Explore the Oak, Ash & Thorn Tarot Cards
Browse the strongest clean verified exact-edition artwork recovered from the supplied source. Choose one of the deck’s official groups to filter the continuous gallery, or select any card to open the full-size Lightbox.
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Aurica’s Quick Take
I love how this deck lets a whole woodland become a reading table. Foxes lean toward the next spark, squirrels carry feeling like something precious, ravens sharpen the air around a thought, and hares make the practical world feel alive beneath your hands. The pictures are soft, but they are never sleepy; a glance, a paw, or one pale flower can quietly turn the meaning.
I begin with the animal’s posture and the direction of its gaze, then compare that first feeling with the card’s familiar tarot role. If the spread grows busy, I follow one creature or one repeated colour from card to card. That simple thread keeps intuition grounded and makes the story easier to hear.
The classic cards shown in this Gallery wear older lettering than the current Volume 1.2 edition, yet the tender woodland heart remains recognisable. For me, Oak, Ash & Thorn is most generous when I slow down and let its small wild lives show me that courage can be quiet, patient and beautifully alive.
Where the woodland begins to speak
Oak, Ash & Thorn Tarot turns the familiar Rider–Waite–Smith journey into a small, watchful forest. Foxes, squirrels, ravens and hares do not merely decorate the suits; their bodies carry the cards’ tension. A fox poised at the edge of a branch feels different from one curled safely beside another, and that difference becomes useful language in a reading.
This review looks at the verified classic-printing card images while keeping buying guidance tied to the current Volume 1.2 edition. The art remains recognisably the same, but the current deck has updated lettering, a new reversible raven back, a new two-piece box and the name The Hanged One in place of the classic The Hanged Man.
Four suits, four woodland temperaments
Wands belong to foxes: alert, inventive and ready to move. Cups belong to squirrels, whose gathering and sharing make emotion feel both tender and practical. Ravens hold the Swords, turning thought into posture, distance and sharp attention. Pentacles rest with hares, creatures that understand shelter, season and the value of staying close to the earth.
The traditional structure remains beneath these animals, so the deck can feel familiar without becoming a copy. I read the number and suit first, then let the creature’s gaze, balance and surroundings tell me how that energy is behaving today.
The High Priestess
A watchful bird of prey perches with a leafy crown, a round gold pendant and a rolled scroll. The crescent and bluebells give the scene a hushed, suspended quality. Nothing here rushes to explain itself.
Upright, I read this as patient inner knowing: notice the quiet signal, but let it breathe before calling it truth. In shadow, a hunch can harden into certainty too soon, or useful knowledge can stay hidden. Ask: What am I noticing quietly, and what still needs to be checked?
How Oak, Ash & Thorn reads in practice
This deck is strongest when a question has an emotional undercurrent. The animals make hesitation, appetite, protection and belonging visible without turning the reading into a human drama. In a three-card spread, notice which creature faces the others, which turns away and where the landscape feels open or enclosed.
For a quick reading, name the first movement you see before reaching for a definition. Then compare that movement with the card’s traditional job. A raven bound by flowers is still Eight of Swords, but the softness of the binding asks whether a familiar story can feel safe even while it limits you.
Four woodland doorways
The four Aces begin in different textures: spark, feeling, clarity and substance.
Together they ask a simple question: what kind of beginning is actually arriving, and what response will help it take root?
Is it beginner-friendly?
Yes, with one gentle condition: learn the Rider–Waite–Smith skeleton alongside the pictures. The majors, numbers and courts are familiar, and the fully illustrated Minors give intuition plenty to hold. The current reference sheets help with keywords, while the emailed PDF guidebook offers the longer companion text.
Easy
What quality is this animal showing me right now?
Medium
How does its posture change the card’s familiar meaning?
Deep
Which repeated creature, colour or direction is carrying the spread’s hidden conversation?
Eight of Swords
A blindfolded raven stands in shallow water among upright blades while looping white flowers bind its body. The flowers look gentle, and that gentleness makes the restriction more unsettling.
This card can name inherited assumptions, a rehearsed fear or a real constraint that has become difficult to examine. Its useful question is not “Is everything in my head?” but Which limitation is a fact, and which could I safely test? One small experiment may reveal more room than panic can see.
