Wildwood Tarot

[Little Fang]

For those interested in this deck, it's on sale on Amazon for a little over $7.  I just splurged a tiny bit go get it, and it reminds me of my Animals Divine deck.

 

Does anybody here have this deck who wishes to share their thoughts about it?  I won't get it for at least another week since I'll be out of state.

[2dogs]

I had it for a while, thought it might help me connect to Nature in some Druiducal way, but much as I love being out in the woods for some reason cards depicting animals, not just this deck, don't stimulate my ideas  :'(.

[Ix Chel]

I have the deck. It was on sale. I love the Hermit card. Beautifull. I have to confess I still have not read with it.

 

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[Carojulie]

Hello !

 

I have the french version of this deck : Tarot de la Forêt Enchantée.

 

Initially I got if for the courts cards : all the courts are represented by animals and I was super taken with this idea.

I have had it for a good long time now... and it took me years to connect with it. Initially I was quite disapointed when I first got it. It did not speak to me, I found the art plain, the general imagery, borders and all did not excite me, the backs are super meehh°, and while most of the cards made sense, a few I did not understand at all and that bothered me a lot, and really put me off the deck for a long while. The deck spent years stocked inside its box, in storage... for a long time, I only got it out from time to time to look through it, be disapointed, and put it back in its box.

 

Only recently have I started to dig into this deck, and the more I try to understand it, the more I like it. It is quite a slow process, but I have the feeling that in the end it will be worth it. Now I still have not totally befriended the deck, but I can tell that there is potential between us ! and I am glad I have it now, I am not at all considering to part with it anymore.

 

Also, I usually do not read companion books, but I think that this companion books I will take with me on vacation next month, because I have heard excellent reviews of this book, and I think it could help me relate more to the deck.

 

°the backs of the french version are plain, no tree of life. Its just plain dark green with a white line along the borders, and the copyright. Super meeehhhh as I tell you !

I usually am very happy when I can find french version for tarot decks, but for this one, I wonder if it would not have been better to have the original englinsh version, since the most I hear and read about it is in english, and sometimes I have trouble relating what I read in english about a certain card, to this specific card because it has the name in french on my deck.

But, that is only a small setback, not very important. And, I am still happy when I can get a tarot deck in my language, so... let's not be too demanding !

[WolfSpirit]

Carojulie, I have the deck in English and my deck also has plain green backs.

The Wildwood is sort of a re-creation of the Greenwood, by the same author (Mark Ryan) but the cards are made by another artist and the feel is totally different.

The Wildwood is drawn by Will Worthington, whom I normally love - he also drew the Druidcraft Tarot and the Animals Druid Oracle and I love these decks, but the artwork of the Wildwood is not nearly as nice imo.

I mostly love the cards with just animals, most humans are drawn rather cartoonish and don't look very spiritual.

I rather use the Druidcraft or the Greenwood (bought one just before they got expensive) so this one gets rarely used.

I agree with Ix Chel that the Hermit is really lovely though.

 

[CharlotteK]

I sold this on to Essjay, who was delighted with it.  I couldn't get to grips with it, though I liked the look of it a lot.

 

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[Carojulie]

Carojulie, I have the deck in English and my deck also has plain green backs.

 

 

Ah ? Where did I get this idea that the english edition of this deck had an intricate design of celtic trees of life on their backs. From a distance I even thought that it looked a bit like a brain ! I thought I saw some of these tree of life design in Youtube videos, but I probably have taken this deck for another then.

 

When I bought the deck, I was very excited because I like Will Worthington, the Druidcraft tarot is one of my all times favourite (I have the french version Tarot des Druides) and I also have the Druid Plant and Druid Animals oracles.

So I was expecting to like the art on Wildwood more.... but for some reason, the art on Wildwood doenst make me as enthusiastic as the Druidcraft. Funny, that, because really, with Druidcraft it was love at first sight.

 

And eventhoug the idea behind the deck is the same as the Greenwood, the art is so different from the Greenwood :( though, if before seeing the deck, I had been told that the Greenwood was going to be redrawn by Worthington, I would have jumped with joy... as it is, I am not jumping but I think that eventually I will learn to like it. Its already starting to build on me, I can feel that I am slowly bonding with the deck.

