100 years of RWS

Not sure if this has been discussed.

Has anyone chosen to celebrate or honour the fact this deck has been around 100 years this year, by using it exclusively for the year, or in any other way? Kind of like a centenary celebration I guess.

Just wondering.

I'm not that into this deck, so I only bought the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set for fun. Still never used it, not even tried. I love Rider Waite-Smith, only for collection.

I've not bought the set. I spent years with only the Original RWS, learning the tarot so I think I've done my bit to honour them!

You could easily do so by reading

..One of the many resource books one per week or checking out websites with the RWS pictures...it pays tribute to the pictures by using those resources as well.

By accident or design, I have been using such decks more this year...closer to a few times a week. But other than contributing to threads here and hopefully sharing news with tarot fans....and looking into Waite's words now and again with others here...I think we're a bit more attentive to the deck, but not certain I'm doing anything personally out of the ordinary that other tarot fans would do, given time and other constraints...

I am certain those whose constant favs are nearest to the original line drawings have personally celebrated this deck before and after the Centennial.

But to be honest, just using tarot with designs in all the cards weekly, at least in my case, shows me that I enjoy and practice a nice tribute to tarot in general.

Thanks for letting us reflect on this.

Cerulean

Ambrosia said:

Has anyone chosen to celebrate or honour the fact this deck has been around 100 years this year, by using it exclusively for the year,

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Personally, that would drive me nuts. I would respect anyone who would make a decision like that and stick to it, but to me the RWS decks are so stiff ...

Do we know an exact date of publication, or completion or something? Perhaps we can all do a simultaneous RWS reading on that date.

Come the seventies and eighties of this century, we'd be hard-pressed choosing a deck to commemorate! <grin>

Thanks for your replies.

Just to be clear, I am not referring specifically to the centenary edition which has recently been brought out, but to any of the RWS decks (not including decks based on RWS).

So yea, classic editions, original, universal waite, illuminated, whatever "RWS" you happen to use, including the centenary edition. In short, any of the decks original or recoloured, drawn by Pamela Colman Smith.

cerulean ~ What a lovely idea to read books and work with the images in other ways. I like that.

nisaba ~ Yes I have been wondering what the exact date is, I should probably google it. It would be fun to do a kind of "global" RWS reading at a specified time.

Ambrosia said:

nisaba ~ Yes I have been wondering what the exact date is, I should probably google it. It would be fun to do a kind of "global" RWS reading at a specified time.

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As it happens, this morning I left the house solely to do a reading for a young lady not long after writing in this thread; and perhaps I was a bit influenced by it, because when I grabbed my bag (which. of course, had granny Jones already reposing in the bottom of its capacious depths), I grabbed the Diamond RWS and threw that in, on an impulse. And yes, I did the reading with it.

She loved the "drugged-out colours" <grin>.

So I have commemorated the Centenary in my own way, with my favourite variant of Pamela's handwork.

Cool Nisaba

The first deck I ever learnt to read with was a Rider Waite but I never really liked it. As soon as I could afford my own deck I got something completely different, though based loosely on RWS just because I was familiar with that style.
I had never been a huge fan of RWS decks, but a year or two ago decided to get myself a Universal Waite for reference and historical purposes. It seemed so much prettier than the one I learnt with, but still was not what I would have usually chosen to read with.
Strangely though, over the last few months, I have been really drawn to it. I don't know why, almost like a craving lol! I am liking it more and more every time I pull it out, and I honestly never thought I would. I have also been strangely drawn to non scenic pip decks and I never have been before either, weird. Perhaps it is one of those seven year cycle things where I need to expand somehow. Whatever the case, I am enjoying myself immensely! I think when I began, I probably was impatient to move on to something else I perceived as more "me" at the time, and haven't looked back since. Now I am feeling a need to go back to those roots.

I have not heard of the Diamond which is strange, is it a relatively new version? I will look it up now. I do like the look of the Radiant and the Illuminated though, but wanted something prettier (Universal) but still similar in concept to the original which I find dreary. I am glad there are re-colourings of the RWS otherwise I may not have been drawn to re-explore this deck.

Wow Nisaba, I can't believe I have never seen the Diamond before. It is well cool!
I think possibly a bit too busy to read with for my liking, and the images have been kind of shrunk into the centre but cool none the less.

Although if you already know the RWS images really well by heart, this would probably work well. Are some of the details lost in this version due to shrinkage or busyness do you think? I'd love to see it in person, and the whole deck.

I especially like the way it seems to be walled in by mirrors. Wicked cool.

I don't think they're any smaller than the Mini-RW, and the borders offer mind-altering experiences without the necessity for expensive and dangerous chemicals <grin>. It read well, today - it was a good choice for that woman.