RWS Panorama tarot. Deckstiny, Thailand? Full divinatory tarot deck, Mediterranean suited, 80 single-headed cards. Size: 70mm x 120mm approx.
Deck make-up:
Trumps: 0-21.
Pentacles (i.e. coins), wands (i.e. clubs), cups, swords: A, 2-10, foot jack ("page"), mounted jack ("knight"), queen, king.
We live in a portrait-or-landscape world, as anybody who's printed out a document or image from the web will know. A splendid idea, therefore, was to reconfigure the famous Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) tarot deck from its usual portrait mode into a new landscape version. Sounds simple, on the face of it, but this does mean adding new art at the sides of the cards which has to segue seamlessly with Pamela Colman Smith's original work in the centre. (You can see the original RWS cards on my page here.) The resultant deck, by Deckstiny, is the same size as its forerunner, which is a nice touch.
The designer/s behind the project aren't too clear; the box says: Author: Mate Horonumber; Artwork: Oomsin PP.; Artist: Hpn.boo. Like so many tarots, it appears to have started life as a Kickstarter initiative (in 2023).
In the vast majority of cases, the idea works fine. There are a few instances where the cards look a bit vacant at the sides (see the hermit card or the 4 of pentacles, for example) or unbalanced (see 8 of pentacles or 8 of swords). As a way of making up for this, we sometimes get "value added" extra imagery at the sides which the original deck didn't have (for example, the lighthouse and dolphins on the king of cups, the windmill on the 7 of pentacles, or the boat on the page of cups). I know little about the mystical side of tarot but I gather these additions make sense to the informed.
The idea seems to have started with a Wide Angle version of RWS which expands the original images on all four sides. However, very many of those cards look particularly vacant at the top (i.e. sky, on most cards) and aesthetically are not very good (though this deck was published and is available in two sizes). The Panorama deck shown here appears to just be horizontal middle slice of the artwork produced for the Wide Angle deck, but it all works far better with this middle slice presented on its own.
It takes a fair bit for me to be impressed by a non-pedigree tarot deck, but this one manages it – it's traditional yet modern but retains respect for the original. Bravo. Get it while you can!
Click on any card to explore the design.
(Comments or corrections, please e-mail: Click to see e-mail address.)
Card image size, below:
A bit of an "oops" Photoshop error is visible on the lower right-hand side of the last card. Also, I'm not sure the added lamppost(?) on the page is temporally correct.
The last picture shows the gilt-effect edge on the deck.
Rider-Waite-Smith divinatory meanings.
The deck on this page is one masterminded by a Golden Dawn (or its offshoots) member, or designed to adhere to their concepts of tarot. A list of other major such decks is given below (scroll/swipe to the right if needed):
Deck | Author/s | Artist/s (if diff.) | Release year | "Official" guide book | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marseilles tarot / Tarot de Marseille | unknown | various | 15th century | The Tarot: Its Occult Signification, Use In Fortune-Telling, And Method Of Play, Etc. | The booklet cited (written in 1888 by Samuel L MacGregor Mathers of the Golden Dawn) gives "official" Golden Dawn divinatory meanings when using the Marseilles tarot (referred to at that time as the Italian tarot). In 1889, Swiss occultist and artist, Oswald Wirth, designed a well-known tarot specifically for esoteric use with his own versions of the trumps in the Marseilles pattern. |
The Rider-Waite[-Smith] Tarot | Arthur Edward Waite | Pamela Colman Smith | 1909 | The [Pictorial] Key To The Tarot | |
Builders Of The Adytum (BOTA) Tarot | Paul Foster Case | Jessie Burns Parke | 1931 | The Tarot: A Key To The Wisdom Of The Ages or Highlights Of Tarot [NB doesn't cover pip cards] | Revised version of Rider-Waite with some "corrected" trumps and courts, and simple pip cards. Trumps also issued in colour form; full deck is b&w. |
Thoth Tarot Deck | Aleister Crowley | Lady Frieda Harris | 1972 (painted 1938-43) | The Book Of Thoth (Egyptian Tarot): A Short Essay On The Tarot Of The Egyptians | |
The Golden Dawn Tarot (aka The Whare Ra deck) | Israel Regardie | Robert Wang | 1978 | An Introduction To The Golden Dawn Tarot | |
The Hermetic Tarot | Godfrey Dowson | 1979 | Only the Little White Booklet that comes with the deck. | Black & white. | |
Golden Dawn Magical Tarot (aka The New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot) | Chic Cicero & Sandra Tabatha Cicero (with Israel Regardie) | 1991 | Golden Dawn Magical Tarot / The New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot | "Ritual" was the earlier name. Do not confuse this deck with the one below – they are different! | |
The Magical Tarot Of The Golden Dawn | Pat Zalewski & Chris Zalewski | Skip Dudchous & David Sledzinski | 2022 | The Magical Tarot Of The Golden Dawn: Revised Ed. | Earlier editions had art by Jonathon A Pierce instead. This deck is not to be confused with the similarly named deck above! |
Computer Tarot Reading A smartphone-friendly (I hope) animated Tarot-reading program. With Waite and Mathers divinatory meanings.
Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Divinatory Meanings (desktop version) App which gives meanings of RWS cards – saves messing with booklets! Also in mobile version or hardcopy/pdf version. See which you like.
Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot Deck (AGM-Urania)
Ancient Italian Tarot / Tarocchino Milanese (Lo Scarabeo)
Golden Dawn Magical Tarot (Llewellyn Books)
The Golden Dawn Tarot (U.S. Games Systems)
Grand Etteilla (Tarots Egyptiens / Egyptian gypsies tarot) (Grimaud)
Grand Jeu De Mlle Lenormand (Grimaud)
(Petit) Lenormand / "Blue Owl" Lenormand (AGM-Urania)
The Hermetic Tarot (U.S. Games Systems)
Tarot Hiéroglyphique Egyptien (unknown, France)
Learning Tarot Cards (Witchy Cauldron)
Llewellyn's Classic Tarot (Llewellyn Books)
Minchiate Fiorentine (Baragioli)
Tarot Of The New Vision (Lo Scarabeo)
Nouveau Jeu De La Main (Grimaud)
Tarots Parisiens / Oracles Planetaires / Sorcier du XIXe Siècle (Viuda de Bouchard-Huzard)
Tarot Of The Renaissance (Lo Scarabeo)
Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot (Rider)
Sola-Busca Tarot (privately commissioned deck)
Le Tarot Astrologique / The Astrological Tarot (Grimaud)
Tarot De Marseilles (Conver-Camoin)
Tarot: Spécial Cercle / Tarot Nouveau / Tarot A Jouer / Jeu De Tarot / Bourgeois Tarot (Grimaud)