Review: The Halloween Tarot, Book and Deck Set

I love the tarot. I love the round feminist decks, Motherpeace and Daughters of the Moon, that offer colorful visions of a matrifocal realm. I love the standard Rider-Waite-Smith deck that overflows with kabbalistic and occult symbolism. I love the historical decks, the Italian renaissance decks that flatter the monarchy and 17th and 18th century French decks that favor revolution.

I love Hallows. I love the depth of magic that is woven as the veil thins and the serious, introspective work that is commonly undertaken at Samhain. I love the festivities of Halloween--the costumes and candy and the prominent and often positive images of witches, black cats, cauldrons, and brooms.

Not surprisingly then, I loved The Halloween Tarot, by Karin Lee and Kipling West. This deck is a Rider-Waite-Smith clone, in that the illustrations are closely based on the RWS deck, but the traditional images have been halloweenified. The Emperor and Empress become Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein and the suits of pentacles, swords, wands, and cups are transformed into pumpkins, bats, imps, and ghosts respectively. The traditional aspects of the cards will appeal to readers who want to work with RWS or want to use any of the dozens of books written for the RWS deck, while the clever, colorful, fun, Halloweeny aspects will draw readers who dislike RWS or consider the images to be archaic, rigid, or flat.

Dianic readers, who may have difficulty working with or connecting with cards that reflect male authority and patriarchy, will perhaps find the Halloween versions of these cards more accessible. I find the transformation of the Hierophant card, traditionally drawn as the Pope, into the Mummy to be a very poignant commentary. Karin Lee, in the book that accompanies the deck, writes that "the Hierophant, a term for a priest in ancient Greece, is as tightly bound by tradition as a mummy is bound by bandages….He is the picture of dogma and inflexibility."

Unlike the RWS deck, every Halloween card includes a single black cat. This cat, whose image graces the reversible backs of the cards, begins the Major Arcana as the Fool's companion and ends up as the center of The World. The cat's presence unifies the deck, pulling together this diverse collection of Halloween lore, and the cat's animated facial expressions provide another layer to the cards' imagery.

While you probably would not want to use the Halloween deck for contacting the Beloved Dead as part of your coven's Hallows ritual, this is an excellent deck to use for readings at Halloween parties. It captures the fun of Halloween without the darkness or seriousness of Samhain. Even the Death card, often the most frightening image in a tarot deck, is portrayed as a smiling skeleton who is lovingly watering a patch of jack-o-lanterns. Karin Lee explains that "rather than portraying Death as mysterious and threatening, this card reminds us that death is part of the natural process of life."

Like the cards, the book that accompanies the deck delves into many of the practices of Halloween, but stays away from modern neo-Pagan observances. Karin Lee, in a chapter on the "History of Halloween", explainshow the Celtic harvest festival of Samhain evolved into modern day Halloween. While she is careful to point out that "the Christians did the best they could to squelch the pagan holidays and traditions because they perceived them as evil…and considered the Celts to be devil worshippers even though the Devil never existed in the Celtic religion", Karin Lee does not draw this thread through to the present. She makes no mention of either modern day spiritual and religious Hallows practices or modern day Christian opposition. Similarly, in a chapter on "Halloween Symbols and Traditions", Karin Lee discusses Witches, along with trick-or-treating, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and skeletons, black cats, and fortune telling. However, her recounting focuses exclusively on the Middle Ages, without a single reference to the 20th century Witchcraft renaissance.

Despite these obvious omissions, I highly recommend this deck and book set for what it is-a RWS deck with a twist and a fun portrayal of the secular side of Hallows.

The Halloween Tarot is available as a book and deck set, with the book and deck also sold separately. Publisher: US Games Systems, Inc. ISBN: Deck: 0-88079-965-X, Book: 0-88079-989-7.

Illustrations from the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck*, known also as the Rider Tarot and the Waite Tarot, and Halloween Tarot reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902 USA. Copyright 1971 and 1997 respectively by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Further reproduction prohibited. The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck is a registered trademark of U.S.Games Systems, Inc.

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