The Witches' Wisdom Tarot (Deluxe Keepsake Edition): A 78-Card Deck and Guidebook

by Phyllis Curott, Danielle Barlow (Illustrator)

A brand-new tarot deck radiant with mystical energy by renowned American Wiccan Priestess Phyllis Curott and British Hedgewitch and artist Danielle Barlow.

The Witches' Wisdom Tarot brings users into the heart of what it means to be a Witch, a wise one who lives with reverence for the land, for life, and for the magic that flows through us.

The Witches' Wisdom Tarot is more than just a divination tool for Witches. Radiant with numinous energy and magical imagery, it is a doorway for everyone who wishes to encounter and understand the Sacred--in reals of Spirit, embodied by Nature, and residing within our hearts. Presented in a deluxe, large-size box, the cards are wrapped in an eco-friendly hessian bag alongside a comprehensive guidebook.
Best-selling Wiccan author Phyllis Curott and Hedgewitch Danielle Barlow journeyed for each of the images, spreads, and spells, seeking the divine wisdom of Mother Earth and diving deep beneath traditional archetypes and the ceremonial symbolism of the ubiquitous Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
The Minor Arcana reveal the primal sources of swords and wands, cups, and pentacles, drawing on the spiritual teachings of the elements. Each card immerses users in the beauty, wisdom, and embodied divinity of Nature and offers a mirror for them to recognize that they too are part of Nature. The Major Arcana will speak to users of any spirituality, age, race, or gender identity with culturally diverse mythological, archetypal, and sacred imagery, guiding them on their path of self-knowledge and purpose.

Genres: Tarot, Nonfiction

176 pages, Cards

Published October 27, 2020

About the author

Phyllis Curott is one of America’s first public Wiccan Priestesses, an attorney, and an author whose groundbreaking books, published in fourteen countries, have made Wicca accessible to the world and awakened an entire generation to the Goddess. She is founder of the Temple of Ara, the world’s oldest shamanic Wiccan congregation, and was the Vice Chair Emerita of the 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions, and creator of the historic Inaugural Assembly and drafter of the Declaration for the Dignity and Human Rights of Women adopted by the 2015 Parliament. Named one of the Ten Gutsiest Women of the Year by Jane Magazine and called one of "America's leading voices" by Time Magazine, Curott was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium of Clergy and Scholars in 2014. Curott received her Bachelor's Degree degree in Philosophy from Brown University and her Juris Doctor from New York University. She is currently living on Long Island and working on her next book, Wicca: Awaken the Divine Magic within You, out November 2018 with a companion online class Spring 2019 for Hay House.

www.phylliscurott.com
Represented by Cullen Stanley International

Reviews

[Tarot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Tarot deck makes no sense at first glance, but knowing the creators' process behind it makes a huge difference in whether you'll want it and how you might approach it.

There are plenty of unboxing and flip-through videos like mine to show the beautiful packaging, thick oversize cards, and lovely illustrations, so I'll focus on the guidebook and creative process of this deck.

The guidebook is easy enough for new Witches, Tarot beginners, and Oracle-only users to understand. There are short explanations to get you started with Divination, Guided Visualization, Journeying, Meditation, Invocation, and Spellcasting.

The guidebook also specifies that it's not designed to be read with reversals, but it's totally up to the reader to decide.

In addition, each card description contains:
- The title of the card (not shown on the Minors)
- Wisdom (a description and meaning of the illustration)
- Essence (card keywords)
- Counsel (considerations and journal prompts)
- Magic (a ritual or contemplation you can perform to connect more deeply with the card)

Supplementing the WEALTH of knowledge and exercises in the guidebook, here are my notes from their interview, Phyllis Curott and Michelle Pilley discuss the Witches' Wisdom Tarot (YouTube).

