Radiant Wise Spirit Tarot

I've had the same Rider deck that I bought in 1978, but have not used it very much for decades. The two things I didn't like about it, after using many other decks is for many years, is that it is visually kind of washed out and pale. The other thing is that Waite's Little White Book borders on incomprehensibility, it is full of fluffy and vague wordings and sometimes it seems like he's never seen nor used the cards before writing about them. I've been told that he was 'coding' the meanings, so I guess things have changed since the 1900s. This RWS based deck has some nice things going for it. First, it is very affordable. I got mine for $17 and had free shipping. Lots of decks are priced very high, three+ times the cost of this one, and I hesitate to try them for fear of feeling that I wasted too much money on a unusable but pretty whim. Second, the colorings are nice and lush and use a much broader palette than the originals and the backgrounds have a bit more oomph! I like that a lot! Next, the borders are gone and the images trimmed and the text labels are nicer, and I like that, too (makes me want to trim some other decks!). The cards are durable and thick, which I also like. Next, the Little White Book is not little or white, but does a very decent coverage of all the cards basics and actually provides good info! And the whole thing comes in a good box that will likely last a long while. Overall, an excellent deck, especially for beginners! If you are a purist or collector you might not like it, but at this price I found it hard to resist. And I'm very glad I bought it, it has brought me back to using RWS again for normal readings for the first time in decades! Now, despite my five star rating, there are a few minor things that are less than perfect and I would have given it 4.5 stars if I could. First, the deck is very shiny and reflective, so you may first it hard to see in bright, direct light. Some folks I know don't like thicker cards, so if you prefer thin and wispy cards you may not like these. Also, the English text in the book is good, but really could use some copy editing by a third party as I've found more than a few typos. The book could use a bit more on layouts, beginners should probably avoid the Celtic Cross until they have some smaller layouts in hand, so that's one area the book could use rewriting or expanding. But, all in all, I think this is an excellent deck and at this price you can't go wrong! I you are new to tarot this is a decent choice. If you have long been away from RWS decks, this might draw you back.

Note: I bought this deck in 2019, so my edition may not be what is currently available from Lo Scarabeo. This is an excellent copy of the classic Smith-Waite tarot deck for any collector or enthusiast. The coloring is rich and vibrant and very well-done - no marker bleed here. The included LWB is also quite good paired with any Smith-Waite deck, as even the minor cards include illustration details and divinatory interpretations. I have a number of Smith-Waite iterations, and this is now my go-to book for all those decks. The cardstock is rather thick and very glossy, which can be susceptible to chipping, depending on how you shuffle. I ended up sleeving my copy - the box is roomy enough to hold the sleeved deck without the book, which is a big bonus for me.

Standard deck, but the cards are extremely slippery due to the high-gloss finish. The images are very bright.

Lo Scarabeo really hit it out of the park with this one. The darker tone, the rich colors, and the zooming in so that the figures on the cards are larger, all contribute to a more intimate feeling when reading. To address some of the criticisms mentioned in reviews here, much of it is individual preference. Yes, the cards are darker than other versions of the RWS, and yes, there is a slight smudging in the backgrounds, meant to add texture to the images. I consider myself fairly observant when it comes to tarot decks, but honestly, when reading with the cards I'm not holding each card up to my face and staring at the tiny details, so I don't even notice the smudging anymore except in a very general way. Those who are knowledgeable about the history of the RWS's publication will want to know that the line drawings for this deck are the Pam B and not the Pam A. I thought that would be a problem, but since the cards are entirely newly colored, it turns out not to be that noticeable a distinction. Not to sound like a smartypants, but I believe everyone here has missed the point of this deck. I believe this deck was deliberately designed by Lo Scarabeo to echo the Morgan-Greer Tarot. Think about it -- every distinguishing feature of this deck is reminiscent of the Morgan-Greer: a) borderless b) vivid, autumnal colors c) overall darker feel d) figures on the cards are larger (i.e. they zoomed in a bit on the images) e) titling and numbering of Majors (Roman numeral, then hyphen, then card title) All of these are also features of the Morgan-Greer. So, if you think you might like a version of the RWS designed to look like the Morgan-Greer, you will probably like this deck. The design of the box is superlative. I can't address the peeling cardstock issues; rather than riffle-shuffling, I shuffle decks hand-over-hand or by laying out the deck in piles, just so I don't have to worry about such issues.