 

In all likelyhood I'll never have a Greenwood, so I better learn to love the Wildwood then.

[Scarlet Woodland]

I had a little falling out with the Wildwood early on and was somewhat horrified by the cardstock. I love Will Worthington's artwork though and could tell it would reward further study later on... so I trimmed it, edged it and tucked it away. I've used it since, to communicate with a tricky character I was writing (a very similar character to the Wildwood itself ;)) and it has proved fabulous for this. I have taken it for a brief spin on occasion too but to really understand it, I'll have to spend a good few weeks studying it. I really think the time and effort will be worth it though.

 

I have this feeling that it's a really special deck; just one that you need to put some study into, in order to reap the rewards.

 

Eta: If this turns out to be the case when I've done the work, I'll be ordering a German copy. The cardstock on mine is dreadfully rough and chippy.

[Little Fang]

Thank you for all your input everyone!  I suppose I won't totally know how I'll handle it until I have it in my hands.  I downloaded the app so I can read the book on the go, and so far it seems rather interesting.

[Shezahn]

For as long as I can remember I've been drawn to natural areas, particularly woods and forest paths. My first introduction to the tarot was the Maddonni deck I picked up in France and have since lost. Over the years various decks have caught my eye, including the Druid Craft Tarot which I own, but none truly spoke to me until I happened upon The Wildwood Tarot.

 

I was actually looking for a copy of The Greenwood Tarot when I came across the Wildwood. There's something about the images in this deck that almost transport me to the locations envisioned in the illustrations.

 

The companion book is quite helpful in its explanation of how the Major and Minor Arcana relate to each other and to the natural rhythm of the seasons. Of course, like most companion books, it has offerings on each card. In addition, there's also an e-book available, A Year in the Wildwood, that collects impressions on each card which Alison Cross posted on her facebook page dedicated to the deck. This fall the creator's of The Wildwood Tarot will be offering a workbook, which I've already pre-ordered on Amazon.

 

My deck does happen to have the a Celtic-style double tree on the back of each card. There's a note somewhere that I read from the creator that he was so enthusiastic about getting the deck out, that he forgot about the back of the cards at first. So the original decks didn't have anything on the back. The later editions do.

 

 

[WolfSpirit]

When I bought the deck, I was very excited because I like Will Worthington, the Druidcraft tarot is one of my all times favourite (I have the french version Tarot des Druides) and I also have the Druid Plant and Druid Animals oracles.

So I was expecting to like the art on Wildwood more.... but for some reason, the art on Wildwood doenst make me as enthusiastic as the Druidcraft. Funny, that, because really, with Druidcraft it was love at first sight.

 

And eventhoug the idea behind the deck is the same as the Greenwood, the art is so different from the Greenwood :( though, if before seeing the deck, I had been told that the Greenwood was going to be redrawn by Worthington, I would have jumped with joy... as it is, I am not jumping but I think that eventually I will learn to like it. Its already starting to build on me, I can feel that I am slowly bonding with the deck.

 

In all likelyhood I'll never have a Greenwood, so I better learn to love the Wildwood then.

 

I think I read somewhere that for the Druidcraft Worthington reproduced the paint that was used in the past, with the pigments from minerals. It looks like the Wildwood was drawn in ink.

 

As for the Greenwood - did you know that the artist has given permission to make a copy of the deck for your own use?

The images are all online somewhere - I think I can find it if anyone is interested.

[WolfSpirit]

My deck does happen to have the a Celtic-style double tree on the back of each card. There's a note somewhere that I read from the creator that he was so enthusiastic about getting the deck out, that he forgot about the back of the cards at first. So the original decks didn't have anything on the back. The later editions do.

 

Ah, so that explains it. I guess that makes my deck a collectible ;)

[Shezahn]

I'm not sure about Will Worthington's creative process. Does he create paintings of each and every card he produces for a given tarot set? What I do know is that he did create a painting of The Archer from The Wildwood Tarot and sold it to Alison Cross, the author of "A Year in the Wildwood." It's an amazing work. Apparently he also creates his own frames. Here is a link to it:

 

http://www.tarot-thrones.com/2013/02/30-day-tarot-challenge-day-7.html

[mariannehj]

This is my favorite deck - I use it almost every day and it really speeks to me. So beautiful - and even though I'm just starting to read I find this deck quite easy to use.

