Customer Reviews

Universal Waite Tarot Deck

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've read for nearly 30 years and I've never liked the original Rider Waite deck. To me reading them was like trying to absorb road directions from an incoherent person who was hitting you over the head with a board -- the information got lost in the unpleasantness of the experience. I did not like the way the figures were outlined in black, the colours looked too primary and unrealistic and I found the human figures devoid of personality.

I find the Universal Waite deck truly beautiful. The colours are softer and more natural; the outlines are gone or considerably toned down, giving the deck a more human feel. The characters actually have expressions. For the first time I have been able to look at the cards to notice certain details, like the fact that the chained woman in The Devil has a bunch of grapes for a tail, or that the Magician is wearing a snake for a belt. Reading with this deck is a pleasure; the cards really let you in.

I've heard a number of people complain that Hanson-Roberts changed details in the original deck and that that ruined it for them. I guess I see it more as, Hanson-Roberts' focus was different and it's a focus I prefer. I think she did a service to a deck that (in my experience) was becoming far less popular with new readers, due to the amazing number and variety of decks that are now available.

If the original Rider Waite deck works for you, you will probably have some difficulties with the Universal Waite. If it doesn't, but you would like to add a more traditional deck to your toolkit, the Universal Waite may be the deck you're looking for.

Mary Hanson-Robert's coloring of the famous Waite-Smith images provides a more soothing and eye-pleasing alternative to the often drab colors of the popular Rider-Waite version. Some may find these colors too soft, but I find this deck quite striking, and you don't have to give up the intuitive and easy to read images of the Waite-Smith system. Great for beginners -- skip the Rider-Waite and grab this deck when you want to learn Tarot.

As a tarot reader & instructor, I have used several decks, favoring the Rider-Waite deck for over 10 years. However, the more eye-pleasing coloring of the Universal Waite Tarot has brought out a lot of details that were much more difficult to see in the original deck. I use the deck now in my on-line and in-person tarot workshops and find that the improved clarity of the images translates into improved clarity of students' tarot readings. The rich symbolism of this deck makes it easy to interpret intuitively without prior study yet, still offers a wealth of deep, esoteric knowledge for advanced readers.

I have used the Rider-Waite deck for more than 20 years and am very drawn to the symbology that fill these cards.

I have the Hanson/Roberts deck and love the artwork and was excited when I first found that she had colored the Rider-Waite deck.

This is a beautiful deck... a little overcolored in some cards...drawing one's eye into areas that neither the original artist or author intended, but that's not bad either...

Only, I wish she'd paid more attention to detail..sometimes my eyes fell to the Hebrew letters above the triangle on the Temperance card and that meant something in that reading... these are now replaced with fabric folds in the new version. Sometimes in the Kt. of Swords... the eyes of the horse appearing to be looking back at the knight gave the thought that maybe this 'knight' I'm reading for is moving faster than they can see where they are going... but this newly colored knight's horse is looking very straight ahead. This is only a couple of many, many symbols that were missed or left out, whether to lack of research and study or deliberate, I couldn't use this deck for that reason, so just one for the collection.

I like this deck's colours, which are generally more attractive than those of the regular Rider-Waite deck, but the changed details are too much for me.

Examples -

The sun card : the flag is shown as having one side orange as in the original deck and one side red as the book says the whole flag should be, the sun is missing a ray, and the sun's face are painted to look softer and feminine.

The High Priestess : the garments are coloured differently (the inner white, the outer blue, and the head cover white), which is nice but the effect of the garments turning to water is lost.

The Lovers card : the leafs on the tree behind the man are mostly yellow, and dont look much like flames like they should - it's an important connection between the Devil card and the Lovers card.

And the list continues, e.g. it looks like the sun rises behind the emperor and the magician has a white hallo.

In my opinion, the details are very important and those changes modify the cards' meanings, and being used to the original details I feel uncomfortable using the deck.

The colouring's advantage is to make the cards warmer and more attractive, which are pluses for new readers who are a bit afraid of the original harsher colouring.

