The more I see it, the less I like it.

Citrin

I love the RWS. :) I never thought of it as ugly. For me it feels safe, secure, like I'm at home when I see the cards... Probably because it's the first tarot deck I saw. Being little and seeing tarot on TV and such I always thought there was just one tarot deck, and that was the RWS. I was surprised seeing there were lots of other tarot styles when I got into tarot in 2003 and went online...

Somehow the RWS will probably always be THE deck for me. I always return to it every now and then.

With that said... You do not need to read with the RWS! You don't have to own it or read any books that deals with it! Just give it away lol :) Pick up whatever deck takes your breath away, that appeals to you, and then go tarot nuts! :)
 

ravenest

I love the RWS. :) I never thought of it as ugly. For me it feels safe, secure, like I'm at home when I see the cards... Probably because it's the first tarot deck I saw. Being little and seeing tarot on TV and such I always thought there was just one tarot deck, and that was the RWs

yep ... thats exactly what I meant in my above post @ #28
 

greatdane

The Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative is my favorite deck

That's my go to deck. That and the Anna. K are the tarot decks I use most often. That, to me, IS tarot. But we all have the decks that resonate with us for whatever reason. I just find this one by US Games perfection, I love the card stock, the backs, everything about this deck, including, of course, the images!
 

3ill.yazi

I could not disagree with the OP more. While the RWS has a certain crudeness in some of its images, i find it a far better deck than all the clones that had much more planning and time put into their execution.

The RWS was my first deck, and the only modern tarot deck that feels real to me. Frankly, I find the majority of modern decks run the gamut from garish to cheesy to twee, to just plain fugly. The RWS is my high school sweetheart who just gets more beautiful with age.
 

danieljuk

I really love it but I am not sure why!
I bought it as my first deck when I was 13 and always been a part of me. For some reason the images really fit me, I buy other decks but nothing really connects with me as well as those images.

We all have different tastes and I can understand some people hating it but still I think it's an important "go to" tarot deck.

I really love the art :)
 

greatdane

Other decks I go to visit....

This one is home.
 

Marie-Bernard

The RWS is my high school sweetheart who just gets more beautiful with age.

That is such a lovely way to put it. I have similar sentiments about the RWS, although in my case I started with the Universal Waite. I have some clones and, like PAMUYA (I think) said, I'm constantly comparing them in my mind to the RWS.
 

prudence

I only just got my first RWS this past Christmas. I never liked the look of this deck, but now I am much less bothered by it, and I do actually like the overall look of the art. I also finally overcame my incredibly strong aversion to the 8/11 switch. I just learned to ignore it or accept it when using a RWS clone or the original. (I have the PCS Commemorative)
 

Sulis

I love the Rider-Waite deck, I think the illustrations are charming and I love the way everything in each card is there for a reason so if you want to learn about symbolism and read the actual images, you can.
I don't like the Strength / Justice switch at all so I've changed the numbers around on the RWS deck that I use or I use the Hoi Polloi Tarot - a RWS clone that has Justice at number VIII.
 

DavidMcCann

PCS may not have been a great artist, but she was a professional. You can usually tell the work of professional illustrators, in my opinion: they take care that the different cards are clearly distinguishable and the designs are visible when laid out on the table. The artist, however good, who has no experience as an illustrator often produces pictures that are great as paintings but which fail when reduced to card size: the Heindl and Shadowscapes tarots, for example. She herself had reservations about the colours: the printing technology of 1909 was not much better than that of 1809, which is why the Wirth cards were hand coloured. That's why I prefer the recoloured Universal Waite.

As for those who can't cope with people stuck with swords, you could always get a Doreen Virtue!