Melissa ZupanOnly Lo Scarabeo can tell us why they put THREE entirely different decks in practically the SAME packaging, but at least we can learn how to tell these triplets apart.
How To Tell the THREE DIFFERENT Lo Scarabeo Pamela Colman Smith RWS Tarot Deck ApartMelissa Zupan2020-06-29 | Only Lo Scarabeo can tell us why they put THREE entirely different decks in practically the SAME packaging, but at least we can learn how to tell these triplets apart.My Top 10 RWS Decks (2021) | VR to The Hermits CaveMelissa Zupan2021-03-25 | I don't even want to begin counting how many RWS decks are in my collection...but these are the top 10 current favorites! What are yours?
Note: Brant totally gave me permission to show of his Hoi Polloi recoloration. Please pester him to make videos of his deck! It is gorgeous and needs a full walk through!A DIY Tin Haul from Make Playing CardsMelissa Zupan2021-03-19 | Make Playing Cards needs to throw me some gift certificates for all I promote their tins, right? LOL They're a fantastic product, and I'm well on my way to having a tin made up for all my "go to" decks. Let's take a look at what I've photoshopped up for myself this time.Carol Herzer’s “The Illuminated Tarot”Melissa Zupan2021-02-17 | Brant over at Moon Baby and I traded Christmas gifts this year. He gave me a copy of Carol Herzer's Illuminated Tarot and darn near made me cry.Introducing the Miniature Golden Rider TarotMelissa Zupan2021-01-24 | Did you know the Golden Rider Tarot had a miniature version? Well neither did I! It was only put out in Germany for a few years after 2005, not terribly long after AGM Muller Urania stopped printing the standard size edition. My personal hypothesis is that the miniature version was put out to help move along remaining copies of Miki Krefting's separately published guidebook. What do you think?The Keishobou Tarot: The O.G. Marseille/Waite HybridMelissa Zupan2020-12-26 | This deck was first published in January 1973 by the Keishobou publishing company. Isao Nakai wrote the guide book with Masatoshi Yoshida providing a foreword, and Masakazu "Gaichi" Matsumura illustrated the deck with Ippei Ito as a consultant. It is unique not only for being one of the first Marseille/Waite hybrid decks, but also for being perhaps the first tarot deck published in Japan.
If you're interested in finding this deck, the following terms may be helpful: タロット = tarot 継 書房 = "Keishobou" 中井勲 = Isao Nakai 松村雅一 = Masakazu Matsumura
Oh! This is the new Marseille/Waite hybrid I mentioned in the video: Le Tarot de Marseille-Waite. It came out in October 2020. https://www.amazon.fr/Tarot-Marseille-Waite-78-lames-notice/dp/2841977986Deck Comparisons: Pamela Colman Smiths RWS Tarot Deck vs The MPC Study DeckMelissa Zupan2020-12-24 | You know what? Let's check out the new Pamela Colman Smith's RWS Tarot Deck next to a 1910 Pam A Replica!Deck Comparisons: Pamela Colman Smiths RWS Tarot Deck vs 1909 Art Restoration DeckMelissa Zupan2020-12-24 | While we've got the decks out, why not take a peek comparing the 1909-based Pamela Colman Smith's RWS Tarot Deck to the excellently restored 1909 Art Restoration deck? I know who I think made the nicer deck...Deck Comparisons: Pamela Colman Smiths RWS Tarot Deck vs Smith-Waite CentennialMelissa Zupan2020-12-12 | Both US Games's Centennial deck and their new Pamela Colman Smith's RWS Tarot deck are based off Stuart Kaplan's Roses and Lilies decks...but they couldn't look more different. Let's see them side by side.First Impressions: Pamela Colman Smiths RWS Tarot DeckMelissa Zupan2020-12-05 | US Games snuck this deck onto the market Thanksgiving Week 2020. It's based on a 1909 Roses and Lilies deck, but the colors have been desaturated. If you're a person who doesn't care for the bright yellows and blues of a traditional Pamela Colman