The Original Rider Waite Tarot Deck

The pictures on the deck appear simple yet every feature has a figurative connotation. The 78 cards are distributed into two Arcanas – Major and Minor. The instruction booklet explains how the 56 minor cards are further divided into four suits – wands, cups, pentacles and swords. Most of the tarot decks produced today are said to be replicas of the 1909 Rider-Waite deck, because of the resemblance in their illustrations and symbolism. About A. E. Waite Arthur Edward Waite was a British writer, academician, editor, and translator.

He authored about 50 books and translated many works from French to English. His major interests were topics like The Holy Grail, Alchemy and Tarot. Arthur was born in America but moved to England in his early years after his father’s demise. He was a sincere Catholic, however, post his teenage sister’s death, he started losing faith. He slowly started getting fascinated about the occult. He began writing essays and articles that ultimately made him develop the Rider Waite Tarot Deck along with The Key to the Tarot.