The Wildwood Tarot
I have a controversial opinion. For the season of the witch during the sabbats of Samhain, Yule and Imbolc no tarot is a better choice than the wildwood to manifest intuition, connect with your spirit guides, or predict the future.
While the gold standard for tarot readers is the Rider Waite, for all nature based practioners of the craft the Wild Wood Tarot is a far superior choice. It’s archetypes are not only original- the minor archana is stones, bows, arrows and vessels- the major arcana is based off of Celtic mythology making it my favorite deck to use.
Have you ever watched Harry Potter and wondered what shape animal your patronus would take? The concept of many of the cards in the wildwood is conceptualized along similar ideas. The lynx card is about being strategic with how you approach conflict.
The tower card in this mythology is about a lightning bolt striking an Oak Tree. It’s a very cool card and a lot less horrible those few times you pull the tower card and pretend you didn’t.
I belive this is the most Wiccan lore tarot there is and I can’t recommend it enough. I get excited every time I think to use mine.
The Crow Tarot
My second favorite Tarot deck after the Wildwood but in a similar vein is the Crow tarot. I highly recommend this to fans of Edgar Allen Poe and his famous The Raven poem. It fits perfectly into the theme of nevermore and of following a murder of crows on a path only magic can lead you. Let the cards guide you on important decisions and if you could imagine your spirit animal as a raven where would it lead you? Let the crow tarot decide.
Happy Halloween Tarot
Remember the movie Nightmare Before Christmas and how all the different holidays had their own town and for this movie the focus was on Halloween Town? In a fitting tribute, my third favorite Tarot is the Happy Halloween Tarot. It is a perfect complement to the most sacred day of the year, the Sabbat Samhain. While the card stock is thinner than I normally like, I adore the theme of a tarot deck that pays tribute to the Halloween season. I think for many of us, it is the witch Christmas and once it’s over only until Starbucks releases its pumpkinspice latte the last week of August can we break out the Halloween decor and celebrate our favorite sabbat season again.
Edgar Allan Poe Tarot
The original dark academic, poet, folk horror writer and a fitting follow up to the crow tarot is the Edgar Allen Poe Tarot. I can’t say enough how much I love this deck. The back is inspired by the raven from nevermore and every card is a dark academia dream. I read this deck every Wednesday in honor of another dark academia influenced show Wednesday, the 2020s Addam’s Family revival television series.
The Celtic Tarot
The Celtic Tarot by Kristoffer Hughes is a favorite of Celticists in the tarot community for drawing on Welsh and Celtic mythology like dragons, druids, the tree of life etc. For LGBT tarot users, this might be an especially relevant deck to use because of the lovers card and its portrayal of two same sex lovers. Hughes himself is gay and part of the community. The artwork is beautiful and it does feel like a tarot deck meant for the six Celtic nations.