Radiant Rider-Waite® Tarot

I really love this tarot deck! The colors are vibrant and beautiful, the artwork feels full of energy, and the tin box makes it easy to carry and keep safe. Overall, I’m very happy with this purchase!

Very bright. And traditional deck. Brilliant colors and illustrations. Love this deck.

I am very much a traditionalist when it come to Tarot Cards and I am from the Rider-Waite-Smith camp. If the famous RWS was birthed at a later time, they would be able to have much more available to use when it came to coloration and it's printing of such. The Radiant is exactly that! The hues of the colors are so much more richer and vibrant than that of the RWS. Those great changes, they could only have been held in their dreams at the times in which the RWS was made. The depth and brilliance of the Radiant Rider-Waite Tarot makes connecting to your intuition and to the cards themselves nearly come alive. It's richness just pops at you. To me it is like hearing a melody played by three or four instruments. Okay, so sounds good and played by accomplished, talented artist making the music. Contrast that by the exact same notes of the melody now played likewise by accomplished artist in their field, but no longer played by just three or four musicians playing it, but an entire orchestra is playing these exact same notes. In a great sense, it is the exact same, the artist is the same, the work of Waite, is the exact same and publishing was the same. The difference lies in what was available within in the medium of art and printing of it at the time. The intensity isn't within the RWS because it was non-existent at the time to be printed. The quality of a three or four musicians cannot ever be compare to an orchestra. Therein is the greater richness. ( Please note at all times rather I have wrote Rider-Waite or RW or RWS, do fully know I am writing of one and the same deck. Pamela Coleman Smith is the Artist of the RW deck, yet her name was never in the marketing of the deck, giving to her due credit. Without this lady's input, it is anybodies guess of what the RW deck would have been. Would we even be discussing a RW deck? It could very well, even with Waiter's input, if the art doesn't work, it could have been a dud. The world would certainly have been different without the influence of this deck. So we have this deck and it's clones due to her artistry and the strokes of her brushes. To her, I give her honor in calling it after publisher, author and artist... Rider-Waite-Smith. )

This deck is small in size, but that’s a big part of the charm. The metal case fits in the palm of my hand and takes up almost no space, which makes it easy to travel with in comparison to other decks. The cards are big enough to shuffle and still readable. And though I typically do readings with a Connolly deck, you can’t really go wrong with RWS, especially if you’re a beginner.

Great little travel deck also good for people that read tarot that have smaller hands and don’t like large ducks to shuffle. Really like the metal case keeps the cards well protected. These would be a great stocking stuffer for someone that likes tarot. The one thing I will mention is that the cards are not as thick as some, but they are still substantial enough and a great value

*This review treats only the Radiant deck with some comparison to the US Games Universal Waite. It's quite long enough without adding in other versions of the RWS deck!* As many folks have pointed out, these cards are brilliantly, beautifully colored--they are jewel-like and lovely from that standpoint. But when I first bought mine and laid them out, I also noticed two other things: (1) Yep, they were stinky! As others have noted, a little airing-out quickly solves this problem. (2) They just seemed *different* somehow. The first and most obvious difference is that the original hand-lettering of the card titles is gone, replaced by a clean type font on wider white borders, which lends the cards a more modern feel. The second difference, which took me a few moments to realize, is that these drawings are *not* those of the "original"-style Rider-Waite decks. Pamela Colman Smith ("Pixie") drew specific facial expressions and informed many of the characters' poses and attitudes with subtle line choices. This deck has been redrawn and simplified -- to my eye, it has an almost cartoonish look. (One could perhaps more charitably equate these as similar to a stained-glass rendering; outlines and figures are simplified, and many subtle line nuances are gone, in favor of the boldness of the coloring.) In quiet acknowledgment of the alterations, US Games has removed Pixie's signature from each card and has noted that the deck is "based on drawings by Pamela Colman Smith." I point this out only because I think it's important to note that the coloring is *not* the only alteration made to these cards. If you have an earlier edition of this deck, you will notice the differences -- you may love them or hate them depending on your attachment to Pixie's original work. If this is your first Rider-Waite-Smith deck, you will be working with a different artistic style than the originals, although as others have pointed out the symbolism remains pretty much intact and, if you like the art style, the deck will be perfectly suitable. If you're not sure which version of the deck you'd like to purchase, I'd suggest looking at examples side-by-side online, or if possible, at your friendly local tarot shop. The differences in the drawings are noticeable throughout the deck, but specific cards for useful comparison are The Empress, The Emperor, The Lovers, and Justice. Take a look and see which style you prefer before you buy. A final note on color: There are of course many versions of the RWS deck, and about 20 years ago US Games came out with the "Universal Waite" colored by Mary Hanson-Roberts. Early printings of this version are quite softly shaded, almost pastel, and some tarot enthusiasts find them too "wishy washy." I recently bought a more recent printing because I am away from home, and found that this new printing has much brighter, more emphatic colors -- I consider them closer to those in the Radiant deck than to those in the earlier pastel Universal deck. If you like the drawing style of the "original Rider-Waite" deck but prefer brighter colors, the Universal might be your thing. Its colors are *not* quite as rich as the Radiant deck (the Radiant's yellows have a lovely infusion of deep orange, and its reds and blues are much deeper), but it *is* much richer than the old Universal printings. I hope this makes sense. Again, in-person comparison is probably your best bet. I enjoy my Radiant deck -- the colors merit the name and beautifully so. But I love my Universal decks -- Pixie's drawings are faithfully represented and Hanson-Roberts' recoloring draws the eye into them, highlighting symbolism and providing an aesthetic touchstone that earlier editions could be argued to have lacked. I hope this helps you as you decide which version to adopt as your own.

Arrived on time and in perfect conditions. Size is perfect and the tin will allow me to take it for camping or any travel I should go on. I own a pocket version of the Universal Waite Tarot also produced by U.S. Games Systems Inc. The Radiant Rider-Waite cards are some millimeters longer. The cards are thick enough quality wise, I can shuffle these easily. I do notice what some said about the line work, the faces of the characters represented in the cards, and the coloring of these cards. There are also some minimal details that change from the original Rider Waite-Smith. But in general I don't find it wrong I think they are just trying to preserve the original art and the retouches were necessary for a better printed version of this tarot deck. However, I'm not a professional in tarot reading. So, maybe I'm not who to said what is right and what is wrong. I compared some cards with my pocket edition of the Universal Waite Tarot. I'm more that anything pleased with this deck. The only thing I would change is the size of the borders between the images and the border of the cards(white space). I would like also that the whole deck came numbered in roman numerals and not just the major arcana. But these are personal preferences and don't interfere in my liking of this little and cute tarot deck. It's an update of my review. I recently bought the edition of the Radiant Rider-Waite Tarot THAT COMES IN A NORMAL CARTON BOX. This edition came with normal size tarot cards 3"w x 5"l. These are made in Italy contrary to the ones in the tin that are made in China. The cardboard is of excellent quality and flexible enough to shuffle them without any trouble.

I usually don't write reviews because it's a free advertisement for which I don't get paid, but in this case I made an exception. I have three sets of Rider-Waite cards which just didn't cut it, two were printed in China and in one the colors were off, and the other one had a textured surface, and both didn't feel right. The third one was too small to see everything. So here we are with, The Radiant Rider-Wait Cards which I love. People look like people, it's bright and cheery, and you can see all the details, so if that sounds good to you, you might give them a try; they are working for me.