The Secret History of the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot + Free 78-Card Download
And yes... keep reading, because at the end of this post you’ll find out how to download a complete set of all 78 vintage tarot cards.
There are certain pieces of vintage artwork that seem to have escaped their own time.
More than a century after they first appeared, the mysterious figures, strange landscapes, golden skies, swords, stars, cups, moons, and wandering characters of the Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot remain instantly recognizable.
Even if you've never had a tarot reading in your life, chances are you've seen these images.
The Fool stepping cheerfully toward the edge of a cliff.
The Magician standing before a table of mysterious objects.
The High Priestess seated between two pillars.
The Moon shining over a winding road.
And, of course, the wonderfully dramatic Death card.
But where did these strange and beautiful images come from?
Their story begins in England more than 115 years ago.
A Tarot Deck That Changed Everything
The deck commonly known as the Rider-Waite Tarot was first published by William Rider & Son in London in 1909.
Today, you'll increasingly see it called the Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot, or simply the Waite–Smith deck.
There's a very good reason for that.
Arthur Edward Waite provided the ideas, symbolism, and direction behind the cards, but the extraordinary illustrations themselves were created by artist Pamela Colman Smith.
Smith and Waite were both associated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organization interested in mysticism, symbolism, astrology, ritual, and Western esoteric traditions.
Waite envisioned a new tarot deck.
Smith gave it a world.
Meet Pamela Colman Smith
Pamela Colman Smith was an illustrator, writer, theatrical designer, storyteller, and artist with a wonderfully distinctive style.
Born in 1878, Smith studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and spent portions of her childhood in England and Jamaica.
Friends called her "Pixie."
In 1909, Waite commissioned Smith to create illustrations for his new tarot deck.
She reportedly completed the artwork in a remarkably short period of time.
And what she created would influence tarot illustration for generations.
Her figures have the wonderful flatness and bold outlines of book illustration, mixed with medieval imagery, theatrical staging, folklore, Renaissance art, mysticism, and symbolism.
Look closely at the cards and they almost feel like tiny scenes from a strange forgotten storybook.
That's one reason I find them so irresistible.
The Deck Contains 78 Cards
A traditional tarot deck contains 78 cards, divided into two main sections.
The Major Arcana
There are 22 Major Arcana cards, including some of the deck's most famous images:
The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World.
These are the cards people are most likely to recognize today.
But the remaining cards are where Pamela Colman Smith did something especially important.
The Minor Arcana Became Tiny Stories
The remaining 56 cards form the Minor Arcana and are divided into four suits:
Wands Cups Swords Pentacles
Earlier tarot decks frequently treated numbered suit cards much like ordinary playing cards.
Seven cups might simply show seven cups.
Four swords might simply show four swords.
Smith instead created fully illustrated scenes.
Suddenly, the cards had characters.
They had landscapes.
They had emotions.
They had little mysteries.
The Five of Cups shows a cloaked figure mourning beside spilled cups.
The Eight of Pentacles shows a craftsman carefully working at his bench.
The Ten of Wands shows a figure struggling beneath an enormous bundle.
The Three of Swords gives us one of the most memorable images in the entire deck: a heart pierced by three swords beneath a stormy sky.
You don't need to know anything about tarot to look at those pictures and begin creating a story.
And that was revolutionary.
Look for Pamela Colman Smith's Signature
Here's something fun to notice when examining old Rider–Waite–Smith cards.
Look closely near the bottom corners of many illustrations and you may spot a tiny monogram resembling:
PCS
Those are the initials of Pamela Colman Smith.
It's a wonderful reminder of the artist behind imagery that became so famous that her name was, for decades, often left out when people discussed the deck.
Today, historians, artists, collectors, and tarot enthusiasts increasingly use the name Rider–Waite–Smith specifically to recognize her contribution.
And I am completely on board with that.
Why Do These Cards Still Fascinate Us?
I think part of their appeal is that the cards never quite explain themselves.
They invite you to look.
Who is that person?
Where are they going?
Why are those cups abandoned?
Why is that tower on fire?
What's behind the curtain?
Why is that dog following The Fool toward the cliff?
Every card feels like the middle of a story whose beginning and ending we don't know.
That makes them fascinating even outside the world of tarot.
For collectors of vintage illustration, ephemera, folklore, symbolism, and odd little historical treasures, they're simply wonderful pieces of art.
Perfect Inspiration for Artists and Paper Lovers
The illustrations are also irresistible if you love old paper and vintage-inspired creative projects.
Imagine them tucked into:
Junk journals
Collage pages
Artist trading cards
Halloween journals
Bookmarks
Cabinet-of-curiosity displays
altered books
Scrapbooks
Vintage-style correspondence
Mixed-media artwork
Curiosity journals
Handmade tags
Shadow boxes
Or simply print a few favorites and frame them as miniature pieces of vintage art.
The Moon, The Star, The Sun, The Hermit, The High Priestess, and The World are especially gorgeous displayed on their own.
Then again, I have never been particularly good at choosing just one old illustration when I could have all of them.
Which brings us to the promised download.
Want the Complete 78-Card Set?
I couldn't write about these beautiful old cards without sharing them.
So I've put together a complete downloadable collection of all 78 Rider–Waite–Smith tarot card images for you to explore, print, collect, and enjoy.
That means:
22 Major Arcana cards
plus
56 Minor Arcana cards
for the complete 78-card collection.
🍄 The complete set is available as a FREE download for Toadstool members.
If you're already a member, head over to the Members Free Downloads area and look for the 1909 Tarot Cards.
Not a member yet?
Join Toadstool to unlock the download and discover the other vintage treasures hiding in the members' collection.
Because really…
You didn't come all this way just to leave The Fool, The Magician, The Moon, The Devil, and The World sitting here without you.
🔮 Download the complete 78-card collection. You have to be a member to access, so sign up - it's free!
Happy collecting!
🍄 Toadstool Thrift & Craft
Old things. Strange things. Beautiful things. And treasures you didn't know you needed.
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