Divination: The Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan

 

The Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan

The Witches Tarot is a 78-card tarot deck created by American witch, author and tarot reader Ellen Dugan, with artwork by fantasy artist Mark Evans. It was published by Llewellyn Publications in 2012 and was specifically designed to bring traditional tarot together with modern witchcraft and magical symbolism. 

What makes it particularly interesting is that it isn’t simply a conventional Rider-Waite-Smith deck with witches added to the pictures. Dugan deliberately reinterprets several cards so that their symbolism speaks directly to contemporary Pagan and witchcraft practice.

Ellen Dugan

Dugan is often known by the title the “Garden Witch.” She describes herself as a practising Witch, psychic and clairvoyant and had already been working with tarot for many years before creating this deck.

Her relationship with tarot began after she was already practising witchcraft. She eventually became interested in using tarot as part of her psychic work and, according to Llewellyn’s account, wanted a deck that reflected her own magical worldview. 

The opportunity came when Barbara Moore, then Llewellyn’s tarot acquisitions editor, approached Dugan about designing a tarot deck specifically for witches. Dugan subsequently researched and scripted the individual cards before Mark Evans produced the artwork. 

Mark Evans’s artwork

One of the deck’s most distinctive features is its artwork.

Evans combines photographic imagery, digitally constructed fantasy art and Pagan symbolism to create scenes that look simultaneously realistic and magical. Dugan’s instruction to him was essentially that every card should tell a story. 

The result is quite different from the flat, highly symbolic appearance of the original Rider-Waite-Smith illustrations. The people, animals, landscapes, plants and magical objects are presented as parts of little narratives.

Dugan also arranged for members of her family, and Evans himself, to appear in some of the cards as characters. 

A Rider-Waite-Smith foundation

The deck contains the traditional 78 cards:

• 22 Major Arcana
• 56 Minor Arcana
• Wands
• Cups
• Swords
• Pentacles
• Four court cards in each suit

The basic structure and much of the symbolism remain sufficiently close to Rider-Waite-Smith that someone who already knows RWS tarot can pick it up relatively easily. 

However, several Major Arcana have deliberately been renamed.

Traditional RWS	Witches Tarot
The Hierophant	The High Priest
Wheel of Fortune	Wheel of the Year
The Devil	The Shadow Side
Judgement	Karma

These aren’t merely cosmetic changes. They shift the emphasis toward Pagan cosmology, magical practice, personal responsibility and the cycles of nature. 

The Wheel of the Year

Perhaps the most obvious witchcraft adaptation is the Wheel of Fortune → Wheel of the Year.

Instead of simply representing changing fortune, the card connects with the seasonal and agricultural cycle, making it particularly relevant to Wiccan and modern Pagan ideas about:

• Samhain
• Yule
• Imbolc
• Ostara
• Beltane
• Litha
• Lammas
• Mabon

This is a good example of how Dugan takes a familiar tarot archetype and gives it specifically witchcraft-oriented symbolism.

The Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana are also filled with magical correspondences.

Dugan incorporated plants, animals, elemental symbolism, colours, astrology and magical objects into the cards. She wanted the suits to feel like part of a witch’s world rather than simply reproductions of conventional tarot imagery.

One particularly nice example is the Wands.

Dugan chose hawthorn branches for the Wands, decorated with red ribbons. Hawthorn has a long history of magical and folkloric associations, and Dugan specifically associated it with the element of Fire. 

The cards consequently provide an additional layer of information for someone interested in witchcraft.

Magical correspondences

One of the deck’s strengths is that it encourages the reader to think of tarot cards in terms of magical correspondences.

The accompanying Witches Tarot Companion provides information including:

• card meanings
• keywords
• elemental associations
• astrological associations
• deity associations
• magical symbolism
• interpretations for readings
• magical applications

Dugan also included spreads specifically designed to combine tarot reading with witchcraft. 

