Witches Tarot

It’s the combination of the beauty and detail of the images with the adherence to RWS that makes this deck so attractive and useful. Despite the (mostly welcome) changes to the original, either it’s in the name (karma instead of judgment or the dark side instead of the devil) or in the imagery itself (5 of swords), the overall feeling of the deck is fantastic and the special pagan symbolism that is present in every card (and explained elaborately in the booklet) adds a lot of meaning and beauty to the cards. Despite the witches theme and the pagan symbolism, the imagery in the cards doesn’t come across as especially esoteric or particularly witchy, and those who are not into these themes can wholeheartedly enjoy the cards and their evocative (traditional) meaning nonetheless, given their closeness to the original RWS imagery. The secret in the beauty of this deck IMHO is the vividness and the richness of the imagery, that is achieved partly by the fact that the people portrayed there are real people and not some illustrations. Some find it weird, but I think that it adds a lot to the cards vividness and evocativeness. So IMO this deck achieves both the aim of being classically oriented and at the same time bringing additional meaning rooted in the Wiccan tradition and meaning, without one overpowering the other.

This is a beautiful rendering of the Rider-Waite style Tarot deck, with lovely images and symbolism. I've been reading cards for years, and this is the prettiest deck I have seen in a while. The cards are sturdy but can be shuffled easily-- no need to "break in" the deck or deal with cards that hurt your hands when you shuffle them. (I do a "Vegas" style card shuffle and some decks will kill your hands!) The artwork is engaging and positive and the enclosed book is well-written with interesting new spreads and ideas for setting intentions with the cards. Excellent choice!

Ok, In the words of Monty Python, "I am not a witch!". I am not a fortune teller. I have always had an academic interest in these things though. I have always enjoyed Ellen's writing, so what with her kids going off to college and all that, I thought I'd do my part and buy the deck. It is a nice deck, no doubt about it. This deck shows why people, in my opinion, should use more than one deck if reading for others. Different strokes for different folks. Different decks for different clients. It appears that "Witchy" girls are pretty tough, with "Granny Weatherwax" attitude that says, "If you can't deal with a problem you have no business being a Witch. This deck follows that. With the 9 of Swords and the 4 of Cups, one gets the feeling that Ol' Ellen, who seems rather a sweet person, is saying, "Stop the drama and suck it up". There are lots of people facing real problems who see themselves in the old image of the woman on the 9 of Swords card. Such a person, wanting a reading for comfort and guidance, might be taken aback by the lack of compassion that they might find here. That's why I feel that for the Tough Cookie Hedgewitches reading for each other, this deck is great, but might not be good for everyone coming through the door. It doesn't have some of the extremely silly nudity I have seen on other decks. People have commented on that problem in other posts for decks. It's not distracting for Ellen to use images of family and friends. Tarot decks have done that for centuries with the designer's patron, and in Ellen's case, it's kind of cute. It's "homey" and many of us see the characters in our own friends. On many decks nudity is necessarily employed when it means something, but not in a way that makes one wonder about the people who made the deck. The people with the "full frontal" cards, it's a giant in-your-face from the author, going, "Whee, I can put naked people in my deck and no one can stop me". Me, me, me!. One also has to be careful buying such decks for others, as the deck with the nice nature pictures you get for your Greenie niece might get you an angry call from her parents. There is NOTHING that Ellen ever wrote that one has to worry about when sharing with others. It is a nice-looking deck, just think about who you are reading for. Some need a little gentleness when they are wounded, and if Witches are the stronger ones, they can afford to be gentle.

