Review: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tarot

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tarot

Author: Nick Lawyer

Red Feather/Schiffer Publishing, 2023

Description: 78 Cards, 111-page guidebook, top-lift lid box.

Card Size: 3 x 5

"In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tarot, artist Nick Lawyer takes the gothic subject matter of Irving’s novel and intertwines it with the profound themes of the Tarot to create a powerful tool for self-discovery."

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tarot is a collection of vivid, sharp images based on Washington Irving's gothic novel. The deck also "includes additional characters and scenes pertaining to the local culture, history, and folklore of Sleepy Hollow and eighteenth-century New England, as well as Irving's short story "The Devil and Tom Walker.""

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Tarot is printed on average card stock, making them easy to handle and shuffle. The card backing is an interesting feature, with its gold on blue background. Overall, this is an impressive quality deck.

The deck follows the Rider-Waite theme, with some variations in images.

The Major Arcana begins with The Fool - Ichabod Crane and ends with The World - items found in his schoolhouse in The World. Each card contains number and name.

The Minor Arcana are labeled only by number. The author chose various items to represent the suits.

The Wands range from broomsticks, trees, logs, and in the case of the Three of Wands, - "An Algonquin warrior watching ships sail by. He carries a musket, tomahawk, and war club." 

The Cups contain many types of cups or containers, ranging from tea cups, beer mugs, and in the case of Ten of Cups, - "Brom Bones and Katrina walking together" down a path lined with flower vases.

The Swords are the easiest to recognize with their many swords. Ace of Swords shows "The horseman holding an impaled jack-o'-lantern." The Seven of Swords, "A smuggler rowing a boatful of swords out to ship." 

The Pentacles cards contain some form of pentacle, ranging from coins, tin lanterns displaying pentacles, and to carved pumpkins. The Ace of Pentacles holds a single coin. In the Six of Pentacles, "A man distributing carved pumpkins", each carved with a pentacle.

The Court Cards are titled with their name and suit. The Page of Cups features "Ichabod sipping gin as he reads Cotton Mather's History of New England Witchcraft."  The Queen of Wands, "A mischievous old witch flying on her broomstick."

The Guidebook, after a short piece about deck and author, goes straight into information about the cards.   

The Major Arcana cards are presented with a full-page image along with a short description. A second page gives number and name, a fun fact, and the upright and reversed keywords.  The Hermit features, "The Woman in White haunting Raven Rock." The fun fact shares, "Raven Rock is a historical landmark found on Buttermilk Hill in Rockefeller State Park Preserve, New York."

The Minor Arcana is divided by suits. A two-page display of the fourteen cards of each suit begins each section. The individual cards are covered briefly - name, short image description, and upright and reversed keywords. The Two of Wands image description states, "A witch looking over the little village, holding a broom and a crystal ball."

The author closes the guidebook with four Sleepy Hollow Themed Spreads, a short conclusion and bibliography.

In my opinion, this is a deck for fans of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Washington Irving. With its close representation of the Rider-Waite theme, the cards are fairly easy to follow. The guidebook seems more of a tidbit fun fact book, rather than a Tarot guide. The keywords do follow the traditional meanings.

This deck would make a good collection piece for any Tarot enthusiast who also has an interest in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. 

Grab your copy at Red Feather/Schiffer Publishing.

(Review Product supplied by Schiffer Publishing)