Phyllis Curott -- American Wiccan Priestess
Danielle Barlow -- UK Hedgewitch

First thing to know: Majors are in reverse order, it shows the journey of The Pilgrim (the lady in The World) on her way to another World

They name-dropped Dr. Michael Harner as a starting point for the creation of this Tarot because they learned Shamanic Journeying from him -- they asked Spirit Guides to help create this deck

- Wikipedia: Michael James Harner (April 27, 1929 – February 3, 2018) was an anthropologist, educator and author. He founded the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and the New Age practice of "Core Shamanism." His 1980 book, The Way of the Shaman: a Guide to Power and Healing, has been foundational in the development and popularization of "core shamanism" as a path of personal development for new age adherents of neoshamanism (I wanted this book in college but didn't have the time/money to get into it).

Guides told Phyllis to forget the Tarot symbols, start w the Elements
- started w Air (East), Fire (South in Northern Hemisphere), Water (West), Earth (North)
- creators journeyed, journeyed into each other's journeys too, took notes of what they saw and experienced, then compared -- had over 200 journeys in 22 days
- Elements said, we're not metaphors, we are us, we're part of humans, but humans are part of us too
- creators experienced many animal and plant Guides too, spoke of them as kin with lessons for humanity -- solving problems, healing, blessings all (I love this)
- Phyllis notes that in Christianity, people can't look upon God bc they'll literally go blind according to the Bible, but the Guides for this deck said instead to remove the blindfold we wear that tells us that - there isn't anything special or Magycal or Divine about our world and see that all the connections of nature, and even of Divination, are there for us to see, connect to, learn from, heal with, nurture within
- Phyllis emphasized this being a healing deck with the natural world

Phyllis's first experience with Witchcraft was a Tarot reading by a Witch, she's been on the Witch's Path ever since
- she notes that traditional RWS imagery is heavily Abrahamic, and The Devil is a figure that doesn't exist in Witchcraft and casted a harmful shadow on the thousands-year-old Indigenous Practices of Europe, Witchcraft doesn't recognize "evil" but instead that all things are aspects of the Divine

Phyllis expected to start her Shamanic Journeying by confronting the patriarchal Abarahmic figure of The Magician, but instead, found herself in The World with a metropolis burning and people leaving it for the natural world, it was a depiction of the real world and the troubles happening, but also the refuge of the natural world

Phyllis also name-drops Rachel Pollack as one of the world's leading humanists, and paraphrases when she said that Divination helps us connect w the Divine, but the tool itself can have biases/filters/lenses through which we receive those messages, especially via the values of the time, which is why we see a lot of decks now moving away from the patriarchy of the Golden Dawn and RWS (they were radical and groundbreaking for their day, but not now 100 years later) to more feminine decks (I agree w all this, that's why it's so important to pick a deck that speaks to what you resonate with and your personal values)

This deck isn't designed to replace RWS and traditional symbolism, but rather show things that were missing, a different side of the Divine and the different ways in which Spirit/Energy manifests and embodies itself in our world

Phyllis: "you can't understand the journey without if you can't understand the journey within" (wow, so true! loving this lady)

Phyllis notes that all the figures in the cards are teachers, either ones The Pilgrim (the lady in The World) meets or The Pilgrim herself as a Shapeshifter, turning into and learning from all the different people in the deck regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, etc.
- Phyllis says she's not concerned with people thinking of them showing all the different POC, transgender, and cultures of color as appropriating bc they are all teachers who showed themselves during their journeys, so their job was to pay attention, respect, and learn
- High Priestess is the Libyan Sibyl Phyllis met in a Journey 40 years ago as a messenger of the Goddess Isis
- their Tower card replaces the lightning bolt of the Abrahamic God's wrath, destruction, and demand into The Maze, which is a gentler call to pay attention to what's happening around us, it may be difficult but we can overcome all obstacles towards healing and growth
- their Devil is instead The Ancestor, shows one of the indigenous women Phyllis met many years ago who blessed her, the card is about releasing/forgiving inherited wounds and giving thanks to our ancestors (WOW...)
- The Chariot is instead The Journey, The Pilgrim guiding a horse through an intense landscape, The Pilgrim and The Horse are in partnership, not one dominating the other, and must trust each other to make it through with nature as a third partner
- The Magician is instead The Council of All Beings, people from all cultures, plants and animals of all kinds, The Pilgrim is invited to partake in the universal lessons of all these teachers, The World is on fire in crisis and we all need to work our Magyc together to help it
- The Fool is instead The Pilgrim, but she's not a fool, she joyfully heads into the unknown with all these lessons now, supporting by the Earth and those she has met, ready for a new journey