[WolfSpirit]

I'm not sure about Will Worthington's creative process. Does he create paintings of each and every card he produces for a given tarot set?

 

I think he does the artwork for decks where someone else provides the idea, concept etc. He made the artwork for the Druidcraft, Druid animal oracle and Druid plant oracle but the actual creator of the deck is Philip Carr-Gomm (who is also the leader of the Order of Druids in Britain).

I don't know how much freedom Worthington gets, he also used to make artwork for advertising so he is used to commissioned work. The scenes in the Wildwood follow the Greenwood but the focus and details are often different.

[Onaorkal]

The Wildwood Tarot is the first connection I had with the tarot world. I already had the Druid Animal Oracle at that point but I only realized a lot later that the artist was the same for both haha!

And I didn't buy a physical copy of the Wildwood, I bought the app by The Fool's Dog (I was a bit afraid of tarot at that time).

 

It's not your typical tarot deck and yes the book is really useful and very interesting as well.

 

Since I've turned vegan in the meantime, I'm not as comfortable with it anymore so I rarely open the app nowadays, except when I need some information related to the ancient European lore that I might find in there.  Nonetheless, I think the art is really gorgeous and I definitely recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn more about pre-Celtic Europrean mythology.

 

I hope I will eventually be able to use it without being triggered, as it's not a violent deck per se, there is no bloody images or anything haha (I'm just an over-sensitive little thing). Hope you like it Little Fang!  :)

[Shezahn]

In a three-part video about The Wildwood Tarot with creators Mark Ryan and John Matthews, Will Worthington attempts to describe his creative process. For the Wildwood Tarot, he'd receive a few lines or a paragraph from the creators and then an image would arise in his mind. Then he'd paint what he saw. He said sometimes he did come up against moments where he felt blocked, but having grown up, like Mark Ryan, in the very places where much of the Robin Hood and other such legends and history are based, his art just flowed out of him intuitively. He also professed to having absolutely no knowledge of the tarot.

 

In my browsing, I happened upon Will Worthington's shop where his original paintings can be purchased as well as some limited edition prints of his art. He also does commissions. Below are links to the videos and Will Worthington's shop respectively.

 

(I'm a bit of a research hound.)

 

http://thewildwoodtarot.com/#/video/4556498107

 

http://willworthingtonart.co.uk/welcome/4535124409

[Mindful Tarot]

 

My deck does happen to have the a Celtic-style double tree on the back of each card. There's a note somewhere that I read from the creator that he was so enthusiastic about getting the deck out, that he forgot about the back of the cards at first. So the original decks didn't have anything on the back. The later editions do.

 

I only know this deck from the Fool's Dog app - where you can choose card backings: either plain ("old") or celtic tree ("new")...

 

 

 

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[EmpyreanKnight]

My Wildwood Tarot has the distinction of being the only deck I bought from a bargain bookstore. It was still brand new and sealed (otherwise I wouldn't have bothered), it was in excellent condition, and I bought it for only around US$9. Talk about a real bargain.

[Arrow]

I can't say enough good about this deck!  I'm new to Tarot and was worried this might confuse me a bit since it's definitely creatively interpreted and represented but I think it's actually making me think about the cards and their meanings a bit more since I always contrast them with the traditional ones when I'm doing a reading.

 

I have no issues with the art, but more than that it just feels right to me, like it was a friend right away.  My readings and daily draws have been so topical and reflective of everything that's going on.  The first night I got it I shuffled and did an interview spread and a nightly draw, then I took it to bed with me and had wild vivid dreams and a really restless spirit.  I felt like it was bonding with me.

 

I can tell when I'm making a frivolous request of it.  It doesn't want to be consulted out of boredom or wishful thinking but when I'm actually worried or in need of wisdom or reassurance it seems to get right to the point and give me answers that really resonate, even in ways I don't want them to.  I usually can't argue with what it gives me.

 

I find the cardstock a bit thin but that's the only thing I'd change.  I have very small hands and if it were a touch smaller it would be easier to shuffle but I'd hate to see the art suffer for that so I'm happy with the size the way it is.