Every time I get a tarot set I cringe a bit because I know something is going to be off. The printing really fails on a lot of decks and does not match the art. This is the singularly most perfect deck I have ever seen. I was very taken with the gorgeous light in the cards when I was trying to decide on them. So many witch type sets I have seen tend toward dark, vampirish, naked froo froo teenager junk. I have never thought that was necessary. If witchcraft is truly based on nature then it should have the light of nature in it. Nature is a beautiful thing after all. Someone really got this right. As a photographer myself, I find the light truly exceptional in this deck. The printing is perfect! The cards are thin, but if they are strong then they are great! Heavy does not mean good quality. I have some heavy sets and the laminate is separating before I use them. These are just about right. Maybe a fraction thicker would be nice, but I like a deck I can hold easily. I REALLY appreciate the size of these cards. PERFECT! Too many tarot cards are just WAY too big and I have to trim them down just to handle them. These are ideal. The stock is slightly glossy, but not like holding a piece of linoleum and has a very nice texture feel. I am extremely sensitive to how cards feel. As to the art; there is not one card that I dislike the art. The Wands are particularly beautiful in this deck. The people look pleasant and they are all happy and light hearted. This deck just has a wonderful energy to it. It probably has the best energy of any set I have got. The book is just wonderful! A nice, big, fat, thick book. Reading a few pages...sounds great. The box it comes in is absolutely gorgeous. I was going to buy a bag, but this is the first time I think I am just going to use the box. This whole package works together really beautifully. The only thing I would change since I have to change something....this probably should have been called, "The HAPPY Witches Tarot." I think this is the first time an author and artist in this genre feels GOOD. Whatever sort of witch this is...I am interested. So for me...not ONE single thing I can complain about. Perfect.....just perfect! I look forwards to learning more about this author.

I bought this set mainly for the art, since I love the artwork on the app and I wanted to have a hard copy of it. I actually decided to frame the cards for decorative purposes! They all fit onto two 24x36 inch frames. The cards themselves are 2 & 3/4 inches wide and 4 & 5/8 inches tall. Some people complained in their reviews that the cards are too thin. They could be thicker, and would certainly be more durable if they were, but they aren't overly thin and unless you are especially rough on your cards, it shouldn't matter. The book is much bigger than I expected it to be, and is a great reference. They come in a very nice box with a magnetic closure that has a small niche for the cards and a larger one for the book. The artwork is top notch. Some of them are truly amazing. My favorites would have to be the Queen of Cups, Two of Swords, Karma, and Wheel of the Year, but there are so many great pictures. Most of the depictions are of Caucasians, although there are a few cards featuring other races. It would be nice to see some more diversity, as I feel the deck would have a wider appeal if that were the case. But overall I could not be happier with the set. Some people say they have received counterfeit decks. The real thing is clearly a product of quality, so if you received it and have doubts, it is most likely fake (or you have very high expectations). I bought mine new directly from Amazon. I cannot vouch for any 3rd party sellers. The box should be sealed in shrink wrap and the deck of cards should be sealed in what looks like cellophane.

