The more I see it, the less I like it.

Aeric

While I'm rather indifferent about Pixie's style of artwork, I utterly hate the tarotee back of the 1971+ RWS, a dizzying eye-watering design that shouldn't even belong on a Scot's kilt, not conducive to my concentration. Face down, the deck looks like a box of recipe cards from a country kitchen or something. Thank you Mr. Kaplan or whoever made that selection.

The Centennial version is much more relaxing visually and retains the RWS artwork better than other variants.
 

3ill.yazi

I agree about the hideous backs. If the centennial edition looked less muddy to me, I'd go with that.
 

Laura Borealis

The plaid backs have really grown on me. :D Partly from looking at the Playing Card Museum site and realizing that a lot of old decks have plaid backs (playing cards that is). To me they are simple, not distracting, vintage looking and appropriate. Though I admit, if I really stare at one, I do begin to get an op-art effect from it. But I don't normally stare at them!
 

Richard

The 'ugliness' of the RWS is to some extent due to the hash marks used for shading, which was a concession to the printing technology of the time. Clean up the shading and the quality of the PCS images becomes more evident.
 

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Richard

......I've used them myself, I have friends that have used them (going back over 30 years) I have presented and attended workshops where people bought their own decks, for many things including different deck comparisons ... and that is the first time I have heard that. They liked the pictures, the scenes or the artwork , found the books difficult and obscure, found it easy to make a story about the pictures, it helped their intuition but never because the symbols that are used on the cards are correct.
Sometimes ATers use the word 'symbol' to mean the picture on the card, probably for the same reason that the word 'crystal' simply means 'rock' in the Crystals and Herbs forum. It sounds more elegant to them, I suppose.)
 

3ill.yazi

The 'ugliness' of the RWS is to some extent due to the hash marks used for shading, which was a concession to the printing technology of the time. Clean up the shading and the quality of the PCS images becomes more evident.


I will agree with the OP in one way: the more I see the Universal Waite, the less I like it. All those wispy lines and highlights and pupils, meh. Maybe because I grew up with comic books, but I don't feel these improve the deck.
 

Richard

I will agree with the OP in one way: the more I see the Universal Waite, the less I like it.......
Pretty pictures lacking incisiveness and dramatic impact do not a good tarot make.
 

ravenest

Sometimes ATers use the word 'symbol' to mean the picture on the card, probably for the same reason that the word 'crystal' simply means 'rock' in the Crystals and Herbs forum. It sounds more elegant to them, I suppose.)

Ehh ? :confused: Do you mean not a symbol on the Emperor card (like a ram's head) but the symbol of the Emperor itself ? .... on the Emperor Card ...

Meaning that the RW deck has a picture (symbol ? ) of an Emperor on it ...instead of ...

http://theoriginalscw.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/KlausTarot.jpg
 

Richard

Ehh ? :confused: Do you mean not a symbol on the Emperor card (like a ram's head) but the symbol of the Emperor itself ? .... on the Emperor Card ...

Meaning that the RW deck has a picture (symbol ? ) of an Emperor on it ...instead of ...

http://theoriginalscw.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/KlausTarot.jpg
The correct 'symbol' for trump 4 is a picture of an Emperor, whether it's the Hello Kitty deck or the Thoth.

ETA. The rams heads are just some of that unnecessary esoteric crap that the Golden Dawn piles onto tarot to make it more complicated. ;)
 

Debra

Tarotee backs are traditional and much predate the Rider-Waite.