Cauldron on the Hearth: Wheel of the Year: Samhain: Halloween Tarot

The Halloween Tarot

Admittedly, this deck looks like a novelty deck, but several have readers have reported suprisingly good results in actual readings with the Halloween Tarot by Kipling West. This delightful deck has vibrant colors and images with a spooky yet humorous feel to the cards.

box front The suits are renamed as:

Ghosts --> Cups
Imps --> Wands
Bats --> Swords
Pumpkins --> Pentacles

Although the images are unique, they are admittedly reminiscent of the Waite-Smith images.

The deck is really a lot of fun. Various scenes of Halloween and some horror movies are depicted, along with several circus images and the German 'vegetable people.'

Take a look at the Emperor and Empress card and you'll see they are Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein. Look for the black cat in every card. Consider the cat your companion as you study and use the deck to make the fool's journey.

6 of pumpkins Karin Lee is the writer of the little white booklet. She shares instructions for reading the cards along with some information on tarot history, the artist and the deck itself. Interpretations are fairly traditional yet helpful.

The chariot card is rather interesting in that it is depicted as a hearse. The Fool is depicted as a circus clown (clowns ARE scary, don't you think?). I looked at my soul card which is the 8 in the major arcana-- Strength. It is somewhat different than how I usually perceive it in that it is a circus trainer looking inside the lion's mouth with a tongue depressor. The Hermit is depicted as a mad scientist, which I had a problem with at first-- I always see the Hermit as a spiritual seeker, but I finally decided it was "OK." The Death card actually is a very happy, upbeat card-- happy pumpkins, smiling flower, smiling skeleton. Things could be worse. My favorite card is Temperance, depicting a wise woman in her kitchen, brewing something healing in her cauldron. The Tower card is delightful-- the tower is depicted as a haunted house, with lightning striking one of the towers, and ghosts falling out around it.

Where Every Day is Halloween Kipling West's home page
Halloween Town's page on the Halloween Tarot

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