Melissa Cynova My very first deck of cards was the Rider Waite deck. You know the one – bright colors and the imagery that we all know. I used it for about 10 years, and then moved on to other decks.
One of the reasons I moved away from it, was because the symbolism in some of the cards didn’t mean a damn thing to me. The four apostles in the corner of the World card? Most of the Hierophant card? I always went straight for the book. The book didn’t always help, either. I didn’t like the colors, and didn’t identify with the deck after a while. I want to say that I outgrew it, but I don’t think that’s it, either.
I learned the basics from Rider Waite, and then it bored me. There. I said it.
I’ve gone through probably a dozen decks since then, and yesterday, I bought a brand new Universal Waite deck. I looked at probably a dozen other decks, but kept getting pulled back to this one. The colors are softer, the images are familiar. While I can get excellent readings from the Amanda Palmer tarot, there are times that I want to focus on the symbols, pull solely from my intuition, and not get distracted by how pretty her eyes are.
I’ve been teaching a lot lately, including teaching my little guy at home. I always teach with a Rider Waite. Yesterday, I picked up the Universal Waite because the colors are softer, and I missed that familiarity. The reading that I gave with them was so seamless, it felt like the cards were only placeholders for my intuition. I dug it a lot.
I’m curious about other reader’s experiences with the Rider Waite or Universal Waite. What do you think?