Deck Review: Yuletide Tarot

• Author: Kristoffer Hughes
• Artist: Erin O’Leary Brown
• Publisher: Llewellyn
• Publication Date: September 2026
• RRP: US $26.99 / GB £36.00
• ISBN: 978-0-7387-8496-0
• Reviewed by: Amy Bowker

I’m the kind of person who uses holiday mugs year-round. (Why should merriment be limited to one season a year?) So, it’s no stretch of the imagination to understand why I gravitated toward the Yuletide Tarot the moment this new edition was available. Author Kristoffer Hughes and artist Erin O’Leary Brown have created a whimsical deck based on the Rider Waite Smith system that is both merry and deeply insightful. I fully expect to use this deck as often as those holiday mugs.

Unboxing the Yuletide Tarot

The 78-card deck is packaged in a festive box that folds open from the right. The box is just large enough to accommodate the standard-size cards and a 156-page book titled “The Magic of Midwinter.” This new “stocking-size” edition (per Llewellyn) follows the 2023 publication of a large 312-page guidebook that accompanied a standard-size deck. The book includes detailed meanings for all of the cards, as well as a section of five unique holiday-inspired spreads; the 8-card Yule Tree spread, the 12 Days of Yule spread, the 5-card Darkest Night spread, the 5-card Three Ghosts spread, and the 9-card The List spread.

Don’t let the holiday theme of this deck mislead you into thinking these cards don’t carry any emotional weight. You’ll find the same level of symbolism and emotional exploration in the artwork and within the guidebook’s detailed exploration of each card as in any non-jolly themed deck. And in some cases, I found the symbolism in the Yuletide Tarot to be a little easier to interpret than in some other decks.

The Merry Major Arcana

Yuletide Tarot has renamed a number of Major Arcana cards but it’s fairly easy to determine their RWS counterpart based on the image. For instance, Father Christmas features a bearded man walking along a snowy path with a lantern (the RWS Hermit). And The Holly King poses in a regal stance with a burning torch in one hand (the RWS Emperor).

Some of the staging of the Major cards differ from RWS, though the meaning of the card still shines through. Santa pilots two reindeer across the sky on the Chariot Card, and The List features Santa’s naughty or nice list in a particularly inspired rendering of the Judgement card. (The first names of the author and artist appear on the naughty list, which may or may not be a coincidence!)

The Holiday Suits of the Minor Arcana

The four suits of the Minor Arcana have gotten a holiday makeover, with Candles replacing Wands, Good Cheer replacing Cups, Canes replacing Swords, and Gifts replacing Pentacles. As with the Major Arcana, some of the staging reflects RWS and some don’t, though the new suits make the transition seamlessly. Notable examples include the Two of Canes, which shows a woman with her arms crossed in front of her eyes to block her vision, a candy cane clutched in each hand; and the Eight of Canes where a blindfolded woman stands on a snowy mound surrounded by eight large candy canes staked in the ground.

Yuletide Tarot will appeal to:

If you love the holidays, you’ll love how easily the Rider Waite Smith deck adapted to this theme. Even if you’re a new tarot reader, the imagery and symbolism of these cards make this an easy deck to interpret.

Yuletide Tarot might not appeal to:

If the holidays aren’t your favorite time of year, then you might want to skip this deck. Likewise, if you favor more traditional symbolism in your tarot decks, then candy canes and gift boxes might not do the trick.

Yuletide Tarot in Practice:

The card stock used for this deck is just the right weight for easy shuffling. I chose the 5-card Three Ghosts spread, which is a nice holiday twist on a past-present-future layout. The first card represents the Scrooge (your shadow self), the second card represents the Ghost of Christmas Past, the third card represents the Ghost of Christmas Present, the fourth card represents the Ghost of Christmas to Come, and the fifth card represents Tiny Tim (how your Scrooge is influenced by the three ghosts).

Right away, I pulled two Knights in my reading. Court cards can trip me up sometimes, but the guidebook had wonderful interpretations. The Knight of Canes (Swords) belied my Scrooge aspect to be too opinionated and blunt, and the Knight of Gifts (Pentacles) called out my past predictable self. The rest of the reading encouraged me to deal with a recent loss through strength and resilience, the result of which would be the happiness of the Ten of Gifts (Cups).

More About the Author and Artist:

Kristoffer Hughes is an author, actor, and television presenter. He is the creator of the Celtic Tarot and Bee Tarot, and his books include From the Cauldron Born and the Book of Celtic Magic.

Erin O’Leary Brown is a New York artist who specializes in children’s illustrations, animals, and whimsical nature themes. Her clients have included Scholastic and Cricket Media.