Among them are:

The Triple Goddess Spread

Based around the Maiden, Mother and Crone aspects of Goddess symbolism.

The Four Elements Spread

Uses the traditional magical elements:

Earth • Air • Fire • Water

The Wheel of the Year Spread

Connects tarot with the Pagan seasonal cycle.

These make the deck particularly interesting if you don’t regard tarot simply as divination, but as a magical and spiritual tool.

Witchcraft symbolism

The deck incorporates many familiar elements of modern witchcraft:

The Goddess and God

The imagery frequently draws upon masculine and feminine magical principles.

Nature

Trees, flowers, animals, moonlight, gardens and landscapes appear throughout the deck.

The elements

Earth, Air, Fire and Water are incorporated into the symbolism.

The Moon

Lunar imagery is especially prominent, reflecting its importance in magical timing and ritual.

Animals

Cats, dogs, birds, horses and other animals appear as symbolic companions and magical creatures.

Plants

The botanical imagery is particularly appropriate given Dugan’s identity as the “Garden Witch.”

Magical tools

Wands, candles, chalices and other ritual objects are incorporated into the scenes.

The Strength card

The Strength card provides a particularly good example of Dugan’s approach.

It shows a woman with a large male lion. She wears oak leaves and a lemniscate appears above her head, while eight rubies surround her neck. Roses connect the woman and lion. 

The imagery therefore works on several levels:

• traditional tarot Strength
• courage
• self-control
• feminine power
• nature
• magical symbolism
• sacred plants
• gemstones
• numerology

The lion doesn’t simply represent something that must be conquered. The relationship between the woman and the animal suggests cooperation and mastery through gentleness, which gives the card a particularly witchcraft-oriented interpretation of power.

What makes the deck different?

I’d describe the Witches Tarot as sitting somewhere between a traditional tarot deck and a witchcraft reference system expressed through tarot.

It retains enough RWS structure to remain recognisable, while adding an enormous amount of Pagan imagery.

For someone interested in Wicca or modern witchcraft, cards can therefore be approached in two ways:

Divination:

“What does this card tell me about my situation?”

Magical contemplation:

“What plant, element, deity, season, animal or magical principle is represented here, and how could I work with it?”

That second approach is particularly characteristic of Dugan’s deck.

The companion book

The original boxed set contains the 78-card deck and a substantial 312-page companion book. 

The book is important because the deck contains considerably more symbolism than might initially be apparent from looking at the artwork.

Dugan explains the meanings and symbolism of the cards and provides practical spreads and magical applications. Consequently, it can function almost like a beginner’s tarot book written from a witchcraft perspective.

There is also a mini version of the deck, although Dugan’s own website notes that the mini cards do not include the instructional booklet. 

Overall character of the deck

The Witches Tarot is particularly rooted in modern witchcraft rather than ancient historical witchcraft. Its imagery draws upon Wiccan/Pagan concepts such as the Wheel of the Year, elemental magic, the Goddess, magical correspondences and nature spirituality.

It shouldn’t therefore be regarded as an ancient “witches’ tarot” or as a reconstruction of some historical medieval witchcraft deck. It is a modern magical reinterpretation of Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, created specifically for contemporary practitioners.

And that’s arguably what makes it so interesting: Dugan uses the familiar language of tarot to create a visual vocabulary for modern witchcraft.

Official Llewellyn information on Witches Tarot⁠

Ellen Dugan — the author of Witches Tarot

Ellen Dugan is an American Witch, author, tarot reader, psychic and gardener whose work combines modern witchcraft, nature spirituality, herbalism, psychic development and practical magic. She is particularly known by the nickname “The Garden Witch.” 

She has written extensively for Llewellyn Worldwide, one of the major publishers of Pagan, occult and esoteric books. Her work includes more than thirty books according to her current biography, encompassing both nonfiction and paranormal fiction. 