I love this deck! It's easy to read. The card stock is fairly thick, and I love the depth and subtlety of the colors. It isn't as garish are the original version of the RWS deck. It's now my go to deck. UPDATE: I've had this deck a few months now and still absolutely love it! I find this deck really easy to read and I love the deep colors and zoom in on some of the images. The card stock is thick, but not too thick and the box is a sturdy one. I think this the best working deck I've ever had. So far, I have no complaints about this deck. I highly recommend this one.

This deck is absolutely stunning! The colors are great, and I really like that the cards are borderless. This has been my go-to deck for readings. Perfect for both beginners and experts. The carstock is perfect, not slippery like other decks.

SO! Let me start off by saying I am no tarot master. I only have one deck that I've been working with for a couple months now, just keep that in mind. I, personally, do not like the original RWS, so I stayed as far away from it as I could when shopping for my first deck. I didn't think the art was charming. The colors were far too harsh. I didn't enjoy looking at them. But now after spending some time with my deck and researching the meanings I started to feel I could benefit greatly from owning a traditional deck to compare to the imagery in my deck (to better understand it) as well as better grasp the meanings of the cards as a whole by them being in front of me. I started looking at all the different forms of the RWS decks available and was going to go with the Radiant deck but still wasn't sold on it, and then I accidentally came across this one and I instantly liked it! Then I started watching every video I could find showing them. It was perfect! The colors were beautiful! (I don't really understand the complaints of the dark, dull colors. I think it adds a much better feel to the images with the more muted colors, but maybe I'm weird). They just came in this afternoon and as I flipped through them my first thought was "oh... they seemed prettier online". While I do think they are pretty, it's very much more noticeable in person that some are "zoomed in" looking, and some are not. For example, the Page of Swords is much clearer than say The Magician. And the Queen of Wands much clearer than the High Priestess (if fact I think the Queen of Wands is the clearest card in the whole deck). **Amazon seems to not let me add any photos to this review though... I can't figure out why. If I can go back to edit it with photos of these cards, I will. So I do like them, and I will keep them because I still think they're much nicer to look at than some other options out there, and I got a good feeling holding them. Just do keep in mind there are some variations in the "closeness" of the images as well as the detail level on the characters/backgrounds. Oh! As far as the thickness goes- I saw a whole lot of people saying they were really thin. I was worried about this but in fact I'm pleasantly surprised! I think they feel quite thick and sturdy! I'm not sure what the proper thickness of a tarot card should be I guess, but there's certainly no issue with that from me. I think they feel really nice! The little book too is really great. Nothing over the top or anything of course but I read through a few of the pages and I think it gives a nice overview of each card to get you on the right track. So anyway, hopefully this helps someone out there. I think it's a lovely deck really. Perfect? Definitely not. But I don't think a deck could be perfect unless you make it yourself. But it really does have wonderful colors, traditional imagery, and a sturdy feel to it (I will probably change the backs though...). I'm really very excited to start working with it to see how we get along!

Vibrant color and so much details in this deck. It will be more of a green-ish color on this deck. I'm surprised that it's a golden glided on the side. I thought it would be just paper. I don't know if this is a new production or not but I like it. It's not too thick so won't be hard to shuffle.

The large size cards are great in design and justify the extra cost over small cards

Fabulous easy to read cards, beautiful artwork and delivers accurate reads

All the cards were delivered intact. The images are amazing. I immediately felt strong resonance with so many of the cards. My very first deck and I love it!

Está hermoso !!! Realmente vale la pena comprarlo. La calidad de las cartas es muy buena la igual que la caja en donde vienen y el libro guía (viene en inglés, español, francés, italiano y portugués). Los colores son intensos y los detalles son preciosos. Están bellísimas.

Cartas de muy buena calidad, el libro que tiene está en varios idiomas, inglés, italiano, español, francés, portugués. Son de una calidad excepcional suaves al tacto y agradables a la mano, son fáciles de barajar y las ilustraciones están muy bien logradas, no tiene bordes. El grosor de la carta es la adecuada no son finísimas pero tampoco son extremadamente gruesas, simplemente perfectas. Las volvería a comprar con los ojos cerrados, incluso para regalar creo que son perfectas. La caja donde van guardadas es de cartón duro y buenis acabados, es un conjunto perfecto.