The Rider-Waite was my first deck, and although I have many others, I still appreciate and use it. I was glad that a recoloration of the deck had been undertaken, and I really wanted to like it. I do, but with qualifications. First of all, my feeling is that Hanson-Roberts should have had as her motto "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Some of the original cards were just fine the way they were! The Hermit comes to mind; I found the flat, mysterious blue-gray background color of the original to be just perfect. The same is true of the original Aquarian-blue background of the Queen of Swords, and the striking yellow of The Magician. The Universal Waite versions of these cards have various shadings and nimbuses of light that diminish from the overall impact. I also find that the original Aces have more power and presence than the new versions.

Perhaps the most disconcerting for me is the way that Mary Hanson-Roberts changed the details of the faces. Contrary to a previous reviewer, I think Pamela Coleman-Smith was a fine graphic artist and had the ability to communicate volumes with a simple penstroke. The new deck has hazy, washed out features (The High Priestess, in particular, reminids me of a girl I knew in high school who wore white lipstick) that seem to make the figures slightly disembodied, and not really firmly in the settings. The worst example of this is the Queen of Wands, who has quite an attractive visage in the Rider-Waite deck. This new version shows her homely and shell-shocked, with huge nostrils as the dominant feature of her face. I really do enjoy the new quality of the colors, but especially since Hanson-Roberts has her own published deck out, I wish she had contented herself with being more at the service of the original Coleman-Smith drawings, and not tinkered quite so much with them.

Choosing the proper deck is very personal and very important. I collect decks and though I don't own them all, the Universal Waite is still my favorite as far as interpretation is concerned. These cards speak to me. This is an ideal deck because of its universal symbology. The coloring done by Mary-Hanson Roberts is very complimentary. The artwork is soft; not as startling and dated as the Rider Waite deck. The cards do what they are supposed to do: offer insight, yet, allow your intuition to take hold. This is the deck for the beginner.

My first deck of tarot cards were the Universal Waite cards. I have since purchased several other decks, but the Universal Waite cards are the ones that I use the most. They are great for the beginner as they are the cards used most to illustrate books on tarot. I however like them most for their beautiful color and their detailed pictures. I find it very easy to read and understand the meanings of these cards. Some decks are so different that you need their companion book always by your side to understand the reading, but this is not so with the Universal Waite; even the novice tarot card reader can get a pretty good meaning of these cards. As I bought this deck through Amazon with no prior knowledge of tarot, I became curious about other tarot decks and I went on a search for the "perfect" tarot deck for me. I am finding however, that the more decks that I collect that I started out with the PERFECT deck! I think that you may find this to be true for you too.

You can't go wrong in buying this deck. If you're just starting to learn about Tarot, the Rider-Waite (and this Universal Waite, nearly identical except for better coloring), is classic and basic, while still containing amazing subtlety in the imagery and meanings. Not that there is anything wrong with the more unique decks, I have a few myself, and enjoy them all the more in comparing the symbols in other decks to this deck. It's the classic symbolism that holds true so long after the deck was made that makes this such an excellent deck for reading or meditation. Even though I own other decks, and am sure to collect many more, it's the Universal Waite deck I turn to when I want clear-cut readings or want a meditation key sure to work.

I'd highly recommend Rachel Pollock's `Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom' when you purchase this deck. She uses the Rider-Waite deck in her book, and since they're nearly identical, all her explanations of the symbolism carry over to this deck seamlessly. In reading with other decks, the foundation of learning Tarot with the Universal Waite or Rider Waite is valuable in learning to look for the details in other decks as well.

The backs are fully reversible, and one of the prettiest around in a simple, but elegant, stars-on-midnight-blue pattern. The cards seem to stick together slightly when they're new, but after about a month of handling them a few times a week, the shuffling is much smoother. They're also laminated lightly, so sure to stand up to years of constant use, and even resist a splash should someone clumsy spill their tea around you.

This deck is exquisite. Hanson-Roberts' recoloring preserves the integrity of Coleman-Smith's original art. By simply using a new medium in which to color the templates, much depth and detail has been added to the imagery. "The Fool" card alone evokes certain feelings and associations for me like never before with a simple glance. The original Rider-Waite is a classic, perfection all by itself...but this "re-imagining through re-coloring" is an improvement, believe it or not.