What do you love most about RWS?

when i was a teenager i tried to learn tarot, and was looking at the RWS deck and felt SO bored- totally not connected to it. Now, i absolutely love it. the symbolism, the facial expressions, body language. it just clicks for me, and i find it visually pleasing.

Yelell said:

How about this? It is so widely available, had so many versions and printings over such a long period of time, that it will never be unavailable or rare in my lifetime. No need to worry like some decks that if you lose or wreck your copy you may never get your hands on another.

Click to expand...

This is the reason why I like it so much as well.
It is a tarot deck I do not fear losing as I can always easily replace it.
It is also good for beginners since the deck is used in most beginner tarot books.

I like the fact that it is effectively unfathomable. I have been studying it for 45+ years, and still there seem to be mysteries yet to be resolved.

[Added: It was love at first sight!]

What first attracted me to the RWS (University Books edition) in 1967-68 was that anyone could make up stories about what was going on in each card. Those stories almost always related in some way both to the standard meanings (in PKT and Eden Gray) and to something in the person's life through projection. I immediately knew these cards would be part of my life's work so I started learning everything I could about Tarot but always with the RWS deck as the centerpiece.

This deck led me to study astrology, Kabbalah, Hermeticism, myth and symbols, Jungian psychology, magic(k), the Golden Dawn and especially its women, history, art, and more. I love the RWS because it works so well with both modern psychology (soul-work) and with esoteric correspondences - so that there is a never-ending depth to the work, yet the core ideas can be accessed without any specialized knowledge.

Despite owning close to 2,000 decks and regularly working with several other decks including the Marseille, Thoth and Blake, this is still my #1 deck to use both for myself and with clients.

Added: I also love the art. So much art, especially illustrative art, becomes less interesting after a time, but this doesn't - to me. And I continue to learn more about it the more I study this deck (even after 48 years doing so).

My first deck was the Mythic Tarot that I bought about 20 years ago. I never used it and never learned Tarot. At the time I had too much going on. Then a couple of years ago, I wanted to give it a go again. Because there is so much to learn, I didn't want to have to learn Greek mythology as well so bought the Universal Waite.

I absolutely love my Universal Waite deck. I bought the pocket size too. I like the softening of the original. I love that A. E. Waite added scenes to the Marseille pip cards. The nostalgia of the deck, and Tarot in general, is so appealing.

I have many decks, yet I still go back to my Universal. I just find it easier to read with. The symbolism and visual cues make it easier to read with just my intuition and not turning to my notes or a book. I also really like Llewellyn's Classic, a RWS clone. Like I said, I have only been reading Tarot for a couple of years, so maybe when I feel more comfortable I will feel like my other decks are just as easy to read.

I thinks it's the coloring too. It's just a happy, bright (but not too bright), welcoming deck. I do like reading with DruidCraft as well and the artwork in DruidCraft is jaw dropping. Just beautiful!

I love many of my decks. But, right now, I am in love with the art more than using the deck in a reading. I hope it does change and I believe it will.

These are my favorite RWS cards, I love these images: Empress, Death, Queen of Cups, Queen of Swords and the Nine of Pentacles. I want to just dive in and be right there next to them, except of course Death, but the artwork is cool.

Were you a Thoth or Marseille reader instead? Or, you just never bought the RWS.