Smith deck, this could be the RWS for you.Deck Comparison: Pams Vintage vs. Pams OriginalMelissa Zupan2020-11-28 | Since I have my decks out, why don't we look at how Reall's first two decks, her Pam's Vintage Tarot and Pam's Tarot Original Art Only stack up next to each other?Deck Comparison: Pams Delight vs. Radiant Wise SpiritMelissa Zupan2020-11-28 | Since Pam's Delight is so vibrant and atmospheric, there were a few questions on how it compared with Lo Scarabeo's Radiant Wise Spirit. Let's find out, shall we?Deck Comparison: Pams Delight vs. Pams OriginalMelissa Zupan2020-11-21 | Continuing the theme, let's take a look at how Reall's new deck, the Pam's Delight, looks when compared to her Pam's Tarot Original Art Only deck.Unboxing a Mystery Package from Water Child TarotMelissa Zupan2020-11-21 | Y'all! Sarah from Water Child Tarot is one of the most considerate, kindest people I know, and she's one of the people in the tarot community that I look up to and admire. She'd recently acquired some Japanese tarot decks and thought I'd appreciate this one, so she sent it to me as a surprise. What a delight! Thank you so much, Sarah!
Check out Sarah's channel here: youtube.com/channel/UCvNTUJuvRa_Mxp-fJ5dHivgDeck Comparison: Pams Delight vs. Pams Vintage TarotMelissa Zupan2020-11-14 | Why not see how some of Reall's decks look with each other? Here we're putting Reall's newest deck, Pam's Delight, up against her most popular deck, the Pam's Vintage.First Impressions: Pams DelightMelissa Zupan2020-11-10 | Oh man...this has been a long time coming. I first ordered this deck in April. That was right about when shipping went wonky between Germany and the US, so I didn't get the deck until the start of August. So why is the video coming in in November? Honestly...I just had other videos I wanted to release first.
Reall's Pam's Delight was a limited run of about 30 decks, but last I heard, she does plan to make it available some day on her Gamecrafter and Drive Thru Cards print-on-demand stores.First Impressions: The 100% Plastic Rider Tarot DeckMelissa Zupan2020-10-27 | Not going to lie...I probably would have passed on this deck. But it has a plaid back. And damn it...I just can't quit the classics. Now I just need to figure out if it will disappoint me like the plastic decks I've encountered before or if it will rise above. And just how faithful to the Yellow Box is it?First Impressions: Smith-Waite Deluxe Tarot: Gilded Deck & Book SetMelissa Zupan2020-10-27 | After a delay of a few months while US Games sorted out some packaging issues that didn't meet their standards, they've served up a trio of deluxe gilded decks: glow ups of the Smith-Waite Centennial, Thoth, and Dalí decks. I finally got my pre-order of the Smith-Waite Centennial in. How does it compare to the basic deck, and is it as nice a gilded deck as the vintage Rider Deluxe?#tarotcollector: A VR to Brant of MoonBabyMelissa Zupan2020-10-21 | Wanna see the video that started the challenge? Check out Brant's video here:
This hashtag was created by Brant of MoonBaby. He asks you to answer the following 9 questions with the decks from your collection and to tell a bit about them. I had a blast with my first VR and hope to do more in the future!
1. Your most expensive deck? 2. Your least expensive deck? 3. The deck other collectors want to steal from your collection? 4. Your strangest deck? 5. The deck other collectors are least likely to have in their collection? 6. Your oldest deck/ the deck you’ve had the longest? 7. Your newest deck? 8. The deck that made you want to collect decks in the first place? 9. Your favorite deck from your collection?Comparing the 1929 Knapp Hall Deck to the 2020 Knapp Hall DeckMelissa Zupan2020-10-12 | Hey look! I'm featuring a deck that **isn't** an RWS deck! Will wonders never cease?
