Universal Waite Tarot Deck Guide: The Classic Deck
The Deck Most Readers Mean When They Say Tarot
When someone pictures a tarot card in their mind, they are usually picturing a card from the Waite Smith tradition, and this universal waite tarot deck guide covers the softest and clearest version of that tradition, the Universal Waite deck. The Fool stepping toward a cliff with a small dog, the High Priestess between two pillars, the Tower struck by lightning, the Sun with a child on a white horse, these images come from the deck designed by Arthur Edward Waite and drawn by Pamela Colman Smith, first published in 1909. The Universal Waite keeps those exact scenes and recolors them in softer, more muted tones, so the images feel warmer and easier to look at for long readings.
That history matters, because it explains why this deck is the standard starter deck. Most tarot books, courses, and websites teach with these images, so a reader learning with the Universal Waite will find their cards match the pictures in the book. A reader learning with a very different deck will spend extra time translating between the book and the cards in their hand. This universal waite tarot deck guide explains the deck's history, its recoloring, and how to use it well, for a reader who wants the classic deck in its gentlest form.
Waite, Smith, and the Deck They Made in 1909
Arthur Edward Waite was a scholar of mysticism who wanted a tarot deck whose minor arcana cards told stories, not just showed arrangements of cups or swords. Before his deck, most minor arcana cards were plain pips, a number of suit symbols on a blank background, and a reader had to memorize their meanings. Waite asked the artist Pamela Colman Smith to draw a scene for every minor arcana card, so the Three of Swords shows a heart pierced by three swords, and the Ten of Pentacles shows a family gathered in a courtyard, and the meaning is visible in the picture itself. That change made tarot easier to learn and harder to forget, and it shaped almost every deck that followed.
Pamela Colman Smith drew the deck in 1909, working quickly and with a clear, bold style, and her images have lasted because they are direct. A figure looks up, or down, or away. A hand reaches, or holds, or lets go. The scenes are simple enough to read at a glance and rich enough to return to for years. Waite wrote the meanings, Smith drew the scenes, and the deck carries both of their names in its history, even though Smith's name was left off the first editions. Modern readers and writers now credit her plainly, and this guide does the same, because the deck is her work as much as his.
What the Universal Recoloring Changes
The original 1909 deck was printed with strong, flat colors and heavy black outlines, and many readers love that bold look. The Universal Waite, recolored by Mary Hanson Roberts, softens those colors into muted greens, warm browns, dusty blues, and gentle golds, and it softens the outlines too, so the images feel less stark and more like watercolor paintings. The scenes do not change. The Fool still steps toward the cliff. The Tower still breaks. The Sun still shines. What changes is the feeling in the room when the cards are laid out, calmer, warmer, and easier on the eyes during a long reading.
That softness is the reason many readers choose the Universal Waite over the original Rider Waite. A reader who finds the original colors too harsh, or the black outlines too heavy, will find the Universal version easier to sit with. A reader who reads for other people often prefers it too, because clients facing a hard card, like the Ten of Swords or the Tower, meet a gentler image, and the gentler image makes the conversation easier to begin. The rider waite tarot deck guide covers the original deck in full, and reading the two guides together shows exactly what the recoloring changes and what it leaves alone.
The Major Arcana, Card by Card in Feeling
The major arcana in the Universal Waite is the deck's heart, and a new reader should spend time with these 22 cards first. The Fool feels open and light, the Magician feels focused and ready, the High Priestess feels still and knowing, the Empress feels warm and full, the Emperor feels firm and ordered. The Lovers feels like a choice made with the whole heart, the Chariot feels like motion with direction, Strength feels like quiet courage, the Hermit feels like a lamp carried alone, and the Wheel of Fortune feels like a turn that cannot be stopped. Justice, the Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, the Devil, the Tower, the Star, the Moon, the Sun, Judgement, and the World complete the sequence, each with a distinct feeling that the soft colors make easier to hold.
Learning these cards by feeling, rather than by memorizing a list of keywords, works well with this deck, because the images support it. Look at the Star card and notice the calm of the figure pouring water under a night sky. Look at the Moon card and notice the unease of the path between the towers. Look at the Sun card and notice the joy of the child on the horse. The feeling you notice first is usually the right place to start, and the book meaning can be added after. A reader who learns this way will remember the cards longer, because the memory is tied to an image and a feeling, not to a word on a page.
