Due to its nature, tarot is ripe for assorted interpretations. Decks can differ in art, theme, and/or purpose, but it is still tarot. However, no matter how far afield a deck my drift, its core, the heart of tarot resides with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. So let me say, when I saw that Weiser was going to “reimagine” or “reinvent” the most influential tarot deck ever created, I couldn’t help but feel it could be a lazy cash grab by essentially creating their “own” Rider-Waite-Smith tarot to sell or just kind of bad.
That was before I learned about the care that was taken in developing “The Weiser Tarot”. Early on they consulted respected tarot figures such as Mary K. Greer, Rachel Pollack, and Theresa Reed. Weiser started with bare bones of the deck by stripping the art down to just Pamela Coleman Smith’s original line art. From there “one can see flashes of nonbinary individuals or gender ambiguity.” With the exposure of more gender diversity, they then took on the task of correcting the fact that the original deck’s images were exclusively Caucasian. And while they were under hood tinkering with the deck, they added “Hebrew and astrological correspondences to the Major Arcana for those who have interest in Qabalah or astrology.”
It’s feels weird to say, but Weiser has created the new traditional tarot deck. Since I started writing about magical and occult topics, when people would ask me a good tarot deck to start with, I would always suggest looking at where tarot began, the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. However, why would I do that now? “The Weiser Tarot” keeps the core of the tarot while making it better represent the diversity of tarot enthusiast today. Every person who loves tarot should have this deck in their collection.
You can learn more here.
Get your own copy here. (This is an affiliate link to my Bookshop, which supports independent bookstores throughout the United States. If you use this link to purchase the book, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.)
Do you enjoy The Magical Buffet? Considering supporting The Magical Buffet on Patreon! For only $5 a month you’ll receive monthly tarot/oracle forecasts, classes, and behind the scenes updates! Https://www.patreon.com/magicalbuffet