How Original is Original (RWS)?

[truelighth]

Say, I can also imagine different versions of cards being done - Waite (like many who commission art) being a pain in the @$$ and saying "I don't think I want it like that after all, why don't you change it up a bit..."

I can so see that happening. If I understood it, Waite was kinda difficult and wanted the majors to be done the way he wanted. So there would have been plenty of him being a pain in the @$$. According to common belief he did give free reign to Pixie for the minors though. So I see the minors as her creation and not Waites. Just my personal opinion.

And I hope a new search would bring some more light to the subject. I know Kaplan has been searching for Pixie's grave before and couldn't find it. His plan was to give her a proper grave stone. She was very poor when she died if I got it right.

 

[stella01904]

According to common belief he did give free reign to Pixie for the minors though. So I see the minors as her creation and not Waites. Just my personal opinion.

MM ~ Well, the Majors are not what makes this deck the most influencial of all time, bar none. They're just a pretty set of Majors with some variation from the older ones. So, if this "common belief" is indeed true (and I feel it easily could be, just read "The Key To The Tarot" and tell me if this man is purely the one who thought of them) then maybe it should be called "The Pixie Smith Deck".

I know Kaplan has been searching for Pixie's grave before and couldn't find it. His plan was to give her a proper grave stone. She was very poor when she died if I got it right.

If it is ever found, there are legions of us all over the world who would happily pitch in. And if it is not, then a memorial statue of some kind would also be appropriate. On a lighter note, I'm going to have to revive my saved Tarot search on ebay! Even if it means slogging through listings for thousands of not-so-great decks. BB, Stella

 

[stella01904]

The colors of the normal RWS (with the magician on the box) are actually very close to the ones of the Pamela-A from 1909. I don't know where those came from when US games used them, but they are pretty accurate. The colors on the 1909 deck are slightly softer and subdued, but that may be from the age and the printing process. It actually looks much more like the modern RWS then the 'original' RWS in the blue box.

MM ~ It is entirely possible that the greenish skies in the 1931 deck were used because it was published during a depression sandwiched between two world wars. Face it, the ecomomy was doing funny things all over and it's possible that it was just cheaper to skimp on the blue skies. I still like the green hues, though. BB, Stella

 

[TemperanceAngel]

I much prefer the blue to that green (blah!)....didn't the paintings skies have more than one color going on, as in a sunset effect? Not all, but some of them?

 

[wandking]

stella

hmmm... a pixie statue, what a nice idea... New Orleans might be a good site... Not because PCS spent time there, I don't think she did, but because last year the city evicted Tarot readers from the art district, a place they had read for a very long time. One of the readers, however, played the Justice card on the city. I'm sure she knew the card well having graduated from Harvard Law School. The city then tried banning the readers in some political end around move but the lawyer-reader countered that move too, so I heard.

 

[stella01904]

MM ~ I was thinking of the UK, but now that you've said this I think New Orleans would be excellent! Why, take away Marie Laveaux, card readers, and gris-gris and all you have there is Disneyland For Alcoholics (with fantastic food, music, spanish moss and wrought iron, admittedly. But think how FLAT and DULL they would be without the magic.) How do we get this thing going? BB, Stella PS Another thought would be a Pixie Smith Foundation for the Arts...

 

[wandking]

Stella

Indeed, without the magic New Orleans is just another big port-city that's dirtier and more corrupt than many others. I couldn't believe they'd even consider chasing away Tarot. I wonder how far this US social pendullem will swing in the direction of this current fundamentalist (evangelical) Christian movement. Instead of banishing Tarot they might consider embracing the balance the ancient art embodies.

 

[stella01904]

MM ~ There's always been card reading done by the Creoles, and while it has been illegal, it has been overlooked, for the most part. They seem to have a problem with "white folks" reading cards. You can do anything you want but it has to be done a certain way, in a certain part of town - ack, the South drives me nuts. Too bad the Long brothers have passed beyond the veil, while they were corrupt, at least they were down-to-earth Populists and I don't think this evangelical stuff would have sat well with them! BB, Stella

 

[wandking]

Stella

What I find freaky in AL, is that the few times I've done readings in bars, people who don't appear religious since they're drunk and apparently willing to go to bed with anyone in the bar that will have them, suddenly get religion when they see me using the cards. I guess they just don't understand Tarot. It was different in MA, where I learned to read.

 

[stella01904]

MM ~ ROFL - They're scared of anything they don't understand. Were you listening to the jukebox while you were there? Everything has to be a certain formula, very simple... BB, Stella