The Wildwood Tarot

I had moved The Wildwood Tarot in and out of my ‘shopping cart’ for months before I decided to purchase it on a whim. I’m glad I did. Although, straight up I will admit that, after looking at only a couple of cards, I reached for the scissors and removed the white border.

If you read with reversals, trimming the deck may be problematic because retaining the card name means the backs are unbalanced. This is not an issue for me, but I thought I would put it out there.

After I trimmed the cards, I was hooked. The more I looked, the more I saw. For example, when I first drew the Knight of Vessels – Eel, in a personal reading, I was a bit ho-hum about it. But, and it’s a big but, the more I looked the more I respected the artwork. I saw the sword in the stone and the hand reaching for it, and the rock overhang that looked like a a crocodile. Something draws me to the base of the tree too but I can’t make out what it is. A staff maybe???

I became more and more interested in each element and spent time exploring eel and crocodile totem information. The sword in the stone took me straight to King Arthur – a place my book shelves show I already spend a lot of time. This is a deck you can take a deep dive into. For someone like myself drawn to animal symbolism it’s awesome. Even if research isn’t your thing, The Wildwood Tarot works intuitively with what you know and feel. I definitely don’t dismiss my immediate reactions to the eel just because I have learnt its symbology. In fact, you’re encouraged to follow your own path as you explore the cards.

The Wildwood Tarot Cards

The authors have pretty much renamed everything in this deck. I’ll start with the Major Arcana.

The Major Arcana

In the Major Arcana, The Wheel is the only card to retain the more traditional title. The others are renamed as follows:

• 0 The Wanderer (The Fool)
• 1 The Shaman (The Magician)
• 2 The Seer (The High Priestess)
• 3 The Green Woman (The Empress)
• 4 The Green Man (The Emporer)
• 5 The Ancestor (The Hierophant)
• 6 The Forest Lovers (The Lovers)
• 7 The Archer (The Chariot)
• 8 The Stag (Justice)
• 9 The Hooded Man (The Hermit)
• 11 The Woodward (Strength)
• 12 The Mirror (The Hanged Man)
• 13 The Journey (Death)
• 14 Balance (Temperance)
• 15 The Guardian (The Devil)
• 16 The Blasted Oak (The Tower)
• 17 The Pole Star (The Star)
• 18 The Moon on Water (The Moon)
• 19 The Sun of Life (The Sun)
• 20 The Great Bear (Judgement)
• 21 The World Tree (The World)

These have not been renamed without consideration. Their meanings can be aligned with the Rider Waite system but this is in no way a clone deck with the only difference being some name changes. This deck really asks you to readjust your focus and to consider your place in, and your connection to, the Ancient Wild Wood.

The Minor Arcana

In the Wild Wood Tarot, the suits are now Vessels (cups), Stones (pentacles), Bows (wands) and Arrows (swords). All court cards retain the traditional King, Queen, Knight and Page nominations. However, instead of people, animal totems form the court.

The Minor Arcana cards, ace through to ten, have the title and a keyword on the card, whereas the court cards have only the title and the animal totem.

Anyone who utilises their Rider Waite inspired knowledge rather than reading intuitively will need to study the book more closely. Some cards have very different meanings. I believe the effort is worth it. Examples of differences include the Five of Vessels with its keyword Ecstasy, the Nine of Arrows – Dedication, and the Ten of Arrows – Instruction. To see what I mean, take a look at the contrast between the Wild Wood Tarot and The Robin Wood Tarot. These are not slight reinterpretations.

That is not to say that everything is always rosy in the Wild Wood. On your journey through the cards you may meet the Two of Arrows – Injustice, the Three of Arrows – Jealousy, the Five of Arrows – Frustration, the Seven of Arrows – Insecurity, the Two of Stones – Challenge, the Four of Vessels – Boredom, and the Seven of Vessels – mourning. Who amongst us has not experienced these feelings? The Wild Wood doesn’t shield us. Instead it encourages us to recognise, and work through, all aspects of ourselves.

The Wildwood Tarot Book

The 160 page, A5 sized guidebook is comprehensive. In his introduction, Mark Ryan opens with:

The best advice I ever got about Tarot was: ‘Read the book, meditate with the cards, then put the book away and do your own thing.’

I love that he shared this because it aligns with my personal philosophy. It highlights that even though The Wild Wood Tarot has a different focus to many other decks, (it revolves around the Wheel of the Year), the best way to work with the cards is in whatever way resonates with you. To anyone new to tarot I can’t encourage this enough.

Mark Ryan goes on to suggest that,

This provides a wonderful entry point for the deck. The other thing I loved about the book is that in his introduction, Mark Ryan gave names, (morphic resonance and noetic science), to ideas I have grappled with. All in all I found the introduction an interesting read.

For the Major Arcana cards, the card’s position on the wheel, a description of the card, its meaning, and a section titled “Reading Points” (which to me just serves to expand on the meaning) is given. A box titled “Roots and Branches,” aka keywords, rounds out the information.

The Minor Arcana are presented in their suits. A briefer meaning, “Reading Points,” and Tracks and Pathways (the name given to the keyword text box), is provided for the court cards. However, no card description is provided. For the Minor Arcana, ace through to ten, the description returns. I really love that it does as it helps me to focus on the artist’s intention and offers a view of the card through the deck creator’s eyes.

As each Minor Arcana card is only allocated one page, in comparison to the double page spreads of the Major Arcana, something had to give. In the ace to ten cards it’s the keywords.

Spreads

Following the spreads is The Hermit’s Cave Visualisation. At the time of writing I’m yet to do this so I can’t really comment. It’s an interesting addition though.

Finally there’s a Resources page that includes websites and a substantial further reading list. I tried to go to the deck website but my anti-virus blocked the site so I can’t tell you what you’ll find there. If you’re braver than me when it comes to computers and you check it out, I’d love to know what you find.

On the final page of the book is a brief About section on the authors, Mark Ryan and John Matthews, and the illustrator Will Worthington.

John Matthews is the author of another deck I have, The Arthurian Tarot, and Will Worthington is the illustrator of two other decks in my collection – The Druid Animal Oracle and The Druid Craft Tarot. Yet I didn’t deliberately buy The Wild Wood Tarot because of this. To be honest I hadn’t made all the connections until I read the About page.

I bought the deck because I am drawn to animal/nature inspired decks. So, in case you haven’t already guessed, despite it’s differences, in fact because of them, I’d recommend adding The Wild Wood Tarot to your collection, especially if you have read all the way down to this point.