Original RWS vs Radiant

Zephyros

I think there is room for both schools of thought. Everyone appreciates the RWS according to their own fashion. Those for whom the coloring and general aesthetic appeal is important see that while for others the little details matter. Neither this nor that is less or more valid.

But we're talking general comparisons here, so I think all opinions and angles of appreciation are valid. Lets play nice. :)
 

Richard

Maybe the purpose of this forum is in need of a correction. At present it officially is "Study of the symbolism and detail of the original Rider-Waite Tarot." http://tarotforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=58
Anyhow, I was just responding to Yellel's post regarding clarity of details.
 

decan

Sorry for mentioning "little details" in the original Rider-Waite. The important thing is the Universal and the Radiant. Waite is a bore, and the Golden Dawn as he knew it has been dead for well over a hundred years. Purists are insignificant insects.
Hello,
:) I am not an unswerving defender of the Universal Waite and a critic of the Centennial Waite. Of course no!

I hope Waite wasn't a bore but a pleasant. All details are important according to me!
 

Richard

Hello,
:) I am not an unswerving defender of the Universal Waite and a critic of the Centennial Waite. Of course no!

I hope Waite wasn't a bore but a pleasant. All details are important according to me!

He is generally regarded as pompous or pretentious, but I think that can be explained by his being a bit defensive about his educational background. His mind was certainly unusual. He had a photographic memory, and at times he seems to lose sight of what's important and what isn't.

Regarding details in the deck. I think the reason we are supposed to discuss the "original" Rider-Waite is probably because of those little details that may be left out of some of the copies of the deck by other artists. I don't know much about the Radiant because I don't own it, but I do have the Universal. I think maybe Mary Hanson-Roberts should have shown a little more respect for the deck she so painstakingly copied. If she had read a little about the deck, she would have known about the Tetragrammaton in Temperance. It is not really a minor detail, being the personal name of God. As you probably know, the word was regarded as so holy that people avoided using it for fear of taking the name of God in vain. Hence the pronunciation was totally forgotten, and the best we can do is guess what it might have been. At least we know the basic spelling.

By the way, I'm not a purist, and I don't belong to any so-called Golden Dawn organization. Purists give me a headache. They used to control the Tarot de Marseille forum, and they were like totally closed-minded religious fanatics. Scary they were!
 

rwcarter

I knew there are these letters on the chest of the Temperance card, but concerning the letter on the wand of the Magician I didn't know.
These are little details, maybe significant, but perhaps more for purists or for people in the Golden Dawn.
In any case I think that it could be better to buy the large centennial Waite deck to see clearly all these details on each card.
The advantage concerning the Universal deck is the clarity of the pattern, even though some details aren't there.
Interesting thread!

Edit: I checked the sizes concerning this deck (the centennial version) and it isn't larger than the modern Waite deck, but there is a version in a tin which seems smaller.
A version a bit larger than the modern Waite would be nice, to see all the details.
There is a Giant Rider Waite deck put out by USG.
 

Yelell

Yes, I do agree that the radiant and universal are not completely faithful to the original, especially if you're studying every detail. I also remember the first time I looked the universal, and saw the crown on the temperance card that I had never noticed before. Obviously the only way to make sure you don't miss anything is to have one copy of everything! :D


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Maybe the purpose of this forum is in need of a correction. At present it officially is "Study of the symbolism and detail of the original Rider-Waite Tarot." http://tarotforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=58
Anyhow, I was just responding to Yellel's post regarding clarity of details.

I notice it also doesn't say "Kabbalah & Alphabets" on this forum but that doesn't stop anybody. Just saying ...
 

Emily

The colours of the modern Rider Waite have always bothered me, especially the yellow but I didn't realise until I saw that video that the colours had changed so much over the years.

The so called Original was just too dark in colouring for me, and I didn't like the limited colours used, and some of the black outlining just about obliterates the artwork on some of the cards. I have modern variants of the RWS - the Radiant, the Universal, the standard, the Original and none of them really did it for me.

My favourite now is the Centennial, it just about ticks all the boxes - the cardstock, the backs, the font used and most importantly the colouring. If I'd have had this deck first then I would never have bought the other RWS's and I would have stopped looking and the mini version is just about perfect too. I will say though that if you can put up with multi-languages then LoScarabeo also put out a nice version of the PCS with colouring that is just slightly different to the Centennial. :)
 

Zephyros

I myself have a strong confirmation bias in favor of the good old USG RWS. I think that beyond things like color, accuracy and general quality, which are debatable, the deck has become so ubiquitous as to have earned the standing of a classic all on its own. I don't have the Centennial because the RWS isn't my first passion like the Thoth is, but if I see it in a shop I'll probably buy it.

Still, I can't argue with the idea that the Centennial is, indeed, the best possible edition if one is looking for accuracy.
 

Emily

I myself have a strong confirmation bias in favor of the good old USG RWS. I think that beyond things like color, accuracy and general quality, which are debatable, the deck has become so ubiquitous as to have earned the standing of a classic all on its own. I don't have the Centennial because the RWS isn't my first passion like the Thoth is, but if I see it in a shop I'll probably buy it.

Still, I can't argue with the idea that the Centennial is, indeed, the best possible edition if one is looking for accuracy.

Over the years I debated over whether to try and buy a vintage RWS but was always put off because I wasn't sure what kind of colouring I would end up with.

Also things I read tend to stay with me, on the video link the lady shows the Death cards from the various RW decks she has. On nearly all of the decks the spur on Death seems to point to a dark cave on the shore, but with the Universal and the Radiant it doesn't look like a cave. Now it might just be a bush but I see it as a cave and when it is missing from a card, I notice. I'm not a purist but the re-coloured versions just seemed to pretty the RWS up and that wasn't what I wanted either.