Why do some people not like the Original Rider Waite deck?

I quite like the muted colours as they make a change from the standard US Games editions I have and are still perfectly clear. The quality of the cards in the deck I have is excellent and they feel nice to shuffle. I'm wondering what it is that some people really dislike about this edition.

The replacement of the tartan backs with the Tudor rose is worth the price of the deck itself

The muted colours are less conducive to colour symbolism and meditation than other decks, especially since Original is tinted one of the darkest of all the Waites. To me it's a more technical presentation of the Waite than a mystical one.

What this deck seemed to be aiming for is a showcase of colour printing techniques of the day, machine reproduction, where the others are aiming for more mystical affinities on the reader's part. Universal, Radiant, Albano, and even Rider itself, want to emphasize or reconstruct the colours as they are symbolically conducive to the eye and reflexive to the brain. There is less "magic" that can be uncovered in Original's colours because of the mechanical techniques used.

Original is also a version of a facsimile, so it's twice removed from the original plates rather than once. It is a historically accurate reproduction of a Tarot deck, just not the created one. But I agree with you that the historically accurate backs are part of its charm.

I used to have one. I liked it except for the plastic-coated cardstock (and the copyright on the fronts, which isn't only on the Original of course). The colors were nice (I don't care about the color mysticism) and I liked the backs very much. The plastic feel was just icky though. Now I have a nice vintage one with lovely cardstock and no copyright. I sometimes think I'm the only person here who likes those tartan backs.

I just thought - as with anything - it's a trend thing. I see all the old threads from when it was first released complaining about its colouring.

I just always thought of it as a symptomatic extension of the fact that "you really can't please tarot folk". I genuinely believe that. I always thought it was just general dissatisfaction with any edition of the RWS. You see it now (in fact, I do it myself) with the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative set. I mean, you just have to complain about something.

But in all honesty, the Original (for as long as U.S Games won't give us a genuinely original RWS) is probably my favourite. I love the colouring, I love the measliness, LOVE the backs, love the Belgian cardstock (I have 3 X copies of the original 1993 issue). I love everything about it. The only thing I don't like is the blotched King of Pentacles and the U.S Games copyright symbol.

But, really, I like it.

Of course the perfect RWS issue would be the colours and unlaminatedness of the plaid-backed Blue Box Rider & Co with these"Original" backs...

I should disqualify myself from posting on this topic, but I can't resist. I am in general agreement with Le Fanu on this matter. However, I must admit that my USG Italian printing is inexcusably sloppy. My favorite is the new Smith-Waite Centennial (PCS Commemorative), in spite of (or because of ?) its muted Pam A colors. I also have a Belgian mini, with very bright colors, which also is exquisite.

It is fashionable nowadays to "dislike" the Rider-Waite. It makes one appear very sophisticated and progressive. Why bother with something like the Rider-Waite, which has so much appeal to the unwashed masses?

"...the unwashed masses..." hee hee...

I think I'm going to start following LRichard around the forums. He's so entertaining.

I've been studying the Tarot for fifteen years, and it's only NOW that I'm starting to like the RW deck. Personally I like the muted tones.

But my fave is the Giant Rider Waite, borders trimmed.

Bigger is better.

LRichard said:

It is fashionable nowadays to "dislike" the Rider-Waite. It makes one appear very sophisticated and progressive. Why bother with something like the Rider-Waite, which has so much appeal to the unwashed masses?

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With a phenomenon as multiudinous as Tarot you're always going to run into elitists of every school, every deck, every reading method, whatever. I've never felt a superiority complex is worth ruining Tarot for other people.

The other thread commented that SWC was intended as a tribute to Pamela and not aiming to be a historically accurate reproduction. Reading that, I fully appreciate the Original even more. So far, Original is the only RWS variant that has both an accurate front and an accurate back. A facsimile to be sure, but an accurate one that had been printed back then, not a new creation for the modern market. That's why I got it and prefer it to all others until we get a Pam-A with one of the original backs. If we were living in 1911, you could potentially pick up something very close to this deck. You can't get that with Rider-Waite, or Smith-Waite, both of which had commercial adjustments to their backs.

People who are looking to glean colour correspondences and other Golden Dawn mystical patterns from a Waite deck won't like the Original. But it's not meant to give you that; it's not intending to show anything magic off. All it gives is the images as certain machines would have cranked them out. It feels the least esoteric and the most "contemporary" of all of them, and that's what it wants to be: a piece of printing history.

Gawd I hate the tartan back now...

LRichard said:

It is fashionable nowadays to "dislike" the Rider-Waite. It makes one appear very sophisticated and progressive. Why bother with something like the Rider-Waite, which has so much appeal to the unwashed masses?

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That's so true...

And SWC...

I'm sure if I wasn't so tired I could work out what that meant...

Aeric said:

......People who are looking to glean colour correspondences and other Golden Dawn mystical patterns from a Waite deck won't like the Original. But it's not meant to give you that; it's not intending to show anything magic off. All it gives is the images as certain machines would have cranked them out. It feels the least esoteric and the most "contemporary" of all of them, and that's what it wants to be: a piece of printing history.

Gawd I hate the tartan back now...

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None of the Waite decks deliberately exhibit the GD color scales, but for Waite to do so would probably have been a violation of the initiatory oath. The Albano-Waite is an attempt to align the PCS line drawings with the color scales, but the only completely consistent deck in that respect is the B.O.T.A. Unfortunately, the B.O.T.A. is uncolored, so the user is expected to color it in accordance with written instructions.

Lokasenna said:

"...the unwashed masses..." hee hee...

I think I'm going to start following LRichard around the forums. He's so entertaining.

I've been studying the Tarot for fifteen years, and it's only NOW that I'm starting to like the RW deck. Personally I like the muted tones.

But my fave is the Giant Rider Waite, borders trimmed.

Bigger is better.

Click to expand...

It's not so bad to be stalked by someone as delightful as you, Lokasenna.

The Giant Rider Waite is pure fun. In the spirit of "bigger is better" I left the borders on so it would appear even bigger.