Bernice
And that's why I apologised. However, I would still say that the Rider-Waite isn't a Tradition, but it is seemingly in the process of being thought of as such. Every deck has it's day.ihcoyc said: "That's all I am trying to say."
I've seen this same thing happen with astrological methods. You can't (and shouldn't) dispense with a system that proves workable for large numbers of people, but it should not be accorded the title 'traditional' just because it's going through a popular phase.
All versions of the tarot are simply a facet of the Tarot. Its' facets are an evolution of cultures, politics and esoteric understandings. And now we have the tarot-like oracle versions which are as you have said, along the lines of "Egyptian Cat Goddess Tarot of the Celtic Feminist Gypsies from Atlantis and its many variations." All RW clones, and some are really bad ones!
I think that fundamentally we are in agreement, aside from our differing ideas of the word 'tradition'. For some years now this word has been applied to a certain Alphabet of Plants, which I know for certain was taken from a very well written work of fiction. So I've become sensitive to it's use.
Bee