Exploring Tarot: The DruidCraft Tarot

I admit that for my entire life  I’ve had a strange attraction to Druidry. I learned of runes before hearing the name, Druid, and was excited to find that there was a relation between the two. But as a child, runes drew me in as any symbol representing something else did so when society began using symbols instead of words for signs, I was thrilled. And with my focus as a witch on nature and living in harmony with the land, it wasn’t surprising to discover when researching my ancestry that Druids appeared in my lineage. Amergin Glúingel (67th great-uncle) and Bran the Blessed (87th great-grandfather) both appear along with others so when I found the DruidCraft Tarot years ago, I purchased it immediately. The large-sized deck comes with a lovely and informative book written by the deck’s creators, Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and illustrated by Will Worthington who also illustrated the deck and offers a perspective that blends Druidry with Wicca reflecting the creators’ shared background.

The creators also changed some of the names from the Major Arcana to reflect a Craft-oriented perspective. The Empress and Emperor are replaced by The Lady and The Lord, the High Priest replaces The Hierophant; The Fferyllt replaces Temperance, Cernunnos replacing the Devil, and Judgment is replaced by Rebirth. The deck has a sacred grove feel using the movement through seasonal cycles corresponding to the Minor Arcana along with personality types corresponding to the Court cards while the Major Arcana reflects the soul’s journey through physical form.

Two cards are present in today’s reading from the Major Arcana, Cernunnos and The World, with one card, the 5 of Pentacles representing Elemental Earth and our physical presence. The three-card reading has an overall numerology of five or change.

But we begin with Cernunnos, the Hunter and the Lord of the Underworld replacing the traditional Devil card. One of the things I like most about this deck is its focus. The running theme is one of balance, not judgment or repression. So instead of controlling our shadow or material side, DruidCraft seeks to appreciate and find a balance between the two. Cernunnos looms large in the forest, his eyes glowing yellow while the two lovers sleep blissfully unaware of their surroundings or who may be approaching. I’ve always interpreted either this card or the Devil card as reflective of our foundation. Are we going through life consciously or are we asleep like the lovers in the scene? It’s easy to be pulled along by our experiences, letting ego guide our path, but when we do that, we lose awareness of Spirit. Before long, all we are is the personality or ego, rather than Spirit inhabiting form. Rather than suppressing the ego, let Spirit inform ego where a more useful balance can be achieved.

Material loss of some kind or despair is the traditional interpretation of the 5 of Pentacles. In this card, we see a hound chasing a rabbit down a verdant hill while a woman leans against a barren tree in despair. Something has changed in her life, perhaps a relationship has ended resulting in a change of circumstances. Her eyes are covered by her arms, her focus inward, and she’s unable to see the sun in the sky or the wealth that she still possesses illustrated by the five golden pentacles hanging from her belt. The 5 of Pentacles may represent the long dark night of the soul, but it’s up to us to let the light back in.

The World reflects all elements in balance in the DruidCraft Tarot as we reach our journey’s end. Completion, fulfillment, achievement all comprise The World. The androgynous individual in the center of the oval signifies both completion and rebirth, synthesis and reward. We’ve integrated the Masculine and Feminine energies within and achieved a certain sense of balance and now we’re ready to close one chapter and begin another.

In all respects, our journey in form is one of awakening to Spirit within. The veil between ego or personality awareness and awareness of our essential Spirit is dissolving and awakening is occurring. At some point when we’ve ascended into a new density of experience, our journey will change from awakening to awakened with no further need for this type of reunification of self. But until then our souls continue this dance between egoic expressions of dark and light, between service to self or service to others. Unlike the woman in the 5 of Pentacles, we should see the broader message behind whatever it is we are experiencing and understand our own participation in it. To know success we need to also understand some measure of loss. Allowing Spirit to inform the process keeps the ego in check and allows us to maintain a more balanced perspective.

DruidCraft is a very cool deck and I recommend it highly. There’s no one method to explore the journey we take and many of the more nontraditional decks bring a depth to interpretation that might not otherwise become part of the conversation. This is particularly true of the Thoth Tarot which is a real departure from the Rider-Waite. And I also like to look at the intention of the deck’s creator when considering the deck’s interpretation. It may not factor in, but oftentimes it does. Besides, it respects the creator’s creative process.

Blessings to all!