A Practical Look at How This Deck Actually Works
The Modern Witch Tarot is a 78-card deck illustrated by Lillian Vitale and published by U.S. Games Systems around 2019. The concept is straightforward: each traditional tarot card is reimagined with a contemporary witch figure in an urban or suburban setting. The Major Arcana show witches doing things like working a retail job, dealing with traffic, or sitting in a therapist's office, while the imagery still maps to the card's traditional meaning. The Minor Arcana follow the same approach, with cups showing coffee mugs and teapots, wands showing anything from gardening tools to guitar necks, and so on. If you're buying the deck, it comes in a standard-size tuck box. The cards are approximately 2.75 by 4.75 inches with a glossy finish on the faces and a black-and-white geometric pattern on the backs. Some people report the gloss can be a bit slippery when shuffling, which I found to be true during my first few sessions. I kept a piece of chalk on the table and rubbed it lightly on the card edges to reduce the stickiness. It sounds weird but it genuinely helps with handling, especially if you do a lot of riffle shuffles. One thing that trips up most first-time users is the art style. The illustrations are dense and the witch figure appears in nearly every card, sometimes doing something that doesn't immediately read as the card's traditional symbolism. A friend of mine spent probably ten minutes trying to figure out what the Eight of Pentacles represented because the illustration showed a witch assembling flat-pack furniture, and he didn't make the connection between that image and the card's meaning of craftsmanship, repetition, and skill-building until I pointed it out. The deck relies on you either knowing the traditional meanings well enough to bridge the gap or being willing to sit with the image a bit before committing to an interpretation.
There's a small booklet included that gives brief descriptions of each card. It's useful as a reference but you shouldn't depend on it too heavily. The booklets are only so many pages and they tend to give surface-level readings that don't account for the richer symbolism in the artwork. I'd recommend having a major reference like Rachel Pollack's 78 Degrees of Wisdom or even the Golden Dawn correspondence charts open while you're learning the deck. The Modern Witch Tarot does a decent job of sticking to traditional correspondences, which makes cross-referencing relatively easy. Wands map to fire and the element of creativity, cups to water and emotion, swords to air and thought, and pentacles to earth and material concerns. The Major Arcana follow the standard structure with The Fool through The World completing the sequence.
Reading Practice That Actually Works
Don't start by doing elaborate spreads. I see this recommendation all the time and it's mostly useless. Pick a single card spread for the day, just one card, and sit with it for five minutes before you commit to a reading. Look at the illustration carefully. Note what the witch is wearing, what tools are present, what the background shows. Then connect those observations to the traditional meaning. This process takes about three minutes once you're comfortable with it and builds a much stronger foundation than doing three-card spreads on autopilot. Here's an edge case I ran into that might save you some frustration. I was pulling cards for someone who kept getting the same card in similar positions across multiple readings. The card was Justice, and in this deck it's illustrated as a witch in a courtroom setting. After the third time it showed up in a position where a different outcome seemed warranted, I started wondering if the deck was giving stale feedback or if I was just misreading the card. What I realized was that Justice in this context isn't about the card being wrong; it's about the querent needing to face consequences regardless of their preference. The deck was actually being consistent, which is rare. But here's the thing: the courtroom imagery in this deck is intentionally dry and procedural. It doesn't have the dramatic angel-with-scales energy that the Rider-Waite version carries. If you're used to that more theatrical presentation, this deck's quieter take on Justice can feel like it's not saying much at all. You have to pay attention to the posture of the figure, the balance in the composition, and the surrounding details to get the full picture from that card. The reverse meanings in this deck follow traditional interpretations. There's nothing particularly innovative about how reversals are handled, and honestly that's fine. The deck is strong on visualization and accessibility, not on inventing new symbolism systems. The U.S. Games publication also includes the traditional keyword lists for each card, which helps if you're still building your foundational knowledge.
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Where the Deck Falls Short
The gloss finish, as I mentioned, causes handling issues for some people. Beyond that, the artwork density can be a problem in low-light conditions. The color palette runs warm, with lots of oranges, browns, and deep reds, which looks great in good lighting but gets muddy if you're reading by a dim lamp. If that's your typical setup, consider using a small task light or reading during the day when possible. Another limitation worth noting: this deck isn't ideal for beginners who have zero familiarity with tarot. The modernized imagery creates a barrier if you don't already know what the Ten of Swords represents or why the Moon card has two towers. You can absolutely use it as a first deck, but you'll need to spend significant time learning the traditional meanings alongside the deck-specific interpretations. It's not as intuitive as the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition for a complete novice. If you want something more accessible for absolute beginners, I'd suggest starting with the Wild Unknown Tarot or the Morgan-Greer Tarot instead. Those decks have clearer visual storytelling on each card. The Modern Witch Tarot is better suited for someone who already has tarot experience and wants a deck with contemporary imagery that still respects traditional correspondences.
The deck runs about $12 to $16 at most occult shops and online retailers. U.S. Games Systems is the publisher, so you can order directly from them or through most major tarot vendors. It's a solid mid-range option in the tarot market and holds up reasonably well to regular use if you handle the cards with basic care, which means no eating while shuffling and keeping it out of direct sunlight when storing it.