My 1929 copy of the Knapp Hall deck is one I lucked into through a work friend. But to be honest, I don't know much about this deck yet. I bought it because I recognized the opportunity as one of those once in a lifetime deals and figured I could spend the rest of my life doing additional research and study on the deck. I didn't want to be constantly handling a nearly 100-year-old deck, though, so I looked to see if I could find a more recent printing. Lo and behold, I discovered that the Philosophical Research Society, the organization that currently holds the rights to the deck, still prints copies. I got one of the last copies of the current print run, and I thought it might be fun to compare these two decks, printed 91 years apart.
When the Philosophical Research Society restocks this deck, it can be found here: prs.org/store/c10/Tarot
UPDATE! It's back in stock!First Impressions: Divine and Play and Shadow Play Tarot DecksMelissa Zupan2020-10-04 | This is a great little deck if you want to be able to both play a card game and do some tarot with the same deck of cards. And the concept is totally simple: mash together basic playing cards with a basic RWS. What's not to love?
If I were designing this deck, I think I would have taken the playing card image overlay off the tarot image and only kept the corner markers. The overlay is hard to make out in some cards, and it's awkward in others. I would also have numbered the courts K, Q, J, P instead of K, Q, k, J. The second K does confuse things a little, even though it is lower case. Clearly this means I would have made the Page the "extra" court cart, and I would have continued to give it the gray background of the prototype deck shown on Kickstarter. The off white is too close to the white background to be consistently spotted when pulling out the majors and extra courts, and it looks more like a mistake than something intentional.
For the RWS nerds, the creator Matt Green used a Pam C for the artwork. At this point, we all know how much I dislike Pam B and C. I would have gone with a Pam A artwork, and I would have tried to better compress/expand and crop to avoid the obvious squishing, which is especially noticeable on the majors.
If you want to see the original Kickstarter campaign for these decks, click here: kickstarter.com/projects/21628331/the-divine-and-play-tarot-deckShow and Tell: The Edith Waite TarotMelissa Zupan2020-09-27 | ...Deck Comparison: 1909 Art Restoration Deck vs. The Smith-Waite Centennial DeckMelissa Zupan2020-09-19 | US Games's Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot Deck is a copy of an early Rider Deck...though whether it is a copy of a Pam A or one of Stuart Kaplan's Roses and Lilies decks is something I'm not entirely sure of. At any rate, it's one of the best reproductions of the early Rider deck on the mass market. So how does it compare with the 1909 Art Restoration Deck? Let's see!Deck Comparison: 1909 Art Restoration Deck vs. Pams Original Art OnlyMelissa Zupan2020-09-13 | Both the 1909 Art Restoration Deck by C in London and Pam's Original Art Only by Reall use the 1909 Roses and Lilies deck as their source art. But the way the two deck creators approached digitally manipulating the art produced two very different decks. So how do they look side by side? Let's find out!Deck Comparison: 1909 Art Restoration Deck vs. MPC Study DeckMelissa Zupan2020-09-09 | The 1909 Art Restoration Deck is a great reproduction of the original 1909 Roses and Lilies deck, and the MPC Study Deck is a pretty great reproduction of the 1910 Pam A Rider Deck...so how do these two historical reproduction decks compare with each other? Let's see!First Impressions: Journey of the Sacred Bee TarotMelissa Zupan2020-09-05 | I probably shouldn't have made this video. I was half asleep and exhausted...but here it is anyway.
Journey of the Sacred Bee Tarot can be found at sacredsoultarot.com/sacred-bee-tarotShow and Tell: The 1909 Art Restoration DeckMelissa Zupan2020-09-02 | A mostly anonymous person, C in London, took scans of Saskia Jansen's copy of the Roses and Lilies Rider deck (a.k.a. the very first RWS deck ever) and did a digital restoration job to compensate for damage and restore colors to the vibrancy that had been occluded from over a century of wear and oxidation. What do we think of the results?
