Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider Waite Smith Tarot

Taking the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah as its overarching structure, this explores the magical and mundane foundations of Smith and Waite and how they built on those foundations to create one of the most studied, and used, Tarot decks of all time, which has inspired countless other decks, readers, and writers.

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Originally published in 1909 to little fanfare, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot went on to become the bestselling tarot deck of all time. This thorough guide shares an in-depth exploration of the fascinating history of this important deck, a complete analysis of what each card means, and 78 spreads to help you integrate each card's unique spiritual energy. Explore Waite and Smith's involvement in the Golden Dawn, the most influential magical order of the time. Discover how they combined their knowledge of astrology, Kabalah, metaphysics, mythology, and theater to realize their profound vision. Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot delves deeply into the roots of these influential cards, exploring how artist Pamela Colman Smith and occultist Arthur Waite brought together an enchanting and beguiling set of esoteric symbols and formed a magical deck that continues to serve as the model for most other tarot cards that have been published ever since.