RiderWaiteSmith

Rider Waite Smith, commonly referred to as the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, is a tarot deck published in 1909. It was created by occultist Arthur Edward Waite with artwork by Pamela Colman Smith, produced under the William Rider & Son imprint in London. Waite, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, worked with Smith to develop a deck designed to be readable by beginners while offering depth for experienced readers.

The deck consists of 78 fully illustrated cards, incorporating original symbolism and scenes across both the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. This emphasis on illustrated imagery for all cards, rather than relying on symbolic motifs alone, marked a significant shift in tarot design. The Major Arcana includes 22 cards, while the Minor Arcana is divided into four suits: Cups, Pentacles (often called Coins), Wands, and Swords. Each suit contains numbered cards and four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen, and King.

The Rider-Waite-Smith deck is noted for its archetypal and narrative imagery, which aims to convey meanings through depicted scenes and characters. It was influential in popularizing full-card imagery in tarot reading and has remained highly influential in both instruction and practice. The deck has been widely reprinted and has inspired numerous later decks and guides, contributing to its enduring prominence in English-speaking tarot communities.