[Teri Uktena · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have appreciated Phyllis Curott's writing for years and still go back to it from time to time. This, however, is not her best work. It's an odd mashup of Hero's journey with witchcraft tropes in a vaguely tarot format.

She's using the traditional elements for the suits, but the images connected with them are contradictory so water symbols are used for fire, earth for air and so on. She explains this as being an earth grounded form of tarot but there are numerous better examples of this on the market today such as The Green Witch Tarot and The Wildwood Tarot.

And what is supposed to be the major arcana seems to be in name only. There are a smattering of cards which have similar names to a traditional deck, but that's about as close as it gets.

This would have been better marketed as an oracle deck or something for personal meditation. Trying to force the tarot structure on it just creates a mess.

[Sheri Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This is an impressive set that Hay House put out this year. It is exceptionally well made and the little details in the box, guidebook, tarot bag and the cards themselves are not left unnoticed. I hope that this publisher continues new sets like this, it is really very appreciated and a great deck. The guidebook does need to be read because there is some differences in this deck vs the RWS deck. It is a deck that is easy enough to interpret on intuition but the guidebook also gives additional info and ways to use the card magically, which I also quite enjoy that detail. Love, love, love!

[Ellie Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There’s a Witch, a wise one, within us all. And above all, a Witch must know and be true to themselves. Know yourself, and a divine world of wisdom, beauty, and blessings opens to you. A world of magic opens to you.”

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing to know about this deck is; it doesn't read like tarot. You'll need to train yourself to think about it in a new, different way.
The second thing is, this is a very fancy set. It opens with a magnet on the side to reveal a beautiful interior, illustrated with trees, a fox watching over us, and a poem by the set's writer. The cards sit in a well on the right hand side. The box is very sturdy and would stand up well to being carried about, but it's big and probably won't fit in most purses.

However, the producers have thought of that! The cards come in a lovely hessian bag, featuring the design from the back of the cards and a cord closure. I have to admit, I don't own any bags yet, my decks all live in their boxes, so this is lovely to have, and the cards in their bag would fit much better into a handbag if you wanted to carry them around.

The guidebook has a lovely linen-feel cover. The endpapers continue the wood theme from the box, in blues and gold. The pages of the book are a beautiful smooth feeling paper; the book is a pleasure to hold before we ever get to the contents.

There's a lot of information in the book; I've read through it a few times and am still discovering bits I missed or didn't absorb fully. It's written very simply, there's just so much here! There's a brief background to the creation of the deck, some history of tarot in general and how it relates to this deck in particular, and some tips on how to make this deck feel like yours and how to get the best out of it. This includes three spreads; One Card, Three Card, and a custom spread called the Compass Rose. I haven't tried that one yet as I'm still learning the cards, but it certainly looks like it delves deeply into a situation - it takes eleven cards, mostly doubled over each other to provide extra insight. Once I can handle that spread I'll feel like I know this deck! After all that, we're on page 38 and we reach the cards themselves.

Explanations start in the Minor Arcana. Each card has a full page; no images, but plenty of information. There's a keyword, a Wisdom section which is essentially a description, Essence which is extra keywords, Counsel which is expanded meanings and finally Magic, which is a spell or guided meditation that the card is suited for. The Majors have two pages; still no images, but the number of the card and the number of the standard Major it corresponds to, and all the other sections as in the Minors. Wisdom and Counsel are extended further for the Majors. After them there's a table of Major correspondences for quick look up.

