The Wildwood Tarot Deck: Wherein Wisdom Resides

This is a phenomenal deck. I've used Kris Waldherr's Goddess deck for many years, and I love the rich imagery and goddess mythology of its major arcana, but I'd always wanted to find one with more depth and detail in the minor arcana, as well as one that's more gender-neutral. Most important, I wanted a deck that isn't based on Judeo-Christian symbolism, and I've never really clicked with the imagery of the Native American–based decks I've seen. This one has Celtic/Druidic/pagan/shamanic roots and its artwork calls to mind illustrations in the tradition of British children's fantasy literature—the Narnia Chronicles, Lord of the Rings, Wind in the Willows, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain, and so on—and every card is gorgeously rendered and distinctly individual. The Wheel of the Year strongly connects the deck to the natural world as well as to astrological charts, and the "wildwood" theme beautifully symbolizes the psychology of the unconscious mind. The accompanying book is invaluable for initiating the reader into the deck's mysteries, as some of the cards aren't readily identifiable with their corresponding cards in decks with more common symbolism (even Goddess has many similarities to Ryder-Waite type decks). Some cards even have meanings that appear to be very different from other decks—for instance, the Five of Vessels is titled "Ecstasy," not at all what one usually associates with the Five of Cups! Until I recalled a line from the final i Ching hexagram, "a hidden sadness resides in the heart of true euphoria," which helped integrate the apparently disparate meanings. I've found the court cards most difficult to assimilate, as each is represented by an animal, and cultural conditioning has given us associations with, for example, the eel or the stoat that are quite different from what those animals represent in this deck—so there's a fair amount of unlearning to be done in order to fully appreciate some of the meanings here. But if you're up for that challenge, the rewards are great. Best of all, the more I work with this deck the more I appreciate its remarkable ability to answer "the question behind the question"—that is, to really get to the heart of things; if a question deals with surface matters, the deck seems to simply ignore the surface and cut right to the underlying issues. Don't expect easy answers; do expect deep ones. As others have mentioned, one could wish it had been printed on better-quality paper; and as an editor I read the book with red pen in hand to correct occasional errors, but these are small quibbles with a truly unique and wonderful deck.

I had already been doing copious research into my Celtic heritage, so the numerous references to Celtic myth had immense appeal -- and the collaborators have put in real British Isles landmarks; one reviewer complained about the "emphasis on genitals," but the Cerne Abbas giant (Five of Bows) is just as real as the sheela-na-gig carvings, one of which appears on the Green Woman's cauldron. How are you going to deal with ancient themes of sexuality and fertility by censoring the culture this deck is based on? Heaven forbid that reviewer ever stumbles across Edo-period Japanese woodblock prints. I also have to put it right out there that (a) I apparently got a reprinting of the deck in which the card stock isn't the least bit flimsy, and (b) I wasn't upset by the fact that this deck doesn't correspond perfectly to the Rider-Waite standard major arcana and interpretations. If I wanted Rider-Waite, I would have bought that. The Devil card has morphed into a bear skeleton guarding a cave -- but it is still challenging the querent. If greed is an obstacle for them, the Rider-Waite Devil will come up. If there is some obstacle preventing the querent from going further on their journey -- as it is heavily implied that the querent wants to, or must, enter whatever the Guardian's cave represents to them -- then humans being what we are, it might be greed, whether material or emotional. I don't see a problem. The Devil card, using a representation that is a slander of Horned Gods like Pan and Cernunnos, simply wouldn't have fit a Celtic/Druid reconstructionist deck that uses many, many horned or horn-wearing figures. (The Ancestor, number 5, is a benevolent figure; even the one experiencing death, in the newly construed Journey card, was a reindeer in its most recent life.) This is a different deck that has obviously resonated with many, including me. It might not be for everyone. If you want the standard Rider-Waite system, and just can't map their "Cups" onto the "Vessels" of this deck, then this might not be the one for you. It is, however, the one for me. I've always been a nature lover (not, as a different reviewer thinks that implies, a humanity-hater), and so the arcana and court cards with beautiful illustrations of herons, kingfishers, stoats, swans, and even a horse that looks very much like those in cave paintings absolutely resonated with me. The magick shop on the grounds of the Renaissance Faire where I work commented that they can hardly keep this deck in stock (at more than twice Amazon's price, mind), and having it in hand, I can see why. I had done some looking through the available "Look Inside" images and liked them, but the photographs just don't do them justice. Looking