The Tarot Deck That Changed Everything: How Arthur Edward Waite Drew the History — Using Someone Else’s Hands - blog post #2831

If the Tarot card community ever held an Oscars-style ceremony, the award for «Best Artistic Remake with Occult Intentions» would go straight to the Waite-Smith Tarot — better known under its catchier, more marketing-friendly name: theRider-WaiteTarot deck.
Why not just «Waite-Smith»? Because in the early 20th century, putting a female artist’s name on the box was considered as appropriate as adding sugar to soup. But the name of the publisher, Mr. Rider? Now that sounded trustworthy — even though all he did was hit the «Print» button. Still, marketing is a psychic medium readings by phone kind of magic, and the deck turned out to be a masterpiece.

A Bit of History (No Crystal Ball Required)

The year is 1910. Arthur Edward Waite — gentleman, mystic, member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and an esoteric enthusiast with a flair for the dramatic — has a revelation: «Let’s make Tarot reading user-friendly!»
He invites Pamela Colman Smith, a charismatic artist with American roots and a British love of theatrical flair, to take over the hard part — that is, draw all the cards.

Pamela, armed with inspiration, intuition, and allegedly a well-loved copy of the Sola-Busca Tarot, created something the world had never seen before. All 78 tarot cards — illustrated! Not just your usual lineup of High Priestesses and Hierophants, but even the humble Twos, Sixes, and Tens. Each card now portrayed a lively little scene — a visual story. The lover card? Now with actual lovers! The Nine of Swords? A woman in bed having an existential crisis (spoiler: not the best time for a head massage).

Local Psychic Readings: Wisdom Without the Pyramids

Waite, it turns out, wasn’t a huge fan of dragging in ancient Egyptian gods to explain the mystical. While other esoteric circles were obsessed with Ra, Isis, and Lemurian memory banks, he was more of a “let’s focus on what’s on the actual card” guy.
Forget pyramids — Waite was a rationalist among magicians. He believed sacred meaning could be found in imagery itself, not in a free angel cards love reading or hieroglyphic scavenger hunt.

And don’t even get him started on Kabbalah. While his Golden Dawn buddies were busy gluing Sephirot trees onto every spread, Waite politely nodded and returned to his English mystical literature. His style was about nuance, not explosions of cosmic symbolism.

The Numbers Game

Waite had a soft spot for the numbered cards — the so-called minor arcana. He believed their structure held the real soul of the system. Maybe he was into the sacred geometry of it all. Maybe he just liked a well-organized spreadsheet of spiritual meaning. Either way, his approach to the Tarot deck was unique — quiet but revolutionary.

Tarot Reading: Not Quite the Golden Dawn

Even though he belonged to the Golden Dawn, Waite’s Tarot wasn’t their official product. In fact, it was like he quietly left the group chat, took the best memes, and mashed them up with French card interpretations and his favorite mystical books.
The result? A free spiritual reading online kind of clarity — an eclectic but accessible system that doesn’t require you to buy a magic amulet or get initiated into a hidden temple.

This deck went public fast. Unlike some systems where you need a monk to help interpret the images, or the Thoth Tarot where you might need a Jungian analyst and a degree in synthetic geometry, Waite’s version was simple: see it, read it, understand it, put it back.

Everyone Was Inspired

The Waite-Smith format became the skeleton for an entire empire of Tarot reading spin-offs. From Morgan-Greer to New Vision Tarot, from Sharman-Caselli to the Universal Key — they all use Waite’s blueprint, just changing the costumes, settings, and art style.
It’s basically the Windows OS of the Tarot deck world: everyone knows the interface, and the code has been copied a thousand times.

Tarot Deck: And What About Crowley?

Yes, Aleister Crowley made a deck too. Or rather, he breathed ominously over artist Frieda Harris’s shoulder while she painted it. The Thoth Tarot? Dense. Mysterious. Like The Lord of the Rings without the elves.
If you mastered Thoth, congratulations — you survived the occult Hunger Games. But most people start with Waite’s Tarot, because it doesn’t require an understanding of hermetic alchemy or astral architecture. You don’t need to Google “future readings near me” just to make it through a spread.

Conclusion? A Legend with Training Wheels

In the end, the Waite-Smith Tarot deck isn’t just popular. It’s a cultural icon. The so-called “little Bible” of the mystical world. A psychic reading online free that reads you back. Every card is like an episode in a divinatory Netflix series — and you don’t even need subtitles to follow along.

Best of all, this deck doesn’t scare beginners. It practically whispers, “Relax, friend. I’ll show you what to do. Just trust the High Priestess. And maybe avoid the Five of Pentacles for now.”