Deck review: The Jolanda Witch Tarot by Rosie Björkman and Hans Arnold

A deck and book set that blends Tarot, magic, shamanism, and indigenous storytelling

• Includes 78 full-color cards portraying both Major and Minor Arcana through colorful depictions of female archetypes, animal guides, and esoteric symbolism

• Shares unique in-depth card interpretations that draw on spiritual and magical teachings from indigenous healers, shamans, witches, magicians, and wisdom teachers from all over the world

• Includes new and unusual card spreads for readings and short practical exercises to help awaken your inner witch

THE JOLANDA WITCH TAROT is a deck and book set that blends tarot, magic, shamanism, and indigenous storytelling.

The 78-card deck portrays both Major and Minor Arcana through colorful depictions of female archetypes, animal guides, and esoteric symbolism from witchcraft, alchemy, and shamanic healing traditions.

In the comprehensive 400-page guidebook, Rosie Björkman, also known as “Jolanda the Witch,” shares unique in-depth card interpretations that draw on spiritual and magical teachings from indigenous healers, shamans, witches, magicians, and wisdom teachers from all over the world, including Madame Blavatsky, Aleister Crowley, and the Sweet Medicine healing tradition of the Deer Tribe Metis Medicine Society. You’ll find direct and reversed meanings for each card, easy-to-remember keywords, short practical exercises, and symbolic and healing stories to help you understand the insight each card brings. Illustrated by internationally known artist Hans Arnold, the playful imagery allows you to instantly grasp the energetic meaning of the cards drawn and intuitively understand the issue at hand.

Offering a hands-on way to learn card divination and magic together, this set includes new and unusual card spreads for readings that will awaken your own inner wisdom.

The Jolanda Witch Tarot publishes on the 15th of August, 2024. You can see the unboxing and flickthrough videos on TikTok; I also did two practise spreads, a deck interview and a spread designed for this deck, the Bear spread.

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I. First Impressions

The Jolanda Witch deck comes in a box about the size of a hardbook book, with a magnetic closure on the right hand side. The hefty book - just shy of 400 pages - sits above the cards, which are secured in two wells. The whole package is very sturdy and would easily stand up to being carried around or put in a handbag.

The box came wrapped in plastic, with paper bands around the two piles of cards.
The artwork is very unique. When I started looking through them, I thought they had a kind of fairytale style to them; I wouldn't have been surprised to see them as illustrations in a collection of Norse myths. Then I read the LWB (Little White Book, the guidebook) and discovered that the artist has illustrated fairytales previously, which didn't surprise me. The cards use symbols from many mythologies; for instance, the Tower card has an image of Kali, a Hindu goddess associated with, among other things, change, destruction and death. Very apt for that card!

II. The Cards

Major Arcana: The Major Arcana has Strength at 11 and Justice at 8. Images are depicted within a white frame with the number - unusually, in Arabic - at the top and the name written out below. Animals feature even more than usual in the Majors, with every card having an animal of some sort on it; some of them are very unusual, but the LWB does a good job of explaining them. 

There is one renamed card in the Majors; Temperance has instead become The Alchemist. 

Be aware that several of the Majors feature non sexual female nudity. There is possibly one nude male, on the Moon card, he's so far away it's hard to tell if he's male or female.

Minor Arcana: Minor Arcana are also presented within a frame. The name, written out in words, is across the top, and with the exception of the Court cards there's a keyword across the bottom. I found that some of these didn't match my understanding of the card; when I read the LWB, I could understand why the author chose that word, but on first look some of them really shocked me. They're generally based on the RWS (Rider-Waite-Smith) but some cards stray pretty far from that.

Instead of Page and Knight in the Court we have Princess and Prince respectively; all other cards are as normal.

The Seven of Wands matches my understanding of the card; the Eight of Swords doesn't.

Card Stock and Size: These are a standard tarot size with a lovely smooth finish. They shuffle very well, without catching or stuttering. I've been using them fairly constantly for a few weeks now and there's no sign of wear yet. 

Back image: The back of the cards features a lovely, but non-reversible image. If you are a reader who uses reversals and doesn't want to know until you turn it over, this deck won't suit you.

III. The Guidebook

Writing Style and Readability: Rosie, the author, is a practising witch, and her writing style is more mystical than some tarot writers, though still easy to understand. She talks about how tarot is one aspect of divination and magic and that anyone can learn these 'languages' without needing any special abilities. 

Card Meanings: Majors have a huge amount of information. There's an image of the card, a brief quote that sums it up, keywords, an astrological sign, a ruling planet and colours. Then there are meanings, divided into 'Significance', 'The Relationship' and 'Reversed'. 'Practice' is a mediation or practical thing we can do to help understand the card.

'Herstory' features mythological beings who fit the mould of the card in question. 'The Art of Magic' points out instances where the archetype appears in cultural stories. 'Medicine for the Soul' is a ritual or spell you can do relating to the card. Finally, 'Imagination' is a story from Rosie about a time when she embodied or met someone who embodied the card.

The Minor Arcana starts with a brief description of each suit and what it represents. Each card has an image, keywords, the meanings and a meditation. Not as much as the Majors but still a lot of information! I found that some of the meanings ran contrary to what I understand them to be, which was very interesting to read. Of course meanings are subjective and depend on our learning and experiences, and it was fascinating to read Rosie's and figure out how to incorporate them into my own understanding.

Spreads and Techniques: There are five spreads included, all designed for this deck. They range from five to ten cards. Rosie also mentions the single card draw for a quick check in.

IV. In Use

Intuition and Connection: As I mentioned above, some of the images and keywords don't match my understanding of the card, which made it hard to read intuitively. After reading the book I can understand why Rosie and Hans made the choices they did, and other readers will probably have a very different experience, but for me it made it hard to read intuitively.

Clarity of Readings: However, readings flowed well - I got several very clear ones - and were suitable for the questions I asked. When I asked my usual Querants, they said the messages seemed on the whole darker than some decks, and while they appreciated the skill of the images the art style isn't their usual choice. That's something to be aware of when you're using the deck.

Suitability for Different Skill Levels: I can't recommend this for complete beginners, as it strays too far from the RWS on occasion. However, for someone looking to expand their practise or someone who likes this style of illustration, it's a fantastic choice. There are several cards in the deck that I'd love to have enlarged and hang up!

V. Overall Impression

Strengths: 

• Very insightful, it picked up on things I didn't realise I was asking
• Gorgeous artwork
• Loads of information in the LWB 

Weaknesses:

• Strays from the RWS meanings in spots

Final Thoughts

I've really enjoyed working with this deck; I feel it uncovered some things I didn't know about myself, and I'll look forward to using it more in future. It's definitely a strong contender for an indepth look at a psyche; for readers who use Tarot as a therapy tool, this would be a fantastic choice.