You can find the deck at Drive Thru Cards...or directly at the link below! drivethrucards.com/product/316815/The-1909-Art-Restoration-Deck-Tarot-CardsI finally got THE GOLDEN RIDER...but do I like it?Melissa Zupan2020-08-09 | I've been interested in tarot since the mid 1990s, and I definitely remember when The Golden Rider was available new. It was one of the five primary options you could get for a mass market RWS at the time, alongside the yellow box Rider Tarot, the Universal Waite, the Radiant Rider Waite, and the Original Rider Waite.
Viewer...I hated it. The me from the 1990s thought that the Golden Rider was just about the ugliest tarot deck ever published. I'm older and wiser now, though...can I appreciate it now?First Impressions: Antique and Royal Decks from the Neo Rider Tarot CollectionMelissa Zupan2020-08-05 | I have to admit, I was not smitten by the Neo Rider Antique or Royal decks when I saw the collection's Kickstarter campaign. After my copies of the Love and Shadow decks arrived, however, I regretted not getting the full collection. Luckily for me, I found someone who wanted to re-home theirs soon thereafter...and a couple days later, they were in my grubby little paws. That sure beats waiting another 62 days for decks to ship from China! Let's see if I like these two decks as much as I enjoyed the Love and Shadow decks.
ROYAL: etsy.com/listing/775685035/the-neo-rider-tarot-collection-the-royalFirst Impressions: Love and Shadow Decks from the Neo Rider Tarot CollectionMelissa Zupan2020-07-29 | Way back in January 2020, in the time before Corona, Ivy Feng released a four-deck RWS collection to Kickstarter for backing. I took one look at the Love deck, a pink and rose gold confection, and dove head first into my first Kickstarter campaign. I opted to back two decks of the four, the Love deck and the Shadow deck, because both of these decks use printing techniques I've never seen on a Rider deck before. These decks have finally arrived (after a whopping 62 days in shipping), so let's see if the wait was worth it.
ROYAL: etsy.com/listing/775685035/the-neo-rider-tarot-collection-the-royalTarot RDR by Iluminarte: The deck that LOOKS like Pamela Colman Smith RWS Tarot...but ISNT.Melissa Zupan2020-07-14 | If you've been looking for a copy of one of the THREE different Pamela Colman Smith RWS Tarot decks online, you may have momentarily wondered if the Tarot RDR by Iluminarte might be one of these decks. Spoiler alert: It's not. It's a bootleg copy of El Tarot Universal de Waite, an RWS clone popularly sold in South and Central America. It's also a cousin of **another** bootleg deck commonly called the Edith Waite deck. But hoooooo BOY! You can't deny that Iluminarte took some serious "inspiration" from Lo Scarabeo's packaging.Deck Comparison: Original Rider Waite (Vintage) v. Pamela Colman Smith RWS Tarot (Version 3)Melissa Zupan2020-07-07 | As I was shuffling through my copy of the third version of Lo Scarabeo's Pamela Colman Smith RWS Tarot, I couldn't help but think "I've seen this deck before!" To me, it looks an awful lot like my vintage version of The Original Rider Waite deck from 1993. What do you think?Radiant Wise Spirit Tarot Mini: Is It Worth It?Melissa Zupan2020-06-29 | OH MY GOD. If you have the Radiant Wise Spirit and/or the Dirty Pam, do you really need this deck again? Well..."need" may be a strong word, but I'm not mad I have this deck! Kick back and enjoy this video for my full review.Lo Scarabeos Pamela Colman Smith RWS Tarot: A Publication HistoryMelissa Zupan2020-06-16 | For whatever reason, Lo Scarabeo published three -- yes, THREE -- entirely different RWS decks in a pretty blue and white tuck box with a wheat sheaf motif. Some of the decks later got published in different boxes, making for a total of 7 different decks in this "family" as of June 2020. I happen to have six out of the seven decks, so I thought it might be nice to walk you through their publication chronology.
