Rider-Waite Clones
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A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Thematic Variations

The first row shows the RWS itself, the following rows show variation decks, in descending order by degree of closeness to the RWS. There is a number showing a closeness ranking I explain in an article in Llewellyn's 2005 Tarot Reader (North American Release August 2004).

These decks will require some additional knowledge on the subject of whatever the theme is in order to be completely understood.

If you have that knowledge already, and you are trying to study symbolism from a book discussing the Rider-Waite itself, you probably won't get into too much trouble. If you don't have the knowledge of the theme, you should also get a book discussing that theme, because there will be elements the Rider-Waite book won't tell you. These decks range in closeness from mere redrawings in the style of a particular theme (e.g. African) to reinterpretations that were it not for the thematic element would be on the art twist page.

If you are buying a deck for your first tarot class, and the teacher asked you to bring a Rider-Waite Clone, you might want to check with the teacher to see if the deck is close enough.

Deck	Judgment	Five of Cups	Ten of Swords
Rider-Waite (62)
African (45) Deck
Mage: The Ascension (44)
Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg (41)
Golden Tarot (40)
Hello Tarot (37)
Wonderland Tarot (33)
Buckland Romani (32)
Tarot of the Southwest Sacred Tribes (28)
Halloween (26)
Victoria Regina (26)
Xultun Tarot (26)
Ancestral Path (25) Book
Herbal (25)
Secret Tarots (22)
Fey Tarot (20) Set
Shakespearian Tarot (17) Set
Tarot of the Cat People (16)
Wise Woman's Tarot (16)
Ship of Fools Tarot (13)

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This site is a subsite of my main tarot site, containing mini-reviews of more than 100 decks.