A quick note; the book says that the deck is designed to be used upright only, and no reversed meanings are included; the note does say that if you feel moved to do so, use reversals anyway and let your intuition guide you to the correct meanings. That's very much a personal thing, but it is something to be aware of.

Now; the cards. The back is a beautiful deep blue with gold highlights. They're among the larger cards I've handled; not quite impossible to handle, but getting up there for me. Those with smaller hands will probably need to turn them on end and shuffle them that way rather than on the length. They have a lovely feel, not quite glossy, but they move and shuffle really well without sticking or clinging. The images are borderless. Majors have their number and name on a band at the bottom; Minors have the number and suit name on a similar band.

As part of the reimagining of the deck, the Majors have all received new names, and they've been flipped back to front; the card that corresponds to the Magician, for instance, the Council of All Beings, is number 21 in the deck. The number 1 card is The World. There is so much amazing detail in these cards, I really can't overstate it.

Instead of Page, Knight, Queen and King, we have Messenger, Witch, Craftsman and Goddess in each suit. These are the only Minors with human figures on them; Ace through Ten have only animals and, in some cases, only natural vistas.


As a deck:

I tried to read the book and look at each card when I first got the set, and although I did get through the deck I didn't really absorb anything. It's too much for my little brain to take in at once. What I've found works better for me is to take some time in the evenings and choose one or two cards, study them closely, read the book and find the commonalities between the picture and the meaning. Once I let go of expecting them to match my knowledge of Tarot, I found it was easy to find those commonalities; for instance, the Eight of Fire, with its bright sunrise, reminds us that every day is a new chance to start again and achieve our aims. So far every meaning I've read has made sense to me, even if some are mindstretching in the best way!

It's quite a gentle deck; it doesn't really have any bad or sad cards, or not that I've come across yet. The closest to a 'bad' one is the Ace of Earth, which basically says 'you're not the be all and end all, you're part of a web that affects everyone around you'. Or at least that's how I've understood it! For all its gentleness it's very accurate, though.

It's definitely a deck that's going to take a lot of study. I'm very happy about that, and I'll be spending a lot of time working with it in the future.


You can read this review with images at https://readandreviews.blogspot.com/2...

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, the online images do not do this stunning deck justice! I pre-ordered my copy from blackwells.co.uk (I refuse to buy from Amazon and fill Mr Bezos coffers) - it was the same price, and Blackwells always offer free UK postage. It was a Samhain/Halloween gift to myself :)
The whole package is gorgeous - the study, highly decorated box, the flexi-hardback guidebook, and the amazing cards come in their own hessian bag (I always put my tarot/oracle cards into a bag - much easier to handle, I find).
I've adored Danielle Barlow's artwork for many years, and she has excelled herself with this deck! There are no borders - the image fills the card - and the cardstock is the perfect weight with a lovely matte finish.
Truly, there are no negatives about this remarkably beautiful deck. I cannot wait to work with it every day, and gain the rich insights I know full well it contains.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le carte hanno dei disegni davvero unici, parlano da soli senza bisogno di leggerne il significato.
Inoltre, il libro che le accompagna è davvero interessante, completo, e permette anche a chi non ha nozione di tarocchi (come me) di iniziare a giocare e a sperimetnare con il mazzo.
Davvero consigliato.

Ne è uscita anche una versione in italiano, non so come sia la traduzione.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/SdtGi5wJ_m4

Watch the above link to see a walkthrough of this deck.

[Kathie Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful deck and guidebook. It's the opportunity to grow if your mind is open.

[Saba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely in awe of this deck, so intuitive and magical.

[Sonee Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful and empowering support for intuitive guidance

[Trine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a magic and deeply guiding tarot rooted in natures wisdom. I love working with this deck. One of my absolute favourites!!!!