If you are interested, the multi-language deck published in the first wheatsheaf box is still sold by Lo Scarabeo as Tarocchi Rider Waite. It's only sold in Italy, but it can also be ordered on Lo Scarabeo's website here: tinyurl.com/y8eh2twq
The atmospheric deck (the one lovingly referred to as "The Dirty Pam" by the tarot community) is currently being sold in a slightly cropped and enlarged form as The Radiant Wise Spirit tarot in both a standard and mini form. Standard: tinyurl.com/y7fwrqxl Mini: tinyurl.com/ycw6jpfj
Finally, there is still one deck currently being sold in a wheatsheaf box. It's actually a pretty decent facsimile of the Pam B deck. It can be found here: tinyurl.com/y6vb5c9mWhat Mystery Cards Come with this Vintage Tarot VHS?Melissa Zupan2020-06-12 | A little while ago, I helped a friend find a copy of this VHS. Recently, I got a copy for myself by accident (I got my products crossed in my brain and thought I was getting a copy of Mary K. Greer's "Audio Exploration of Tarot".) My friend's copy came with a deck of cards he wasn't expecting. Will my copy have the same deck, or something totally different?My Pam D Box: Then and NowMelissa Zupan2020-06-09 | I guess I never showed the box my Pam D came in for more than a second, and some people wanted to see it. I've subsequently received a box I'd ordered from Dustin at Modern Metaphysicae, so this seemed like a good opportunity to show that off.
You can order Dustin's boxes here: http://www.modernmetaphysicae.com/tarot-boxesOrganizing Metaphysical Notes: DIY Travelers Notebook InsertsMelissa Zupan2020-06-03 | Believe it or not, I do things other than tarot. Today, I needed to do some prep work to organize notes for summer projects, so I busted out a few inserts for my travelers notebook.Removing the Shrink Wrap from a Vintage Copy of Tarot: The Ancient ProphecyMelissa Zupan2020-05-24 | Brant over at Moon Baby was gracious enough to gift me a copy of Tarot: The Ancient Prophecy so I could try out the deck. His copy was missing a card, which I was fine with, but then I found a copy that had lain unopened for 50 years. Should I unwrap it? Will it be worth it?
Want to see a whole walk through of this deck and learn some history? Check out Brant's video: youtu.be/Cyf3v3u_7LoDeck Comparison: Next World Tarot Standard and PocketMelissa Zupan2020-05-19 | So smol! Much cuteness! I have to admit, when Cristy told me on Instagram several months ago that the Next World Tarot Pocket Edition would be closer to standard sized, I assumed she meant a standard TAROT CARD, not a POKER CARD! The deck is too adorable for words...but with as intricate and detailed as Cristy's artwork is...can we still make it out?Deck Comparison: Ferol Humphrey’s American Tarot Light Colors vs Vintage DeLaurenceMelissa Zupan2020-05-15 | Interested in seeing the Ferol Humphrey's American Tarot Light Colors deck up next to the actual deck it is supposed to copy? Here's a quick flip through the major arcana of both decks. Which do you think is the winner?
I think Benedetti found the images for these cards from a Flickr where someone had uploaded all these images in 2017. They have the same issues with coloring I noticed in the Chariot and the Sun and a few other cards.
flickr.com/photos/circasassy/page5Deck Comparison: Ferol Humphrey’s American Tarot Aged Colors vs Vintage DeLaurenceMelissa Zupan2020-05-15 | Interested in seeing the Ferol Humphrey's American Tarot Aged Colors deck up next to an actual old DeLaurence deck? Here's a quick flip through the major arcana of both decks. Which do you think is the winner?