at the Hooded Man up close, I can now see what the book comments on: that there is light shining through the cracks in the hermit's door, and it looks like a snug and cozy little home-sweet-tree. It may indeed be a hermitage, but it's one with friendly wrens around it, hardly as bleak as the truly solitary Hermit imagery appropriated by Led Zeppelin for album cover art. Another positive reviewer commented that they wept at a few of the cards, and I fully understand this, too. The first one that got me was arcanum 10, The Wheel, which is now an unfinished robe with that design, rather than the sort of Miltonic Catherine-wheel apparatus from Rider-Waite that is constantly dumping people off at the bottom. I couldn't say (yet! I haven't asked these cards anything yet -- they just arrived today) whether this was because the lyrics of the Grateful Dead song "The Wheel" instantly leapt to mind -- while their main lyricist used images of American myth like cowboys and trains, which could make a fascinating deck in and of themselves, he also used far more ancient ones -- or what else about it stirred me emotionally. The book comments that we create our "wheel" and wear it around with us, rather than being passive victims of it. Maybe that struck a note. I think, partly, that what makes this a deck I'm fascinated with is beyond even my beloved Celtic imagery, or the association of the cards with the quarters and cross-quarters of the year. A large part of the story is told by card 0, which is The Wanderer here, rather than The Fool. In Rider-Waite, the rather well-dressed youth is about to walk off a cliff, despite what we imagine is the frantic barking of his little dog, and will clearly be hurt by doing so. In this deck, the Wanderer can see something that others who came to this cliff might not be able to: a rainbow bridging the mist and leading into the forest, and we come to understand that the barefoot youth, standing in for the querent, not only can but must walk over this bridge created by their own mind, imagination, or heart. I find this reimagining a great deal more symbolically and psychologically potent. I can see using this deck for readings, but as the book suggests, for myself or with a querent who seemed likely to come up with a genuinely productive question: e.g. "What energies or aspects do I need in my home?" rather than "Should I buy this particular house, and where am I going to get the money?" The book points out correctly that most such oracles are better for asking the question at the root of the issue, and the spreads provided in the back of the book reflect this (although The Bow Spread was designed for situations where there really is a single question to be sorted). There is a simple three-card spread that sweeps away all of the "fortune-telling" aspects of the Tarot, which someone with the right knowledge could accomplish with a deck of ordinary playing cards and a few cold-reading skills. This spread places the main question in the middle, and flanks it with "actions or paths I should definitely not take" and "actions or paths likely to be helpful." Much like the way the student who pleads for a passing grade is unlikely to be failing your class alone, the querent is likely to have more situations needing resolution than just the money for the fancy house, and this deck seems more likely than most to help them see the common threads in their experiences. On representation in human figures: The deck does skew a bit male in its human representations, although I like The Ancestor and The Archer looking female, and this deck is not the only place you'll find a Green Woman to accompany a Green Man. I do find that, although the book states that the robed figure on the left in The Forest Lovers is male and then goes into a bit of protesting-too-much about the necessity of the gender duality, I have no difficulty seeing the robed figure as another woman. Also, the imagery is very specifically European throughout the deck, and much of it taken from a time when Britain simply wasn't as ethnically diverse as it is today. If a querent needed to see themselves represented in a deck, which might be something really necessary for that person, there are other decks with beautiful art that show people of color (The Cat People Tarot comes to mind, and there have got to be others I'm not thinking of just now). I think this might have been one of the many reasons behind having animals throughout the deck (I note the salmon who is the Queen of Vessels is female for very obvious biological reasons; the Queen of Bows is a female hare; and the boxing hares on the Two of Stones also represent a real behavior specific to females, although that one is a bit more obscure). If a potential purchaser wants to skip over this deck because they have a lot of querents of color, who don't want to have to go without representation when they're laying their souls bare and there just weren't a lot of people of their ethnicity in Bronze Age Britain, fair play -- although that would also be a reason to give Rider-Waite a miss, in this era where there are alternatives that aren't based solely around white Europeans -- or around Christians, for that matter. What I do know is that, for me -- having been turned back to Celtic history, culture, and ultimately religion like the aforementioned salmon, who is returning to her birthplace, but