular tarot deck — it is the foundational reference against which virtually all modern tarot decks are measured. The term "RWS-based" or "RWS-compatible" used throughout the tarot world refers to this deck. It has inspired hundreds of derivative and reimagined decks (Morgan-Greer, Robin Wood, Hanson-Roberts, Universal Waite, and countless others). For reading, it remains unmatched in its clarity of symbolic communication: the images are simple enough for complete beginners to grasp intuitively, yet contain enough layered esoteric symbolism to reward decades of study. Historically, Pamela Colman Smith received almost no recognition or financial reward for her work — she was paid a flat fee and received no royalties, dying in poverty in 1951. In recent decades, the tarot community has championed recognition of her contribution, leading to the now-common naming convention "Rider-Waite-Smith" or "Smith-Waite" and the 2009 Centennial Edition placing her name first.
Best Used For
- Learning tarot — it is the gold standard teaching deck
- All types of readings: daily pulls, relationship, career, spiritual, shadow work
- Reference and study of Western esoteric tarot symbolism
- Professional reading for clients (universally recognized imagery)
- Comparing and understanding RWS-based derivative decks
- Any reader who wants the foundational tarot experience
Not Ideal For
- Readers specifically seeking modern, diverse, or contemporary representation
- Those who find the early 20th-century art style dated or visually unengaging
- Readers looking for a deck with a specific cultural or thematic niche
Major Arcana (22 cards)
The 22 trump cards representing life's spiritual lessons and karmic influences
Minor Arcana (56 cards)
The 56 suit cards reflecting day-to-day events and practical influences
Wands
Fire element — passion, creativity, ambition, and spiritual growth
Cups
Water element — emotions, relationships, intuition, and inner feelings
Swords
Air element — intellect, conflict, truth, and mental clarity
Pentacles
Earth element — material world, finances, health, and practical matters
