Rider-Waite vs Thoth

Both decks trace their roots to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a late-Victorian magical society that synthesized Kabbalah, astrology, alchemy, and ceremonial magic into a tarot system. Arthur Edward Waite was a Golden Dawn member who later founded his own Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. He commissioned artist Pamela Colman Smith to illustrate the deck published in 1909. Waite was famously guarded about the Golden Dawn's inner teachings — he kept some correspondences concealed or quietly altered them, in keeping with his oath of secrecy.

Aleister Crowley was also a Golden Dawn initiate, and he took a very different approach: rebuilding the esoteric correspondences more openly in the Thoth deck, which he designed in collaboration with painter Lady Frieda Harris between 1938 and 1943. Crowley's theology, called Thelema, declared a 'new aeon' superseding Christian esotericism — and the Thoth deck reflects that shift in every card.

Pamela Colman Smith's illustrations for the RWS deck are art-nouveau influenced — fluid, symbolic, and above all narrative. Every single card, including the numbered pip cards of the minor arcana (say, the Two of Pentacles or Eight of Wands), shows a scene with figures and action. Before Smith, most decks arranged pip cards as simple geometric patterns of suit symbols, the way a standard playing card deck still does. Smith's innovation made the minor arcana readable to beginners without specialist training.

Lady Frieda Harris painted the Thoth cards in an art-deco style heavily informed by projective geometry — a system of drawing that renders three-dimensional space on a flat surface in ways that feel simultaneously flat and infinite. Her cards are layered, dense, and often disquieting in their complexity. Harris had studied sacred geometry under Crowley's direction, and that influence is everywhere: spiraling forms, overlapping planes, and a sense that the image extends beyond its own borders.

Crowley renamed six Major Arcana cards in the Thoth deck, arguing that the traditional names had drifted from their deeper meanings. The most discussed change is Strength becoming Lust — not 'lust' as appetite, but as the full-blooded joy of vital force. Justice becomes Adjustment, emphasizing karmic balance rather than legal fairness. Temperance becomes Art, because Crowley saw the card as depicting an alchemical work, a skilled operation rather than mere moderation. The Wheel of Fortune is simply called Fortune. Judgement becomes The Aeon, marking Crowley's claim that the old age of Osiris has ended and a new aeon has begun. The World becomes The Universe.

Crowley also swapped the positions of two cards. In RWS, card VIII is Strength and card XI is Justice. Crowley reversed this — Adjustment (Justice) is VIII and Lust (Strength) is XI — based on his reinterpretation of the Hebrew letter attributions. He also reassigned the letter Tzaddi from The Star to The Emperor, citing a line from his scripture the Book of the Law.

Walking through a few key cards makes the philosophical gap between the two decks very concrete.

The gap between the two decks widens considerably in the minor arcana. RWS pip cards are fully illustrated scenes — the Three of Swords shows three swords piercing a heart; the Ten of Wands shows a hunched figure barely carrying an enormous bundle of staves. You can read the mood of the card without knowing anything about Kabbalah or astrology.

Thoth pip cards carry formal esoteric titles and explicit astrological attributions. The Three of Swords is titled 'Sorrow' and assigned to Saturn in Libra. The Ten of Wands is 'Oppression,' Saturn in Sagittarius. These titles and planetary-sign pairings are tools for a practitioner who already has some knowledge of astrology or the Tree of Life; they reward study but can feel opaque to newcomers. Lon Milo DuQuette's guide, written specifically to make Crowley's dense framework accessible, is widely recommended as a companion for Thoth readers.

Arthur Edward Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, the year after the deck appeared. He provides upright and reversed interpretations for each card along with notes on symbolism and history. The book is the foundation of RWS interpretation — and also famously reticent, since Waite deliberately held back Golden Dawn material he considered oath-bound. What he gives readers is honest but partial.

Crowley wrote The Book of Thoth in 1944, and it is a very different kind of document. Dense, mythopoetic, and often baroque, it situates the deck within Thelemic theology, Egyptian symbolism, Kabbalah, astrology, and alchemy simultaneously. Crowley intended the book as a magical operation in its own right, not just a reference guide. Lon Milo DuQuette's Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot (2003) remains the standard modern companion: a witty, deeply informed translation of Crowley's prose for contemporary readers, written by a Thelemic practitioner who clearly loves the material.

If you are new to tarot, the RWS deck has a significant practical advantage: the illustrated pip cards let you read intuitively from the image before you have memorized anything. The body of interpretation written for RWS cards is also the largest in print, so finding support is easy.

If you already have some background in Kabbalah, astrology, or ceremonial magic — or if you are simply drawn to more complex, layered imagery — the Thoth deck rewards that investment. Its renamed cards and reformed correspondences are not obstacles once you understand the logic behind them; they can feel like corrections. Many experienced readers own and use both decks, choosing between them depending on the nature of the question.