The Minor Arcana and the Four Suits
The minor arcana in this deck is where Smith's scenes do their most useful work. Each suit has its own world. Cups show feelings, relationships, and the inner life, with water, chalices, and figures in soft blues and greens. Pentacles show money, work, home, and the body, with coins, gardens, and figures in warm earth tones. Swords show thought, conflict, and hard truth, with blades, clouds, and figures in cool grays. Wands show energy, action, and desire, with staffs, fire, and figures in warm reds and golds. The guide to how to read tarot cards explains the suits in order, and the Universal Waite images make that explanation visible on the table.
Court cards in this deck, pages, knights, queens, and kings, show people as distinct characters, and the recoloring makes their differences easier to see. The Page of Cups holds a fish in a cup with a look of wonder. The Knight of Swords rides forward with his sword raised and his cloak flying. The Queen of Pentacles sits in a garden with a coin in her lap and flowers at her feet. The King of Wands sits on a throne carved with lions and salamanders, holding a wand that has begun to sprout leaves. These are people to meet, not ranks to memorize, and a reader who meets them one at a time, over days rather than hours, will know them well.
Why Beginners Start Here, and Why Experts Stay
Beginners start with the Universal Waite because it matches the books, because its scenes are clear, and because its soft colors are forgiving. A beginner can lay out three cards, look at the pictures, and say something true about each one without looking anything up, and that early success matters. It builds the confidence that keeps a new reader going through the weeks when the cards still feel strange. The deck does not demand prior knowledge. It offers its meaning in the image, and the reader learns by looking.
Experts stay with it because the images keep giving. A reader with ten years of practice will still notice a detail in the Universal Waite they had never seen before, a small figure in the background of the Ten of Pentacles, a bird in the sky of the Star, a hand gesture in the Magician that changes the reading. The deck is simple enough for a first reading and deep enough for a thousandth, and that range is rare. It is also the deck most other readers know, so a Universal Waite reader can talk about cards with almost any other reader and be understood at once, because they share the same pictures.
An Illustrative Example: Walter and the First Deck
This example is illustrative, not a real person's story.
Walter, a 63 year old retired engineer, had always been curious about tarot and had finally decided to buy a deck after his wife gave him a book on the subject for his birthday. He chose the Universal Waite because the book used its pictures, and he spent his first week looking through the cards at the kitchen table each morning with a cup of coffee. The card that stopped him was the Hermit, an old figure on a mountain path holding a lantern, and Walter laughed when he saw it, because the figure looked like the way he felt after retirement, alone on a path with a light to carry. He pulled one card each morning after that, wrote a line about it in a small notebook, and by the end of the month he could name all 22 major arcana cards without looking them up. The deck had not made him a reader overnight. It had given him pictures he could understand, and the understanding had grown one morning at a time.
Shuffling, Storing, and a First Month Plan
Shuffle this deck the way that feels comfortable, overhand or riffle, and cut it once before drawing. The cards are a standard size, with a smooth finish that loosens with use, and they fit most hands well. Store them in the box they came in or in a cloth bag, away from damp and direct sun, and they will last for years of daily use. The guide to how to shuffle tarot cards covers the physical methods, and any of them works with this deck.
A first month plan makes the deck yours. Week one, look through the major arcana in order, one or two cards a day, and write one line about each. Week two, do the same with the suit of cups, then pentacles, swords, and wands in the following weeks, or take one suit per week for a month. Each morning, pull one card, write a line, and carry the card's image through the day. By the end of the month, you will know the deck well enough to lay out a three card spread with confidence, and the dreamers journal deck guide makes a good next read, because it shows how the same Waite scenes look when an artist dresses them in a different style.
If a card in this deck keeps puzzling you, a chat reading can help you see it in your own situation, because a card that looks simple on the page often holds a detail that only makes sense beside your own question. First 3 minutes FREE — every time, for every reading, with all advisors.
For a smaller daily habit with this deck, a One-Card Tarot reading pulls the card worth sitting with today, and the hub page on how to choose a tarot deck explains how this classic compares with newer decks when you are ready for a second one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Universal Waite tarot deck?
It is the Waite and Smith tarot, first published in 1909, with the same scenes recolored in softer muted tones by Mary Hanson Roberts.
Who created the original Waite tarot deck?
Arthur Edward Waite designed it and Pamela Colman Smith drew it in 1909, with Smith drawing a full scene for every minor arcana card.
Is the Universal Waite deck good for beginners?
Yes, it is the standard starter deck, because most books teach with its images, its scenes are clear, and its soft colors are easy to sit with.
How is the Universal Waite different from the Rider Waite?
The scenes are the same, but the Universal version uses softer muted colors and lighter outlines, so the images feel warmer and less stark.
How many cards are in the Universal Waite deck?
It has 78 cards, with 22 major arcana cards and 56 minor arcana cards across cups, pentacles, swords, and wands.
Last updated: November 12, 2026