Her early interest in Witchcraft

Dugan says that her fascination with magic began quite young. She was drawn to folklore, fairy tales, mythology, gardens, forests and the natural world, and felt that the changing seasons had a sacred quality.

During her teenage years she became increasingly aware of what she describes as psychic abilities, including clairvoyance and psychometry. She began looking for ways to understand and control these experiences and eventually discovered modern Witchcraft and Wicca. 

Interestingly, tarot was something she taught herself. She used tarot alongside her developing clairvoyant abilities and even read at psychic fairs as a way of testing and developing her skills. 

The “Garden Witch”

Gardening isn’t simply a theme that Dugan adopted for her books—it is a major part of her personal approach to Witchcraft.

She became a Master Gardener, and her magical philosophy places considerable emphasis on working with nature rather than treating magic as something separate from everyday life. Her books explore herbs, flowers, gardening, seasonal celebrations, the home and natural magic. 

This philosophy can be seen very clearly in Witches Tarot. Dugan specifically identified herself with the Nine of Pentacles, appearing as the Witch in the garden. She wanted the card to represent the magical herbalist and Garden Witch who draws power and inspiration from the Earth. 

Her writing

Some of her best-known books include:

• Garden Witchery
• Cottage Witchery
• Garden Witch’s Herbal
• Herb Magic for Beginners
• Book of Witchery
• Seasons of Witchery
• Practical Protection Magick
• Practical Prosperity Magick
• The Natural Psychic
• Witches Tarot

Her writing tends to be practical rather than heavily academic. She combines magical instructions and correspondences with personal anecdotes, humour and everyday experience. 

She has also written a substantial amount for Llewellyn’s annual publications, including the Magical Almanac, Witches’ Datebook, Sabbat Almanac and Witches’ Calendar. 

Her influences

Dugan has named several authors who influenced her own development as a Witch, particularly Scott Cunningham, Claire Nahmad and Doreen Valiente. She has also said that writer Erma Bombeck influenced her writing style through her honesty and humour. 

That combination is useful for understanding Dugan’s work: she draws upon the modern Pagan/Wiccan tradition, but presents it in a friendly, accessible and distinctly personal manner.

Dugan and Witches Tarot

The deck was commissioned by Barbara Moore, then tarot acquisitions editor at Llewellyn. Dugan was asked to create a tarot specifically for witches and write its accompanying book. She spent weeks researching and planning the deck before writing the card scripts. 

A fascinating personal touch is that Dugan and members of her family actually appear in the artwork. She appears as the woman in the Nine of Pentacles, while her husband and children were used as models for various court and other cards. 

Dugan wasn’t simply supplying text for an existing deck—she scripted and designed the deck conceptually, working with artist Mark Evans to translate her ideas into imagery. 

Her approach to Witchcraft

One recurring theme in Dugan’s work is personal empowerment. Rather than presenting Witchcraft as an elaborate set of rigid rules, she encourages practitioners to develop their own relationship with magic, nature and symbolism.

Her approach is therefore particularly compatible with eclectic modern Witchcraft, where a practitioner might combine:

herbal magic + tarot + seasonal celebrations + crystals + psychic work + spellcraft + nature spirituality.

She has described her own practice as combining her psychic abilities with the Craft, something that became particularly important in her later work on psychic development. 

A particularly interesting connection

If you’re interested in the Wiccan and witchcraft symbolism behind tarot, Dugan is an interesting figure because she sits at the intersection of several modern occult traditions.

Her work brings together Doreen Valiente-style Wiccan influence, Cunningham’s practical/eclectic Witchcraft, herbal and garden magic, tarot and contemporary psychic practice. That helps explain why Witches Tarot feels much more like a witch’s working tarot than simply a tarot deck with witches depicted on the cards.

Her official biography currently says she has practised Witchcraft for more than 35 years, has sold over 300,000 books, and has subsequently expanded into paranormal fiction as well as nonfiction. 

If you want to explore her work further, her official website⁠ has a bibliography and information about her tarot and other books.