more importantly a Wildwood lover since very early childhood -- the deck is a total delight. (I had to look to find the copyright notice on the backs of the cards, and, as a content creator myself with friends who have made careers in visual arts only to have their art stolen and used for commercial use by someone else, I am simply not that bothered by it.) The artwork and symbolism rang the proverbial bell for me. And I don't mean a handbell, I mean one you could use in a cathedral tower to be heard for miles. It's also rather a feat to have a card where a lady in/of a lake is in the foreground, with a still figure lying in a boat in the background -- as the book explains, to be taken to an island and healed -- and not ever say "Avalon." But just as video-game fans delight in finding "Easter eggs" -- little in-jokes, references, secrets -- embedded in their entertainment, I was thrilled to find all of the little Pict-orial references to real prehistory and early history: not only is there a sheela-na-gig on the Green Woman's cauldron, but the Shaman's robe has a real-world, very early depiction of a bearded man staring at the viewer, wearing a deer skin and seemingly in the process of transforming into a deer or at least taking on the persona for religious or celebratory reasons. The artwork on the Ace of Stones will be familiar to those who like to study such things -- and that identical labyrinth reappears on arcanum 21, The World Tree, as the final puzzle to be solved before the Wanderer's journey is finished. There are more. (I will leave the ability of the Hooded Man to have a repeating, rather intricate design woven into his garb like modern flowered fabrics as an exercise in pondering for the reader.) I did wonder why two cards showing celebrations and camaraderie were heterosocial. The Four of Bows seems to depict only women, while the Eight of Bows is only men (the latter is the more puzzling because "family" is repeated twice in the book description, and even families of choice often include both biological sexes). Maybe there is some anthropology I have yet to read that will support this? But my delight in this deck is complete. I discovered I had a gift card balance I wasn't aware of, and the deck, with tax and shipping, came just 20 cents shy of the card balance. I really don't think I could have used it better, given both personal religious reasons supported by the deck, and the simple joy of imagining myself in the Wildwood. The second mystery, besides the magic money that paid for it, is that my gentleman friend, since I opened the deck earlier this evening and both of us had a look through it, has repeated several times that he's glad I got this deck. While he shares my ethnic and cultural heritage and supports my related research interests, this man has never expressed any particular interest in Tarot or oracle cards -- we've lived together for seven years; he knows I have multiple Tarot decks; and he's never so much as requested a reading. My best guess on this one is that he's just pleased to see me so happy with this deck! Okay -- I can't stop -- more responses to what I found to be strange complaints about the deck: 1. There are no reversals. Okay, so it's been noted by positive and negative reviewers alike that many of the cards are substantially different in name, image, and meaning from the usual ones. I'm at a loss for how you'd go about reversing the meaning of this deck's Guardian, for example, or how you would reverse the symbolism of a heron, horse, stoat, eel, et al. There are also other oracles, or parts of them, that don't have reversed meanings -- off the top of my head, I can think of at least four of 24 Elder Futhark runes that don't have reversals when used for divination because they're symmetrical, and you can't tell the difference between the symbol reversed or not without marking the top of the rune stone in some way... which is pretty much cheating (and useless if you add a blank "Odin's rune" to the set). 2. There are too many animal cards, because admiring animals or their symbolism means you hate humans or being human. Unfortunately, this kind of dualistic thinking is much too common -- like the folks who think a white person supporting Black Lives Matter must hate their own whiteness or at least feel some sort of guilt for it. This is ridiculous on its face; in this deck, for example, there are still plenty of human or humanoid figures, and a few with neither human nor animal pictured (or pictured only as tiny background spectators, like the three herons in The Wheel). I guarantee I don't feel guilty for not being a standing stone or a house. 