Another Witches Blogg

Wheee *glomps StitchwitchCottage*

Recently I won  a tarot deck from Stitchwitch Cottage which was very very exciting as it is the lovely Waking the Wild Tarot by Poppy Paylin, and I was just reading the some reviews on line, when I remembered that I had told a friend I would review the tarot cards I currently have as a practice run for reviewing her oracle card deck when it comes out some time in 2013ish, and I must say that from what I have seen so far  of my friends cards and book are going be an excellent oracle deck with a strong New Zealand focus whee.

However today I will review the Wildwood Tarot as I have been working with them exclusively over the last little while.

A Review of the Wildwood Tarot.

I was always going to love the artwork of these cards as they are by one of my now favourite artists Will Worthington.  He is the artist for the DruidCraft Tarot, Druid Animal Oracle, Druid Plant Oracle (with Philip & Stephanie Carr-Gomm) and the Green Man Tree Oracle (with John Matthews).

The Wildwood Tarot has been done in collaboration with Mark Ryan and John Mathews.  Now, the Wildwood Tarot has a bit of a history despite being only being published last year.  They are the remake of a very popular deck called the Greenwood, by Chesca Potter and Mark Ryan in 1996.  What made the Greenwood deck different from other decks was the replacement of all of the greekoroman/christen imagery with Pre-celtic symbolism from around Europe and Britain, heavily based in the Robin Hood myth.  You see Mark Ryan played Nasir in the Robin of Sherwood Series which screened when I was a teenager and what’s more Nasir  was always my favourite character.. I so wanted to be him when I grew up, there may have been some fangirl squeeing when I found this out! *coughs*..

 

I so wanted to be Nasir with two swords!

The other thing that I am really enjoying about working with these cards is that they are blunt, honest and at times brutal, it is not a deck for telling fortunes, rather it is a deck to gain perspective and sight at a deep magical level.  I have always had difficulty reading for myself as I have a tendency to shy away from the hard stuff that  or decided that I don’t like what I see therefore don’t see it.  With the Wildwood Tarot this is very hard to do, especially as I read out the passages from the book for each card.  I don’t do this when I read for others but do when I read for myself.  It’s a thing *grins*  Also when I brought the this deck I was told, so to speak that this deck was to be for my personal use only, which is very odd for me as I have always been comfortable with sharing my various oracle and tarot decks with others, but not so for this deck.  They are deeply personal and offer some very personal insights into what is happeneing or how I am feeling.  I have been doing a one card draw every day for a few weeks now, with the intent to get to know the cards more while also getting to understand myself as well.  It has been very very interesting.. remember the aforementioned blunt?  Well they are.

On a more physical level these cards are not huge, like the Druidcraft Tarot so are more easily shuffled, the card stock seems ok, but like most tarot cards will wear with use, they spread nicely and the backs of them are pretty much indistinguishable from each other.  Which is excellent for card reading. And the artwork is done in wonderful bright colours

I have both the Wildwood and Druidcraft which are by the same artists, but different authors, and I have to say that I have noticed a difference, not just in the physical art work which are both lovely, but also with the feel of each deck.  The Druidcraft seem to be lighter in a way that is difficult to explain, especially as the cards themselves are HUGE!, however there is a depth and heaviness to the Greenwood tarot that seems to draw out the secrets out of the dark.  It is in my opinion a very powerful deck.  Every deck of cards I have had over the years has felt different, and I am not just talking about what they are made from and how heavy they are but each deck, despite being bits of inanimate cardboard, have always ended up having different energy about them.  I figure this is to do with the person who owns them and how they use them, and connects with them.  Anyhoo, that may well be a topic for another post.



The artwork of the Wildwood Tarot has been drawn as opposed to painted as with Mr Worthingtons other decks but this does not detract from the beauty of the artwork on the cards themselves.  For the Wildwood Tarot Mr Worthington has stayed with initial theme of the original Greenwood Tarot painted by Chesca Potter, while managing, I believe to enhance the images and meaningful add detail.  So there while there are differences in the art work between the Greenwood and Wildwood they are still very similar.  Those that are more familiar with the Greenwood may not like what Mr Worthington has done but I find it beautiful and evocative.

Over all I would recommend this deck for people, especially if they are looking for a deck for personal work and use, are not looking for fortune telling, and they want to it to be honest.  With one caveat, if these cards and their artwork do not speak to you, do not appeal then these are not the tarot cards you are looking for.  When choosing tarot, it is important to go with a deck where there artwork speaks to you. Mmk.