Changes from Original to Radiant RW

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 May 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

_N_	15 May 2004
Just wondering if anyone else has noticed the subtle little changes that occur in the Radiant version of the RW deck. I think that they were not intentional, just screw ups on the part of the artist. Examples: The Empress doesn't have the same number of stars in her crown or pearls in her necklace - the little sihulettes of bird(s) are missing from the sky in some cases, if I'm remembering correctly, I think the one I noticed missing is the one in the sky behind the King of Swords... but I'm guessing if I carefully go through the deck that I'll find more missing. N

lark	15 May 2004
Very interesting! I love doing stuff like this. I'm going to see how many differences I can find. I'll post any I find. _N_ you keep looking too and post yours.

_N_	16 May 2004
OK, on close scrutiny, here is what I found, some are quite significant alterations in the symbolizm that can change meanings. I still, however, get the impression that the artist just didn't know what they were looking at or doing concerning the symbols, or didn't care, or didn't pay attention or didn't understand so left things out. THE FOOL: In the original the rose has two sets of leaves arranged in threes, the new one has one leaf on one side and a leaf "blob" on the other. Original the staff is black, new it is brown. Original, no clearly defined green fields and water in the valley below as in the new one. THE EMPRESS: In the original there are 12 stars in her crown for the 12 signs of the zodiac - in the new, only 11 stars are shown. The original has 9 pearls in the necklace, the new has 8. THE HIEROPHANT: The original has the head dress spikes, from the bottom up as 5/7/3 the new one has them as 5/8/3. Original, both of the circles shown on the throne/chair have a dot in the center and there are boxes divided into four parts on the outside corners. The new one put a cresent above the circles and no dot in one, omitted the squares. THE CHARIOT: The original shows the white sphinx as holding nothing - there is some bad shading in the paw area but it holds nothing. The new one shows the white sphinx holding some sort of purple egg or stone. THE HERMIT: The original shows the light coming from the lantern in a normal way. The new one shows the light shining, impossibly, from the bottom of the lantern as well. JUSTICE: In the original the sword is blue, the veil more red, the cape yellow. The new one has the sword as white, the veil purple and the cape green. SUN: The original shows 6 flowers in the childs hair, the new one shows 7. SIX OF CUPS: The original has only one flower per cup. The new one shows the second cup from the left (at bottom) with a flower and an opening bud. KING OF SWORDS: The original has 2 birds in the sky behind the throne to the right. They are missing from the new version. KNIGHT OF SWORDS: The original shows 5 birds (one partially), the new card has only 4. NINE OF SWORDS: The original shows very distictly astrological symbols in the blue areas of the quilt. In the new one the artist seems to have not understood what they were and many of them are totally ruined by just having been interpreted as dots and squiggles with no meaning. TEN OF PENTACLES: Original, the man's cape is blue, his staff is strait and black. The new one made his cape purple and the staff is grey and bent. SIX OF PENTACLES: In the original, there are three coins in the hand with fingers folded back to hold them in, and four coins falling to the man below for a total of 7 coins. The new version shows only one coin fully in the hand, one on the finger tips and four falling for a total of 6. The hand is held fully open with no fingers folded back. Also, the original shows two red roofs in the background castle, the new one shows only one. FIVE OF PENTACLES: The original has all 5 pentacles clearly within the picture frame, plus an inverted triangle in yellow above them - the triangle being the symbol for water. There are only 3 red roses in the stained glass window. In the new version they cut off the top of the fifth pentacle, omitted the inverted triangle and put 4 red roses into the window. FOUR OF PENTACLES: In the original the cape is black and chaotic looking, in the new one the cape is lovely purple and smooth looking. OK, I'm sure there are more that I missed, but it seems that just from these few, the artist DID NOT stay true to the symbolizim and JUST change the colors to be more vibrant. N

yve	16 May 2004
It certainly would make a difference if one is learning from the Radiant Rider to have such significant symbolism missing or wrong. However, I learned on the traditional Rider Waite, so I just use the same interpretations with the Radiant as with the traditional RW. Hmm, it is interesting to see the significant details/symbols absent. I never paid that much attention to the differences in the deck before.

The Changes from Original to Radiant RW thread was originally posted on 15 May 2004 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.