Marseille Tarot, Rider-Waite, or Thoth: Which One to Choose?

The Tarot de Marseille, the Rider-Waite-Smith and the Thoth are not three levels of the same learning process. They are systems with their own images, reference texts and reading practices. You can begin with the one whose language you want to understand. The essential thing is to use a book and a deck that complement each other, rather than layering explanations from several traditions from the very first session.

To choose between these families, look mainly at the pip cards, the names of the arcana and the type of study that attracts you. Here are the differences to observe in our Tarots de Marseille, our Rider-Waite-Smith Tarots and our Thoth Tarots. Questions of language, format and box are covered separately in the first tarot guide.

Three starting points for comparing decks

The table below brings together reading guidelines, not a ranking of power or quality. It concerns the reference systems: a contemporary creation may adopt some of them and modify other elements. Always consult the description of the edition you are considering.

The Marseille: a family of designs, not a single edition

The expression Tarot de Marseille does not refer to a deck invented all at once by a contemporary author. It encompasses a graphic tradition passed down by cardmakers and taken up by publishers. The Bibliothèque nationale de France presents Philippe Vachier's tarot, dated 1639, as evidence of this history. It also points out that the earliest uses of these cards were recreational, before their later divinatory readings.

A current edition may restore an old design, reproduce an already published model or offer a reinterpretation. For example, Grimaud dates the reissue by Paul Marteau to 1930, inspired by several earlier tarots, in its presentation of the Tarot de Marseille. The date of an edition therefore does not correspond to the birth of the entire family.

For your reading, look at how the suit symbols occupy the card: what is repeated, what crosses, what frames a space. A method may give importance to numbers, colors or the directions in which the figures face. These choices belong to the method being followed; they are not a mandatory translation of every detail in every school. Choosing a specific book allows you to work with stable reference points.

This family suits your project when its design attracts you and you want to learn to read this arrangement. There is no need to present it as exclusively rational or reserved for practical questions. You can work with relationships between cards, intuition and correspondences within a Marseille approach, provided you know which method you are using.

The Rider-Waite-Smith: entering the card through the scene

The Rider-Waite-Smith combines Arthur Edward Waite with illustrator Pamela Colman Smith; Rider is the name of the original publisher. The compositions are presented, card by card, in Waite's text, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. The pip cards do not merely show a number of suit symbols: they stage characters, gestures and situations.

To begin observing, you can describe what is happening before opening the book. Who is acting? Which object occupies the center? Is the character looking ahead or toward something else? This first observation makes the image familiar. It does not replace studying its meaning within the system, but it gives you concrete material to connect with the text.

The Eight of Pentacles described by Waite provides an example: an artisan works with his material, and the commentary connects the card with work and craftsmanship. The scene can serve as a starting point for reflecting on learning or application in an exercise. This connection between image and text is built over time; it does not mean that every spontaneous interpretation is the author's.

Many decks reuse the Rider-Waite-Smith reference points with different characters or another style. To compare a variant, look at several minor arcana cards rather than only its cover. An adaptation may retain the general composition, change the details or move away from the model. With a book devoted to the reference deck, a heavily transformed edition requires additional work to establish correspondences.

The Thoth: studying images with their correspondences

The Tarot de Thoth emerged from the work of Aleister Crowley and the paintings of Lady Frieda Harris. The publisher U.S. Games Systems presents its links with Kabbalah, astrology, alchemy and magic, as well as its references to Crowley's Book of Thoth. These correspondences are part of the system; they are not mere decorations added to interchangeable cards.

You can approach it through careful observation of the compositions, then gradually introduce the booklet's vocabulary. You do not need to know all of astrology or all of Kabbalah before opening the deck. However, accepting the need to learn the reference points specific to the Thoth prevents you from reading it solely through the definitions of another tarot. A card with a similar name may occupy a different place within the system being studied.

The Thoth is therefore not a diploma to obtain after the Marseille and the Rider-Waite-Smith. It is a coherent choice when the work of Crowley and Harris interests you enough to devote sustained study to it. Its aesthetic may also attract you first: you can then choose a book that explains the correspondences without requiring you to absorb everything in a single session.

When buying, distinguish the system from its physical edition. The Thoth boxes may differ in format, language or included materials. The booklet from one edition should not be assumed to be identical to that of another. Check the product details before completing your choice with a book.

An exercise to sense the difference between the systems

Choose a pip card reproduced in the decks you are comparing. During this observation, do not yet look for an answer to a personal question. Note the name, number, visible elements and what you can describe without commentary. Then consult the corresponding text for each system and note what it asks you to add to your initial observation.

With a Marseille card, you can begin with the arrangement of the suit symbols. With a Rider-Waite-Smith scene, you will also have an action to describe. With the Thoth, the reading may lead you toward the titles and correspondences in the booklet. This process is an exercise suggestion: it helps you compare the way you learn, without claiming to reduce each tradition to a single gesture.

Then ask yourself which text you want to continue reading. The choice becomes clearer when the image and the reading spark your curiosity together. The ease of the first glance is not always enough; your desire to return to the same deck for several weeks also matters.

Choose a family and continue without mixing methods

A Marseille book and a Rider-Waite-Smith box are not unusable together, but they require you to distinguish their reference points. As a beginner, keep one main system, then record the contributions of other authors separately. This will prevent you from seeking a definitive explanation for differences that simply come from distinct reading traditions.

You can then compare other decks out of artistic interest or to explore a correspondence in greater depth. There is no need to change tarot for every question or to own three decks to begin. Choose the one you want to study, with an appropriate reading method and a format that suits you.

Explore the Marseille, Rider-Waite-Smith and Thoth editions in our shop. The first tarot guide complements your choice of box; the beginner's exercise program takes over once the deck is in your hands.

Sources and further reading

Jude Talbot, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Un tarot qui rebat les cartes, for the material history of the Marseille. Grimaud–Cartamundi, presentation of the reissue by Paul Marteau. Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, for the compositions and commentaries of the Rider-Waite-Smith. U.S. Games Systems, presentation of the Crowley Thoth Tarot, for its creators and correspondences. The comparison points and exercises proposed here accompany the reading of these sources.