[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-572275-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":81,"doc-detail-572275-en":127},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","rider-waite-tarot-deck-introduction","Rider Waite Tarot Deck - Introduction","","Rider Waite Tarot Deck introduction explains Arthur Edward Waite’s symbolic approach to the 78-card Tarot pack and frames the “true tarot” as symbolism rather than another form of communication. It surveys debated theories about Tarot’s origins, including Egyptian-related hypotheses and early European references to card games. The text then outlines how Major Arcana and Lesser Arcana are structured and how card proximity and reversals influence divinatory readings.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/","General",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/rider-waite-tarot-deck-introduction/572275/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/rider-waite-tarot-deck-introduction/572275.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Blue Pony","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-10-13",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What does Waite say is the true nature of Tarot?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Waite describes the true Tarot as symbolism, stating that it “speaks no other language and offers no other signs.”","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What influence do card relationships and reversals have on Tarot readings?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Readings consider not only each card’s individual meaning, but also how cards relate to each other and whether a card is upside down, which can weaken, delay, or reverse meaning.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How are the 78 Tarot cards organized?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The deck contains 78 cards divided into 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Lesser Arcana cards.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},572275,1792059491,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,89,94,99,104,109,114,119,124],{"id":85,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":86,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},11,"Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":90,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":91,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":95,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":100,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":105,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":110,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":115,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":120,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":125,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":126},158,"general-158",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":128},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":129,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":130,"doc_module":22,"category_id":125,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":131,"file_id":132,"file_url":133,"file_type":134,"file_size":135,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":136,"language":137,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":138,"faqs":139,"seo_title":140,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":141,"read_time":142},962090760266,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","RIDER WAITE® TAROT DECK  \nBased upon the original and only authorized edition of the famous 78-card Rider-Waite® Tarot Deck  \nOriginal drawings by Pamela Colman Smith® under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite  \nU.S. GAMES SYSTEMS, INC. Stamford, CT 06902 USA  \n[www.usgamesinc.com](www.usgamesinc.com)  \nInstructions excerpted from THE KEY TO THE TAROT by Arthur Edward Waite  \nIllustrations from the Rider Tarot Deck®, also known as the Rider-Waite Tarot and the Waite Tarot, are copyright ©1971, 1991  \nU.S. Games Systems, Inc.  \nFurther reproduction prohibited.  \nThe Rider Tarot Deck®, also known as the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck®, Waite Tarot Deck®, and Pamela Colman Smith Tarot Deck® are registered trademarks of  \nU.S. Games Systems, Inc.  \nStamford, CT 06902 USA  \nINTRODUCTION  \nby Stuart R. Kaplan  \nDr. Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) was a  \ngenuine scholar of occultism whose published works include The Holy Kabbalah and The Key to the Tarot first issued in England in 1910. Waite utilized symbolism as the key to the Tarot pack. In The Key to the Tarot he writes: “The true tarot is symbolism; it speaks no other language and offers no other signs.” What are the Tarot cards about which Waite so skillfully writes? What is the message of each card and when and where did these fascinating cardboard symbols first originate?  \nThe precise origin of Tarot cards in antiquity remains obscure. Court de Gebelin writing in Le Monde Primitif in 1781 advances the theory that Tarot cards derived from an ancient Egyptian book, The Book of Thoth. Thoth was the Egyptian Mercury, said to be one of the early Kings and the inventor of the hieroglyphic system. Gebelin asserts that it is from the Egyptians and Gypsies that Tarot cards were dispersed throughout Europe.  \nThe emergence of Tarot cards in Europe predates by over five centuries the work of Waite. A German monk, Johannes, describes a game called Ludas Cartarum played in the year 1377. Covelluzzo, a fifteenth-century chronicler, relates the introduction into Viterbo of the game of cards in the year 1379.  \nIn the year 1369 playing cards are not mentioned ina decree issued by Charles VI of France against various forms of gambling; however, 28 years later, the Prevot of Paris, in an ordinance dated January 22, 1397, forbids working people from playing tennis, ball, cards, or ninepins excepting only on holidays. It is generally accepted that playing cards emerged in Europe in the latter half of the fourteenth century, probably first in Italy as a complete 78-card deck—or some inventive genius subsequently combined the common 56 cards known as the Minor Arcana with the 22 esoteric and emblematic Tarot cards known as the Major Arcana to form the 78-card pack.  \nDuring the fifteenth century Tarot cards were generally drawn or hand painted for the princely houses of Northern Italy and France. Subsequently, the card packs became more numerous because they were reproduced by techniques using woodcuts, stencils and copper engraving. By the sixteenth century a modified Tarot pack called the Tarot of Marseilles gained popularity.  \nThere exists today, in the archives of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, 17 Major Arcana cards generally believed, probably erroneously, to have been hand painted about the year 1392 by Jacquemin Gringonneur for Charles VI of France. These cards are likely of later Venetian origin, possibly mid-fifteenth-century Tarocchi of Venice cards.  \nThe Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City  \npossesses 35 cards from a 78-card Tarot deck dating from circa 1484 and believed to be the work of either Bonifacio Bembo or Antonio Cicognara. This deck apparently belonged to Cardinal Ascanio Maria Sforza (1445-l505) or to his mother Bianca Visconti Sforza and was probably not intended for actual play but, instead, may have been merely a pictorial representation of the times.  \nOther early European cards related to the Tarot pack include:  \n• Tarocchi of Mantegna deck comprising of 50 inst","cbCairPSD2TuSoJG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairPSD2TuSoJG","pdf",679651,36,"English","# Introduction\n## Waite’s symbolic approach\n## Theories and early European origins of Tarot cards\n## Major Arcana and Lesser Arcana structure\n## Card meanings in readings","[{\"question\":\"What does Waite say is the true nature of Tarot?\",\"answer\":\"Waite describes the true Tarot as symbolism, stating that it “speaks no other language and offers no other signs.”\"},{\"question\":\"What influence do card relationships and reversals have on Tarot readings?\",\"answer\":\"Readings consider not only each card’s individual meaning, but also how cards relate to each other and whether a card is upside down, which can weaken, delay, or reverse meaning.\"},{\"question\":\"How are the 78 Tarot cards organized?\",\"answer\":\"The deck contains 78 cards divided into 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Lesser Arcana cards.\"}]","Rider Waite Tarot Deck - Introduction | PDF",1791926526,13]