joy Posted October 22, 2018 Posted October 22, 2018 Based upon the original and only authorized edition of the famous 78-card Rider-Waite. What is the difference of this version to the Rider Waite? I am a bit confused as the keywords in the LWB are different to what Biddy uses, but she says Keywords are based on RW? For example Ace of Cups According to my LWB: True heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility, holy table, felicity hereof According to Biddy: Love, new relationships, compassion, creativity https://www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/minor-arcana/suit-of-cups/ace-of-cups/ Thanks for shining some light here ;D
DanielJUK Posted October 23, 2018 Posted October 23, 2018 Hi Joy, The Universal Waite is a clone version of the original RWS (which can be quite dark and dull in some versions), the images and colours are softer than the original. You can read more about it on it's AT Deck Page here. Read the reviews on the page, they tell you all about the changes, but it's pastel colours and more subtle artwork. About keywords, different authors have different keywords for the deck. It's fun to make your own or mix your fave ones up from different writers. A great beginners exercise I always suggest is to pick 2 or 3 keywords that they would associate with the card! It's from your own ideas so it might be totally different to any others but it's helpful. Biddy has her own keywords and takes that are different to other writings. Many writings use A.E Waite's keywords from his book "The Pictorial Key to the Tarot". You can read it freely online now here. You can also find PDF versions of it floating around the net and also book versions on amazon. It was originally published in 1911! If you click a card, you will find a description of it and keywords for the upright and reverse. Here is his Ace of Cups.... The waters are beneath, and thereon are water-lilies; the hand issues from the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are pouring; a dove, bearing in its bill a cross-marked Host, descends to place the Wafer in the Cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides. It is an intimation of that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana. Divinatory Meanings: House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility; Holy Table, felicity hereof. Reversed: House of the false heart, mutation, instability, revolution. Some people say this is the best take on each card but I don't always agree with his writings and keywords. It's useful to read through his ideas but I don't think there is one set of keywords which are the ultimate, they are all just different opinions and ideas. A lot of takes come from his original keywords though :)
Ratty Posted October 23, 2018 Posted October 23, 2018 Based upon the original and only authorized edition of the famous 78-card Rider-Waite. Don't you just love weasel words like these? It's actually saying it isn't the original, it's only "based on" the original, but it somehow makes it sound like it's authentic. And authorized by whom? Given that Waite (the designer) and Smith (the artist) were long gone when this deck came out in the 1990s, whose authority is it claiming? Not the publisher Rider, as it's a competitor. We are back to another "based on". It probably might be "up to" 100% based on. What is the difference of this version to the Rider Waite? It has brighter colours and thinner lines. As Daniel said. The backs are different. The cardstock might be too. And on amazon.co.uk it's a few quid more expensive (although they are comparable on amazon.com). I am a bit confused as the keywords in the LWB are different to what Biddy uses, but she says Keywords are based on RW? What did you just say? "Based on"? The LWB for my "Original Rider Waite", published by Rider Books, gives the following keywords for Ace of Cups. House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility, holy table, happiness. Also inflexible will, unalterable law. That's close to, but not quite the same as, Daniel gave from The Pictorial Key. I wonder where those two "also" meanings came from. You'll have to norm the meanings of your own deck for yourself, just like Brigit of Biddy did. There are no definitive answers, because your conversation with your deck is personal. Of course, they could be always be based on someone else's.
joy Posted October 23, 2018 Author Posted October 23, 2018 Thank you very much DanielJUK[/member] and Ratty[/member] . Will definitely read keywords from different authors and define my own keywords. Thanks a mill for clarifying X/
DanielJUK Posted October 23, 2018 Posted October 23, 2018 I think like Ratty wrote that a lot of the official deck LWB's (little white books) take the Waite keywords and make them slightly modernised. He uses some very old English words in places :) But yes part of the the tarot fun is finding your own which match your own view of the cards! As you get more and more experienced in tarot, you will disagree more and more and that's cool! It's all just opinions and you have to find and form your own 8) <3
joy Posted October 23, 2018 Author Posted October 23, 2018 I think like Ratty wrote that a lot of the official deck LWB's (little white books) take the Waite keywords and make them slightly modernised. He uses some very old English words in places :) That makes sense :-) But yes part of the the tarot fun is finding your own which match your own view of the cards! As you get more and more experienced in tarot, you will disagree more and more and that's cool! It's all just opinions and you have to find and form your own 8) <3 That sounds like a lot of fun :-)
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