Right off the top of my head I can think of at least three tarot decks that go by the moniker "Witches Tarot",so let me be clear that the one I am reviewing today is the recent Llewellyn release by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans. Featured on the box is The Moon card from this deck, and a lovely Moon I find her. The set includes a large outer box and a full sized companion book written by Ellen Dugan, as well as an oversized and flimsy white cardboard box which is meant to hold the cards, I suppose. Here I really must chastise Llewellyn for the spectacularly terrible packaging their decks receive, and as someone who buys nearly every new release, I can vouch for the fact that their packaging is only getting worse. In the first place, the boxes of the last several decks I have received from them have fallen apart almost immediately, and in the second place, the inner box meant to hold the cards offers absolutely no protection for the cards. They slip and slide in there, and the box would not hold up to a moth alighting upon it, so it is nearly worthless. They do tend to print a satin tarot bag for each deck they publish lately, so I wonder if they intentionally make the packaging so terrible you feel you have to spend more money on the matching bag. As a collector as well as a reader, this really saddens me. Very few of my decks ever leave my collection, but I would love to have boxes for my precious decks that stand the test of time, not to mention if I do decide to resell a deck at some point it is far less valuable with a box that is destroyed. As the US distributor for Lo Scarabeo, a company that issues their decks in sturdy boxes and their sets in nearly perfect packaging with heavy cardboard, magnetic closures, and secure places for the card to be kept safe, Llewellyn really should take a clue from their partners and improve this. The packaging of the publisher, though, has little to do with the deck, which I have found to be a wonderful reading deck. I must give full disclosure and mention that I am not a witch, nor Wiccan, nor even really that passionate a pagan. My own spirituality is more of an earthy kind of Christianity, one in which I believe the Trinity holds God and Goddess both, where this is the world they made together and it deserves to be honored, and one where I believe there is no more personal relationship than each person shares with the Divine, and it is not my place to pass judgment on anyone. That being said, I really enjoyed the The Witches Tarot Companion book, written by Ellen Dugan. I doubt there is a lot of new information in there for older practitioners of Wicca or similar earth based religions, but it was a great starter course for me, someone with little experience in the subject. Many of her interpretations give examples for coven dynamics. Each card meaning gives a large grey scale picture of the card, a description, elemental and astrological associations, as well as reversed and upright meanings. As with all books with meanings, I suggest you take what you can use and discard the rest. Artwork that speaks to you should always do most of the work of a reading. Physically, the card are near 2.75 inches by 4.5 inches, and fit nicely in the hand.The card stock is thin, though seems durable, and lightly varnished with no shininess or stickiness to them. The black border do show wear rather more quickly than I would prefer but that seems to be an issue with all dark bordered card. The backs feature a triple goddess symbol made from the actual phases of the moon set against a galactic backdrop, which is not fully reversible, with red being the top of the card and blue being the bottom. You will have to decide for yourself if this bothers you. There are 22 Major Arcana, with Strength at Trump VIII and Justice at Trump XI. Some of the Major Arcana have been renamed, such as the Hierophant becoming The High Priest, The Wheel of Fortune becoming The Wheel of the Year, The Devil becoming The Shadow Side, and Judgment becoming Karma. The pip cards are fully illustrated and the suits are Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles, totaling 56 Minor Arcana. Some neo-pagan decks assign the element of Fire to Swords and Air to Wands, but this deck follows Waite Smith tradition and uses Wands as Fire and Swords as Air. The court cards are Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings. Computer generated art is a very subjective thing, and some people love it while others loathe it. As for myself, there are many cards I do not care for aesthetically when they are by themselves, but in a reading they all look beautiful. There are many symbols in the cards and most of them will be familiar to students of Waite Smith tradition, as well as many pagan symbols to read for people who enjoy that tradition. This is probably a good deck for a beginner who enjoys CGI and wants to learn more about paganism or becoming a witch, since the book is so full of information and the symbolism so closely follows Waite Smith tradition. The author is quite knowledgeable about both and writes in a clear, concise manner that is also fun to read. The only nudity is the backside of The Star, and there is no gore or blood, with minimal violence in the images. All readers have different experiences, but it read very intuitively and gracefully for me, and never once did I puzzle over what the cards may be trying to express to me. I have found this deck very good at client readings, as well as my own questions, which range from the mundane to the deeply spiritual and personal. For me, it really has been well rounded reading deck which rises to any question put to it.

I really love this deck and though I don’t often use the guidebook, it is largish and informative plus it gives reversal meanings. It comes in a large, but very nice box. The cards are truly beautiful and they read easily intuitively. The five of Swords kind of tripped me up, but other than that, I haven’t had problems with reading. In the Major Arcana, the Devil card is called the Shadow Side and The Judgement card is called karma. The rest are as they are in the RW deck. For me, the only thing with going to a deck other than RW is that I find the symbolism in them do affect how I read them. I suppose that’s true on every deck that isn’t strictly RW. Having learned with RW, I have just had to adjust to all my other decks that each read a bit differently. I would really recommend these if you enjoy beautifully illustrated cards. I might also add they they are glossy and of a good size for shuffling. I hope that helps someone.

Really love this tarot set. I feel this deck was created especially for me. The art work is amazing and really speaks to me. Of all of my tarot decks, this is my favorite.