She didn’t want to rewrite the Tarot; she wanted to re-consecrate it. She famously felt that the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) imagery, while useful, was drenched in Christian hermeticism and Golden Dawn ceremonialism. For a witch working at an outdoor altar under a full moon, the thrones and angelic thrones of the RWS felt foreign. Reed set out to "translate" the cards into the language of the Craft. Visually, The Witches Tarot is a product of its era (the mid-90s), yet it possesses a timeless, hand-drawn authenticity. Martin Cannon’s black-and-white illustrations (colorized in later editions) are stark, bold, and unapologetically symbolic.
Is it for everyone? No. The Horned God guards the gate. But for the witch who has felt that the traditional Tarot speaks about them rather than to them, The Witches Tarot offers a homecoming. the witches tarot ellen cannon reed
(originally published in 1996 by Llewellyn), created by the late Ellen Cannon Reed and illustrated by Martin Cannon, is precisely that deck. For nearly three decades, it has remained a quiet cornerstone for solitary Wiccans, eclectic witches, and Tarot readers who feel the pull of the Old Ways. But is it a great Tarot deck, or simply a great spellbook in disguise? The High Priestess Behind the Cards To understand the deck, you must understand the creator. Ellen Cannon Reed (1943–2003) was no mere card enthusiast. A respected High Priestess of the Isian tradition, a prolific writer for Circle Network News , and the author of The Witches’ Qabala , Reed lived and breathed ceremonial magic filtered through a Neopagan lens. She didn’t want to rewrite the Tarot; she