The witchy tarot

new2angels

Does anyone have this deck,it's a tarot deck meant for teens,i have an eleven year old daughter who is into tarot and i was wondering what would be a good starting deck for her.
 

FaerieStorm

I just bought this deck about three days ago; the artwork is appealing--it has a kind of comic book feel to it, and it's light-hearted and pleasent. However, the connections with traditional Tarot symbolism and interpretations is very lacking. Some of the interpretations seem to be switched or just completely off. The Courts are re-named Celebration (page?), Moon (Knight?), Goddess (Queen?), and Trial (King?)--it's very hard to work with. Moreover, the suits become Couldrons (Cups), Boulders (Pentacles), Flames (Wands), and Broomsticks (Swords). All-in-all, it would definitely fit a younger age group, but if she's interested in REALLY learning Tarot, it would not be a good starter deck.
 

inanna_tarot

As someone that started to learn tarot when i was smaller than I am now (around 9, but properly on and off at 13) I would have hated to have the witchy tarot. It is soo demeaning to teenagers that we are too thick to deal with proper tarot, we aren't able to understand the proper symbolism of it all. One top of that, the artwork is terrible and I wouldnt even get it as a collector! Some people might find it 'cute' but I think its an insult to teenagers. What were they thinking?!

Sorry, a small rant, but this deck would greet me in Hades and I'll be in hell for all eternity with just this deck lol.

Sezo
x
 

stella01904

MM ~ I got it for my daughter last year, she was 11 then. It doesn't teach much anything about traditional Tarot but she's learned to relate the cards and combinations to the question and give a pretty good reading. So the brain paths are wired and whenever she's ready to pick up TdM or RWS or Thoth, it will come to her more easily than if she hadn't ever had this deck. BB, Stella
 

new2angels

I kind of like it but i seem to one of the very few he he x
 

Sulis

From what I've seen of this I definately wouldn't recommend it to someone new to tarot. In my opinion it not only portrays teens in a bad light but it's also very sexist. Here's a review from Tarot Passages: http://www.tarotpassages.com/witchy.htm

Love

Sulis xx
 

HearthCricket

Looking back on my own history with tarot, I would have loved to have started on the Sacred Rose Tarot, which is still a favourite of mine. I never seemed to click with the RW illustrations, but wanted a traditional deck, so a RW clone was needed. Sacred Rose was the first deck where I really got into the minor arcana and readings. The images are colourful, not over-complicated, not bland, by any means, and are rated G-PG, so you don't have to worry about what she might be looking at. I think it does an even job of showing joyful cards, as well as the darker ones, without being downright freaky! If I could turn back time (oh, what a thought!) I would definitely choose this as my first deck. Hanson Roberts is also another big possibility. Any possibility of bringing her to a store or have her look at some pics online to see which deck grabs her attention?
 

Kiama

I have only ever seen one deck aimed at teens that I think works, and its OOP now and very hard to find indeed.

This Witchy Tarot is one that I think is very demeaning to teens (I agree largely with inanna_tarot here). It doesn't even do a very good job at translating traditional Tarot into a teenager's language, but instead bombards us with scantily clad big-breasted young witches who only ever seem to think about looking glamourous, checking out the cute guys that appear every now and then on the cards, and casting spells. It's not realistic enough to relate to a teen's world.

I don't see anything wrong with giving a teenager a traditional deck. There are some lovely RWS-style decks such as the Robin Wood, Universal Waite, Sacred Rose, etc that are aesthetically pleasing to young people, colourful, vibrant, easy to read with, etc. The Witchy Tarot tries to hard to fit the Tarot into its theme that much of the Tarot is lost - witness the Court Cards which I would find almost impossible to read, compared to a traditional Tarot with traditional Court Cards that I find very easy to read.

Furthermore (okay, I'll be done in a minute) another reason (I think) for getting a more traditional deck for teenagers and beginners is that there are more books out there that apply to those decks. Take Kate Warwick-Smith's wonderful book "The Tarot Court Cards: Archetypes Patterns of Relationship in the Minor Arcana". It's a groundbreaking book, looking at the Court Cards in an innovative, non-clichéd, and helpful way. But anybody trying to apply the Witchy Tarot's Court Card system to it would find themselves inevitably lost and confused. Decks like the Witchy Tarot don't translate well onto other decks, so when one wants to use a different deck, one virtually has to start all over again!

Okay, I'm done.

Kiama *Not a fan of the Witchy Tarot!*
 

Emeraldgirl

This deck would not be a deck I would first give someone. I would go with on of the RWS based decks for beginners, such as the Mythic, Sacred Rose, Hanson Roberts, Hudes etc. I wouldn't worry about giving her a regular RWS deck at all as she could take it at her own pace.
 

Tarotphelia

IMO, it's the Tarot of Barbie in the worst possible way. It's bad enough when other people do this to us, but when the tarot community does it to itself it's just sad. If you are looking for a positive beginner deck for a young person, try the Hanson Roberts or the Aquarian by Palladini . If you are looking for a deck that explains witchcraft in a respectful way , try the Wicca Pack by Sally Morningstar , or wait for the Well Worn Path that comes out later this year.