Rider–Waite–Smith
A 78-card modern system first published in 1909, with designs by Pamela Colman Smith in collaboration with Arthur Edward Waite. Its familiar titles provide the canonical route names used by this library.
Deck guide
Three Tarot decks, three ways of organizing meaning
The deck picker changes more than artwork. Rider–Waite–Smith, the Lequart Besançon pack, and Sola Busca use different names, numbers, structures, and visual arguments. Venus keeps one 78-route library for navigation, then identifies the card shown by each deck inside its own panel.
Compare how this route is represented
Choose a deck to see the card identity, number, image, relation type, and modern interpretive emphasis supported for that system.
What the current library actually represents
These labels name the tradition or edition supported by the available evidence. They do not establish the source or reuse rights of the local image files.
Lequart Besançon
A Marseille-family variant cataloged around 1890. Junon II and Jupiter V replace the Papess and Pope, while La Force is XI and La Justice is VIII in this edition.
Sola Busca
A complete Italian deck with 22 triumphs and 56 Italian-suited cards. Its triumphs lead with names such as Sesto VI and Nerone VIII; a shared ordinal slot does not make them Rider–Waite–Smith cards.
How a deck panel relates to a library route
Every panel carries a relation label so the route never pretends to be a universal identity.
- Deck-native identity
- The route and the displayed card name the same identity within the deck's own system.
- Historical variant correspondence
- The route provides a useful comparison point, but the edition substitutes or materially changes the traditional figure.
- Meaning match, different number
- The recognizable card identity is present, but its printed number differs from the canonical route order.
- Rank-and-suit correspondence
- Minor cards share a rank and suit structure; that does not prove identical scenes or meanings.
- Ordinal comparison only
- The route and deck card occupy the same numbered slot for browsing, with no claim of direct identity.
Choose by the kind of evidence you want to read
Use Rider–Waite–Smith when you want to work from this library's canonical titles and modern reference meanings. Use the Lequart Besançon pack when number, rank, suit, and historical variation matter to the comparison. Use Sola Busca when you are prepared to begin with the card's native identity and an image-led modern reflection.
No deck supplies a more certain answer. The question, spread position, orientation method, surrounding cards, context, and real-world evidence still determine how far an interpretation can responsibly go.
Method, review, and image-rights boundary
Venus separates what can be seen in a local image, what a cited museum or library record supports, and what the site offers as a modern reflective interpretation. Those three evidence classes are not interchangeable.
The exact provenance and reuse rights of the local image derivatives are not yet verified. If a card identity, mapping, visual detail, or image right cannot be supported, the claim or image must be withheld rather than guessed.
Sources behind the deck descriptions
The deck names and historical distinctions on this page are grounded in catalog and exhibition records from the British Museum, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Pinacoteca di Brera.
- British Museum — museum authority record
- British Museum — museum authority record
- British Museum — museum object record
- British Museum — museum object record
- Bibliothèque nationale de France — national library catalog
- Pinacoteca di Brera — museum exhibition record
- Pinacoteca di Brera — museum exhibition guide
- Pinacoteca di Brera — museum press material
Continue with a focused next step
Card identities, numbering, image mappings, and semantic claims have been checked against the cited sources and reviewed evidence. Each meaning is a modern reflective interpretation—not historical doctrine, a prediction, or proof of an outcome.