Ellen Dugan's Witches Tarot has become my go to deck and that is a special privilege in my deck collection. I wasn't sure anything could top the connection I made with my Steampunk deck but then the Witches Tarot called to me in a dream (I kid you not) and now it is the deck at the top of my pile. This is a deck I flirted with for awhile before it showed up in my dream. I made googly eyes at it on Amazon and even drooled over the images on facebook but I had not committed to buying it.

Then it happened, it came to me in my dream time. Yes this deck is that powerful, it will communicate to you while you sleep. I dreamed of the cards and each one spoke to me, literally, it was a dream what can I say! The images imprinted themselves on my mind so when I work up I had no choice but to ring my local Pagan Store, Well of the Moon and ask them if they had the Witches Tarot in stock. Of course they did, right!

So now I had the physical deck in my hands, not a dream deck, not a virtual deck a real printed deck and boy oh boy was it vibrating. The energy that was radiating off this deck was so intense and I had not even taken it out of the box yet. The reveal of a deck for me is a scared thing, the way I take it out of the box, the way I pick up the cards, flip through the book and slowly and carefully look through each of the cards. And the reveal of this deck was extra special.

This deck is based very heavily on the Rider-Waite style, which to be honest I really like in a deck as it means you can pick up pretty much any book on tarot to further your relationship with the cards, their meanings and their archetypal energies. There are a couple of name changes in the Major arcana to be mindful of

• The Hierophant becomes the High Priest

• The Wheel of Fortune becomes The Wheel of the Year

• The Devil becomes The Shadow Side

• Judgment becomes Karma

The Royals are standard King, Queen, Page and Knight and there is nothing funky about the Minor suits they are Pentacles, Wands, Swords and Cups. As I said this is a very easy to read Rider-Waite deck. In this particular deck my favorite suit has to be the wands, those huge hawthorn blossom wands are powerful, strong, sturdy creative yet gentle. It is interesting to note that not all the wands have blossoms some are bare and some just have the start of young green growth.

The companion book is very well written my only beef is that the author spends too much time describing the card image. I would have liked to have seen more on the messages and more spells at the back of the book. For me the magical aspect of this deck is what makes it so unique. I mean this deck is created for magic, it vibrates magic so lets have more magic! But at the end of the day that is a very minor complaint about an otherwise invaluable deck in my collection.

Just in case you where wondering I did try some of the spells in the back of the book, but I found I had to modify them slightly for a more direct purpose. They are however a great place for beginner spell casters to start their practice with Tarot Magic. For the rest this deck is perfect for your spells so create away!

Here is one of my own spells written just for this deck

Wish Spell

I wish, I wish upon a star for the dream that sits inside my heart.

With the magicians help he waves his wand and commands that what is above shall be below.

With my own hands I craft this wish as the power of the eight of pentacles allows everything I touch to turn to gold.

The six of wands heralds triumph and success for this wish as Body, Mind and spirit all come together and celebrate with their 3 cups filled.

For joy, health, wealth and happiness shall be mine.

For the good of all and harm to none this wish through tarots magic is now done.

Cards you will need

• the star

• the magician

• 8 of pentacles

• 6 of wands

• 3 of cups

Place cards on your alter in the order listed above. Sprinkle green incense powder over a beeswax tea light. On your alter have a small dish of water and some coins, if possible open a window while you cast the spell. See your wish as if it is already manifest, place your hands in a prayer position and make sure your thumps touch the heart center as you connect your third eye and heart chakra energy. Now that you have tapped into your wish light your candle and begin speaking your spell out loud. Leave everything on your alter until the candle has burnt out. Then put your cards away and clean your alter with sage spray.

P.S If you would like to know more about Ellen and her work check out her site at http://ellendugan.com/

* 78 card deck and companion book, published by Llewellyn World Wide

* This deck is good for beginner to advanced.

* Good medium semi gloss card stock. Easy to shuffle, does not stick together.