Queen of Wands- Witches Tarot

"The Minor Arcana cards show us the everyday, ordinary situations and personalities that we deal with and face in our lives. The minor arcana cards bring meaning to events, clarity to the challenges we face,  and provide illumination to the common questions we ask."- Ellen Dugan, Witches Tarot Companion

Three of Pentacles- Witches Tarot

This next image from our Minor Arcana is one of my personal favorites - the Three of Pentacles.  This card has a kind of sorcerers apprentice vibe to it. 

I love the illuminated trio of stained glass pentacles and the mystical cat with bright emerald eyes, patiently watching over the young apprentice while he carefully works his Craft. Potions bubble, the candles flicker and magick is in the air!

The next card we are previewing is from the suit of Swords.  The Swords suit is classically aligned with the element of air and this card is a fantastic example of the intense images and meanings, the Sword cards convey. 


My script for the Two of Swords called for the herb lavender to be growing alongside of the bench, at twilight with mountains and a calm lake in the background. With faeries flitting around in the lavender. 

Two of Swords- Witches Tarot

The woman is both alert and on guard. I am so delighted with the emotions that Mark's artwork invokes here. This card is one of reflection and expectation. Is the woman protecting herself ... or is she merely waiting calmly?  In this card, the blindfold has only heightened her other senses. This woman is aware of her surroundings in a way most people can only imagine. 

Seven of Cups- Witches Tarot

For our final Minor Arcana card preview I am sharing the Seven of Cups. This card shows a classic wizard, wearing flowing blue robes. The wise one is offering you a choice between seven magickal cups. Each of these cups holds something enchanting, and each has a lesson to teach. The choice is yours, which cup and lessons will you embrace? 




In my 312 page companion book, (Yes, the book and deck are sold TOGETHER. They are a boxed kit.) anyway, the symbolism and meaning of each card is thoroughly explained. Any astrological, elemental, and deity associations are listed. As well as "Keywords" that will help you to learn the definitions of each of the seventy-eight cards quickly and with a minimum of fuss. 


For a little something extra, you may choose to purchase a coordinating satin tarot bag from Llewellyn. They retail for $11.95. Here is the link straight to that page.  Witches Moon- Satin Tarot Bag  This 6 X 9 inch satin bag is large enough to hold the entire Witches tarot deck nicely, and it features the bewitching art from "The Moon" tarot card. 

Witches Moon Satin Tarot Bag

 In the meantime I have a new series of "in-person" Practical Magick classes that start next week, August the 5th. I have several articles to write for the Llewellyn annuals, and I just had my 15th book with Llewellyn Worldwide contracted. I have about 6 months to finish that book up. I am going to be a busy witch for a long time. Enjoy the art preview and the deck. Soon Mark will have art prints available for order so keep visiting the Witches tarot website and keep up on all of the news! 
Blessed be, Ellen 

Hello,
I am home again from the Massachusetts "Seasons of Witchery" tour and it went great! My husband Ken, and I took the last day and played tourist and visited Gloucester and Rockport Massachusetts. Yes indeed we had lob-stah rolls for lunch! In a fun restaurant on the water- where we watched the lobster boats coming in with their catch. Here is a picture of us at the beach in Rockport.

I have spent the past few days catching back up on correspondence and paperwork, and things are starting to settle down. I have new orders for Garden Witch Pentacles to fill, and some 2014 Llewellyn annual articles to write. (It keeps me busy while I wait to hear about my latest book proposal to Llewellyn.) Fingers crossed.

Today I posted a snapshot of the Witches Tarot book, the card back and a sampling of the cards on Facebook. here is the picture.The boxed sets just hit the Llewellyn warehouse last week. So they will be all ready to go on September 8th on the official release day!
Recently I saw a post on the Llewellyn blog, from a person complaining that the Witches Tarot deck lacked "diversity" and was nothing but "white people".
This yanked my chain for a couple of reasons. First and foremost because it is simply not the case. So, I took a deep breath and politely responded, informing the post-ee that they were incorrect.

The angel in the Lovers card is in fact- Asian.

Justice Card Witches Tarot

Furthermore, Themis who is portrayed in the Justice Major Arcana card, (Pictured to the right) has gorgeous caramel/ golden colored skin and black curly hair with highlights.

I invited the person to take a closer look at the Witches Tarot Facebook page where they could see a large image of the Page of Pentacles, who is stunning and who is- by the way- a young woman of color.

I also noted that the 3 of Pentacles, the Knight of Pentacles, and the Queen of Pentacles are all beautiful people of color. Actually the 3 of Pentacles is one of my favorite cards in the entire deck! There is a sorcerer's apprentice vibe to this particular card. Just wait until you see him!

Honestly when I designed and scripted the Witches Tarot it only made sense to me to have some diversity in the deck art. The artist Mark, and I had several conversations about this topic.

To my delight I noticed when I came back from touring there was a new post on the Llewellyn blog. Where the person noted that they had gone and looked at the website and the Facebook pages. That they were "super pleased", and  then they added,"Thanks, I am glad I was wrong about that!" 
Awesome.
I am thrilled that they took the time to look again and are happy with what they see. 
Just today I found a lovely comment on the card image of the Page of Pentacles, from a Facebook follower thanking me, "for including brown-skinned Witches in the deck!" That their favorite decks "are the ones that represent people of all ethnicities in them." Which just made my day.

Witches come in all beautiful shapes, sizes, and colors. I hope that with the Witches Tarot deck, everyone will find something to relate to and identify with. So they can make it their own.

May the Mother Goddess smile down on us, reminding us that we are indeed all her children!
Blessed be, Ellen

The Empress card- Witches Tarot

www.witchestarot.com

Good morning,
I am thrilled to announce that the Witches Tarot website is live! Mark Evans the talented artist of our deck has designed a beautiful website and best of all you can see all of the cards in the Major Arcana! Go to www.witchestarot.com  To read about the companion book, the art and of course upcoming special print offers!   
Just above you can see the postcard Mark designed for me to hand out at my author events. This card shows (from left to right) The Hermit, The Empress, The Moon and the Six of Wands cards. I will be handing these 8x5 inch postcards out at the International New Age Trade Show (INATS) in Denver tomorrow-Sunday, June 24th.

 

I am honored and excited to attend INATS with the folks from Llewellyn Worldwide to promote my brand new book Seasons of Witchery, and to build some excitement about the upcoming "Witches Tarot" deck! Its going to be a blast!

Companion Book by Ellen Dugan

To answer a few questions I keep getting asked- YES, the Witches Tarot is a boxed set. So for those of you wondering... YES the 312 page companion book and the tarot deck all come together as a boxed set. 
I've been asked this question so many times this week I figured I'd better put the answer in bold. LOL!

Here is the deck's book cover, just to the right. The book is 312 pages long, nice and chunky! Besides writing all of the meaning, symbolism and information about the seventy-eight cards, I have also created seven new card lay outs and eleven brand new tarot spells. The cover of the companion book is actually the High Priestess card, with a border and some shading.

Coming September 2012!

To the left is what the outside of the set's box looks like, with a preview of a few more cards. Pictured is the High Priestess, the Knight of Cups, and the Two of Swords. The cover of the box is actually The Moon card with another cool border.

So, go and follow the link to the Witches Tarot website and look around. Enjoy the preview of the Major Arcana and keep checking back! A few more featured cards from the Minor Arcana cards will be making their debut in the coming months!

In the meantime here is the Page of Pentacles from the deck! Isn't she lovely with the magnolia tree and the white hind in the background?
Blessed be, Ellen

Page of Pentacles- Witches Tarot