For what it's worth, I think Benedetti used the images for the 1918 DeLaurence Key to the Tarot that can be found at the website I linked below. The images look fine on the website, but they are relatively small. If you were to enlarge them and change the aspect ratio, I think that would account for the weird pixelation and poor image quality on the American Tarot cards.
bookspublicdomain.com/ReligiousTexts/TheIllustratedKeyTotheTarotTheVeilofDivinationbyLWdeLaurence_.htm#I2Deck Comparison: Ferol Humphrey’s American Tarot Light and Aged Color VariationsMelissa Zupan2020-05-10 | New York tarot reader Ferol Humphrey loved the DeLaurence deck so much, she approached tarot creator Marco Benedetti to see if he could re-create it. In the end, Benedetti created two decks which he named after Humphrey: the aged and light color variations of Ferol Humphrey's American Tarot.
I know that Benedetti got the art for the aged variation from scans of images from a 1918 DeLaurence Pictorial Key to the tarot, and to my knowledge, this is the first time those images have been turned into cards: they looked very different from the cards DeLaurence actually produced. I am not sure if Benedetti improved these images in to create the light version of the deck, which should look more like an actual DeLaurence deck. Let's see how well he did!
UPDATES: I don't think Benedetti had a 1918 DeLaurence Key and scanned the images himself. I'm pretty sure he took them from this website I've linked below. The images look fine on the website, but they are relatively small. If you were to enlarge them and change the aspect ratio, I think that would account for the weird pixelation and poor image quality on the American Tarot cards.
Similarly, I don't think Benedetti manipulated the 1918 images for the light colors deck. I subsequently found a Flickr where someone had uploaded all these images in 2017. They have the same issues with coloring I noticed in the Chariot and the Sun and a few other cards. I think maybe he just pulled them from here.
flickr.com/photos/circasassy/page5Who Invented the Little White Book?Melissa Zupan2020-05-08 | Did you know that tarot decks didn't come with free instructions until sometime in the late 60s/early 70s? Back in the 1910-1930 Rider Pam days, you could buy A.E. Waite's "The Pictorial Key to the Tarot" full-size book or the pocket sized abbreviated "The Key to the Tarot" as an add on, but that was about it. At the start of the mid-century Tarot Renaissance, however, little white booklets (LWBs) of instructions began to be included free with the decks.
All these LWBs pretty much say the same things though...verbatim. And that even cuts across companies. Clearly someone copied from someone else.
In this video, we take a look at four of the earliest LWBs: US Games, Rider & Co., University Books, and Frankie Albano's and put on our best English Teacher hats as we play "find the plagiarist"!Making Custom Tarot Tins with Make Playing CardsMelissa Zupan2020-04-26 | UPDATE: I get a *lot* of e-mail asking for the file I made for the MPC Study Deck. Here it is: threehundredandsixtysix.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/pam-a-lid-cover.jpg
It's no secret that I really dislike tuck boxes, especially on decks that I reach for all the time. If I stored all my decks in the tuck boxes that they came in, my tarot collection would be one huge, tattered mess. Enter the services of Make Playing Cards. They're a card printing and accessories production company in China that will even print orders as small as one deck, and they even have the abilities to create professional packaging. I've become quite a fan of their custom tins, which totally stand up to a ton of use and abuse.
I've shared my box cover files and shown a lot of people how to do it, but I've recently received a lot of people asking for help on how to navigate through Make Playing Cards once they have art they want for their box. That's what today's video addresses. Hope you enjoy!
Make Playing cards can be found at: makeplayingcards.com The direct link to the custom tarot tin I recommend is: makeplayingcards.com/design/custom-tarot-tin-box.htmlShow and Tell: Rider Tarot DeluxeMelissa Zupan2020-04-23 | The Rider Tarot Deluxe is the same deck you could find in the Yellow Boxes from the 1990s...only Deluxe. The backs were changed to a pretty green pattern and the edges were blinged out with some seriously sharp gold gilding. And that box! *Swoon* The deep purple and gold color scheme alone would have Prince himself screaming with delight, but US Games also made it a seriously luxe experience with a two part box system with lots of innovative details.