3. This deck "pushes a hippie political agenda." I'm not sure they had hippies in Bronze Age Europe. I also can't find any trace of a political agenda, unless you look at the Six of Stones/"Exploitation" card and somehow translate "Please don't smash open all the beehives, because we, as a species, need living bees to pollinate plants if we don't want to starve" as "politics." Or maybe the prominence of tartan fabrics on the clothed human figures (even the woman in that card is still wearing a plaid) is some kind of "hippie" push for Scottish independence. I don't even know with this one. 4. The suit cards have little words on the bottom margin reminding us of a main meaning of a card. This is a complaint? Really? As with the reversals "problem," I'm left wondering how many new meanings (because there are, as discussed previously, some cards that are completely different from their counterparts in other decks) these people want to memorize. There have been studies showing humans can only remember, at best, the names and faces of 200 or so people at any one time, and in order to meet and remember new people, we have to forget the names of some others. I wouldn't be surprised if Tarot card meanings had a similar limit. Seriously, this may not be a deck for the beginner, unless you want it mainly for self-study -- which is never a bad reason to have an oracle around, as the book itself points out. (However, a beginner might also come to it free of the cultural baggage of other decks, and specifically won't be comparing it to Rider-Waite every two or three cards.) But what it is, save for some of the prefatory material about each contributor -- I could have lived a long and happy life without knowing that Mark Ryan voiced two characters in the godawful Michael Bay Transformers movies -- that needed a sterner editorial hand, is excellent. Certain visual concepts which are repeated throughout the deck help in learning the meanings: whenever a figure is flanked by two trees or bow staves, for example, there's a gateway for the querent to pass through. And the ways repeated motifs change ask questions of their own. The Ancestor, a deer-headed woman with a bodhrán frame drum and bone striker for it, becomes The Stag just a few cards later: the gender is changed; the round skin-covered object is now a shield, and the raised object in the other hand becomes an axe. What's the difference? Back to the book to read the descriptions again, and gain a deeper understanding of each card in doing so. Humans like to see reasons for things all over the place, and sometimes there just aren't any. I am profoundly thankful that I had an Amazon balance just enough to allow me to get this wonderful deck, especially at this point in my life and study of early Celtic myth and culture. Some people would say a higher power knew that I needed this deck right now. Maybe. I'm not ruling it out, especially given the Horned Goddess figure appearing on the box's cover. I just couldn't be happier that I now own this beautiful deck, accompanied by the book and its sometimes pointed insights into human nature.

I love these cards so much. I learned about them watching a YouTuber called Rainbow Harmony. One cool thing about these cards is that the book that comes with them is full of wisdom. It is nature based and a lot of the concepts in it relate to living lightly on the earth and in harmony with nature. But there are also admonitions to care lovingly for yourself and other sound psychological principles. The beautiful artwork draws you in so that you almost feel like you are in an ancient European forest. There is a strong sense of ancient spirituality. I personally like oracle decks better than tarot, so this is actually the only tarot deck I own. I went through the book and made notes about how the cards correspond to the traditional tarot. I feel like they expand the original meanings. And maybe go deeper, at least for me. According to Rainbow Harmony, they have a divine masculine vibe that some decks lack. They were created by two men, so that could account for it. The discussion of divine feminine and masculine has nothing to do with your physical gender. It as more to do with the traditional understandings of Yang and Yin energies. The individuals in the pictures are mostly depicted as of neutral gender, which is another interesting aspect. Maybe they won't resonate with everyone. But I'm glad I purchased my own set. My only complaint is that one of my cards came with a tiny tear on the edge. But they're kind of flimsy, so will look worn with use anyway, so it's okay with me.

I started reading Tarot a few years back as a self-exploration exercise and was drawn to the Wildwood Deck after seeing the cards on another practitioner's YouTube. Immediately, the primal, ancient, and mystical imagery grabbed my attention and piqued my interest. I picked it up as my first-ever Tarot Deck. I've loved the deck ever since! Every image is incredibly evocative, and there are useful "summations" of the card meanings at the bottoms of each one. It jumpstarted my fascination with Tarot, and though I've picked up other decks since, this remains my go-to. It even helped jumpstart my journey into other metaphysical and earth-based practices, such as Druidry and Wicca. As a first deck, I will say this can be a little harder than most. Nearly all of the cards (and even the Suites) are renamed, the order of some of the Major Arcana differs from the Rider-Waite, and some of the Wildwood card interpretations can feel at first glance like a large departure from some traditional analysis (the 9 and 10 of Swords/Arrows, for example). The Guidebook also, while very rich in lore and esoteric musings to jumpstart your creativity around the deck, doesn't give a lot of practical breakdowns of the cards themselves. While I might not recommend it as a first deck (even though it was mine!), I strongly encourage you to pick this up eventually... especially if you have a fondness for the magickal or spiritual ideologies of the Old World. It is so beautiful and impactful! I never get tired of learning something new from it!

As this deck has been very thoroughly reviewed here, I'll just add some personal reflections. The Good: This is about 99% of the deck. The artwork, the card stock, the box and book...all just as I'd like them to be. The images speak volumes, so I've added photos of all the cards and the packaging. They feel good in the hand, not overly slippery and more of a matte finish. Will Worthington's artwork, for the most part, is gorgeous and has an active, engaging feel. As a Pagan, I love the Celtic/Shamanic/ancient imagery (which are, as a plus, void of the Christian symbolism of the traditional RWS cards). Sturdy box for storing the cards...lovely...and the book is a wealth of information. The Bad: Actually I don't have anything to put here... There's nothing I've found which would make me say, "I don't like these cards because..." The Questionable: Hmm, a few points here, but these are points that may be "meh" for me and completely great for others. As a Tarot beginner, these decidedly do not follow the RWS symbolism and interpretation (to an extent, anyway), so the book that comes with the cards is not only informative, it's vital to understanding what you're interpreting. This means you can't just go to any "How To" book because the card meanings likely won't match up. I knew this before I bought the deck, so it's not a problem - just means it'll be a bit before I develop my intuitive abilities enough and remember the new meanings to get a good reading. Borderless would also have been great, as the illustrations are amazing, but this is never a deal-breaker for me (I have contemplated taking the scissors to my decks and just cannot do it - sacrilege! hehe). And finally, a few of the cards stop me or make me scratch my head (Nine of Bows - the Wodwose, for example - is just freaky, and I cannot associate "respect" with that card just yet). Overall, I'm pleased with this deck. I was hoping for a more instant connection with it (based on other reviews and seeing the artwork online), but it looks like I'll have to spend some time with it. In general, I like it enough to take the time to work with it and understand what it's showing me, so that says a lot. And even if I never read with this deck, it is a beautiful and well-presented item to add to my growing Tarot collection. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an RWS alternative or to those with a Pagan/Celtic worldview who are drawn to this deck.

There's enough parity with RWS to get you started, but it's not a direct clone--and there are plenty of cards that are simply different. But even the cards that are closely aligned to their RWS counterparts show a different facet of the idea in a way the expanded my understanding in a transferable way--which is one of my goals in exploring variations, so I'm very pleased. As a primary deck I think this stands on it's own just fine and could easily be a first deck and primary deck. The artwork is compelling and complete, and there are visible themes running throughout. It has a more primal theme and feel. The quality of the cards themselves is good. While the box is obnoxiously large for card storage, that's the price of having a full size book to read and familiarize yourself with the cards and the intent in their design--and they're different enough in atmosphere and meaning that reading the book is a good idea. The deck feels something like a romanticized camping trip for the subconscious. Everything feels more primal and focused on living in harmony with the land rather than domesticating, controlling, and industrializing it. It strips out the shadow of feudalism and Christendom of RWS and replaces it with a stone age animism.

These cards are beautiful. I love the book's layout and how helpful/insightful it is alongside the cards. Definitely recommend.

I'm a heavily science minded individual (I have a PhD in neurochemistry for reference) that has never put much stock into astrology or other "fortune telling games". However, in an attempt to silence a bout of destructive anxiety of late I decided to have fun with something such as Tarot (those of you flocking to correct me or scream at me for such slanderous speech, hear me out). I initially purchased "The Wild Unknown" deck, and while the art was beautiful (and unique) and the descriptions intricate, I did not feel in any way connected to the cards. Even in the initial readings when referencing the book, the cards and the descriptions felt alien to each other, and forced. For those of you interested in that set, I highly recommend it and still use it occasionally, but it is not for me as a reader or as the one being read. After shelving Tarot (literally and figuratively) for a few months, I got back into meditation to continue coping with my anxiety and decided to look for another set of Tarot cards that I felt more intuitively. That's when I spotted The Wildwood Tarot deck. I've always felt drawn to and connected to nature, both in a physical sense as well as "spiritually" you could say, and the concept of Druidism has always intrigued me. Upon receiving the Wildwood deck, I opened the box and immediately read the first couple of chapters. I spent a good deal of time studying the Wheel of the Year, and all of its interconnections and symbolism. Afterwards, I looked through each of the cards and was shocked at how much they spoke to me. I studied the art on each card as well as the descriptors and immediately felt as if I could close my eyes and envision myself within the card. The images are so clear, the pictures so nuanced and complete, that I could immediately give a reading based solely on the card and the intricate details presented within the artwork. There is not one card in this deck that I could not immediately relate to. Know that I'm not even a novice reader, and barely a beginner, but this deck has made me enthusiastic about taking a journey into Tarot, if not entirely in a spiritual sense, but as a means of clarity in reflection.