The Rider Tarot Deluxe is a gorgeous deck, and definitely a must have for RWS aficionados.
While this deck was only produced in a small run which ended in the late 1990s, US Games will be producing another Deluxe RWS deck in 2020. This deck will take the Smith-Waite Centennial deck and dress it up with some great gold edges...and probably a new back. Keep an eye out for it on U.S. Games's website: usgamesinc.com/smith-waite-deluxe-tarot.htmlShow and Tell: Mood TarotMelissa Zupan2020-04-20 | When times are tough and you're stuck in isolation, life can feel very serious. Luckily, there's the irreverent Mood Tarot from Natalie Meraki to keep things light and happy. Billed as "a disgustingly relatable tarot comic deck for irreverent, naughty, scoundrel type folk who, can’t remember shit unless they laugh their ass off to it and envision the whole thing while stoned on the Devil’s Lettuce," this deck is fantastic for when you need a break from all the heavy. Plus, the cards are plastic, so they can be Lysoled ten ways to Sunday.
Meraki took Pamela Colman Smith's line art, cropped them in to make the deck borderless, and recolored the deck with a sweet, sherbert-y palette. And then proceeded to insert pictures, speech bubbles, and captions of some very naughty things. It is a total delight.
Tarot Mood can be purchased at tarotmood.com/.Deck Comparison: Next World Tarot Mass Market and Next World TrimmedMelissa Zupan2020-04-14 | Did you know that Cristy C. Road's "Next World Tarot" will be released in a **pocket** edition tomorrow? It's been a little while coming as this pocket edition was initially supposed to be released this last February, and it will probably be a little longer still until the deck is in my hands (my Amazon Prime best delivery estimate is now up to 1 month after orders, and that's for items that are in their warehouses...no word yet on whether this deck made it to Amazon warehouses prior to their intake restrictions), but I chose to celebrate this momentous occasion by taking a look at my copies of the current mass market printing, one of which I've trimmed.
For those of you interested in how big the pocket edition will be...pocket is a bit of a misnomer. The cards are anticipated to be a little smaller than a standard tarot deck. But compared to the OG, they'll certainly seem pocket sized!Deck Comparison: J.K. Waite and Rider TarotMelissa Zupan2020-04-11 | In 1975, fortune teller Alexandria Mokusei-ou (Jupiter King) launched his career as a tarot deck creator by working with illustrator Seigan Nakajima to create a Waite-based tarot deck: the first Waite tarot deck to be sold widely throughout Japan under the publisher Tairiku Shobou. Today, the West knows this deck as the J.K. Waite or the Waite-J.K. deck, and it is a lovely example full of bright jewel tones, dark blues, and lots of pinks and purples. But it tweaks some of the expected Rider Tarot imagery, so why not put the two against each other for a better look?Deck Comparison: Blushing Fool vs MPC’s Study DeckMelissa Zupan2020-04-08 | Lots of people want a Blushing Fool deck, and if you look to the root of that desire, a lot of it boils down to a search for the most authentic Rider Waite Smith deck you can find. But the MPC Study Deck is a really close copy of the first ever published Rider deck, warts and all. How do the two compare against each other?Deck Comparison: Vintage Pam D vs Blushing FoolMelissa Zupan2020-04-07 | UPDATE: So, here's the thing. When I initially made the video, I thought it was a cool thing to put the Vintage Pam D next to a Blushing Fool deck because I thought they were adjacent stages in the publication history of the Rider deck. Basically, I thought the Pam D was the last of the original decks published and the Blushing Fool the first of the modern decks. I subsequently found out that I had older information. While many people thought for a really long time that the D deck was the newest of the crackle back Rider decks, it appears that it is actually the B deck which is the newest. So I guess I've learned a new thing and hope you all have, too.
It's still really neat to see these two decks next to each other!