Art, atmosphere and personality
Adam Oehlers’ delicate linework gives the deck the intimacy of a storybook found in an old drawer, yet the emotional cues stay clear. Moss, rain, blossom and winter branches create seasons around the cards. The palette can be pale and quiet, so nearby cards often speak through contrast rather than spectacle.
I especially like the moments when tenderness and difficulty share the same frame. The deck does not make pain ugly or courage loud. It shows how a creature can be frightened and observant, tired and still alive to the path ahead.
Belonging grows in company
Four cards trace affection as it becomes exchange, celebration and lasting support.
Read together, they do not promise romance or wealth. They ask what mutual care looks like once it must live in ordinary time.
Who will feel at home with this deck?
It suits readers who love animals, botanical detail, gentle fantasy and intuitive storytelling. Journalers will find many small details to follow, while experienced readers can enjoy how the familiar system changes when human expression is replaced by instinct and habitat.
It may be less satisfying if you want bold modern figures, printed meanings on every card or a physical guidebook. The softness is deliberate; this is a deck that asks you to come closer rather than shouting across the table.
Nine of Cups
A grey squirrel curls along a mossy trunk while nine golden acorn cups rest around it beneath a warm pink sky. The scene feels protected, plentiful and deeply settled.
Upright, the card invites satisfaction to register in the body instead of becoming another task to optimise. In shadow, comfort can become retreat or complacency. Ask: What can I enjoy without immediately turning it into the next thing I must achieve?
Buying guidance for the current edition
The current full-size Volume 1.2 edition is sold by Three Trees Tarot. The publisher describes 70 × 120 mm cards on 400 gsm FSC-accredited, carbon-balanced stock with vegetable-based inks and a matte anti-scuff laminate. The package includes the 78-card tarot, two protective blank cards, double-sided reference sheets and a numbered Certificate of Authenticity; the black-and-white guidebook arrives as an emailed PDF.
Edition note: the Gallery on this page preserves the classic printing with handwritten titles and the classic name The Hanged Man. The current printing uses LTC Goudy Oldstyle lettering, moves Major numbers beside the title, uses new raven backs and packaging, and calls XII The Hanged One. The direct publisher link below is for that current edition.
The forest does not hurry
Four kinds of pause can look similar until the spread asks what the stillness is for.
Change your view, listen, rest or allow slow work to ripen: each is a different medicine, and the surrounding cards show which one is needed.
A woodland golden rule
Follow the animal’s attention before following your own story. Notice what it approaches, avoids, guards or gathers. Then test that first impression against the card’s traditional role and the neighbouring cards. Intuition becomes more trustworthy when it can show you the path it took.
Final thoughts
Oak, Ash & Thorn Tarot is tender without becoming vague and familiar without feeling borrowed. Its woodland creatures give the tarot a quieter emotional vocabulary—one built from posture, season, shelter and the space between living things.
If that gentleness draws you in, let the deck teach at its own pace. A small detail noticed honestly can become the clearest card in the whole reading.
Oak, Ash & Thorn Tarot FAQ
Who created Oak, Ash & Thorn Tarot?
Stephanie Burrows created the deck and Adam Oehlers illustrated its woodland animals. Three Trees Tarot publishes the deck.
How many tarot cards are in Oak, Ash & Thorn?
The deck follows a standard 78-card tarot structure: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The current package also includes two protective blank cards, but those are not tarot cards.
Does this Gallery show the current Volume 1.2 printing?
The Gallery shows the classic printing. The current Volume 1.2 keeps the woodland artwork but updates the lettering, card backs and box, and renames The Hanged Man as The Hanged One.
Is Oak, Ash & Thorn Tarot beginner-friendly?
Yes, especially for a beginner who already knows the basic Rider–Waite–Smith structure. The familiar card sequence helps, while the animal scenes invite intuitive reading without forcing a rigid keyword system.
What animals represent the four suits?
Foxes appear through Wands, squirrels through Cups, ravens through Swords and hares through Pentacles. Their gestures and habitats give each suit a distinct emotional texture.
What comes with the current edition?
The publisher lists 78 tarot cards, two protective blank cards, double-sided reference sheets and a numbered Certificate of Authenticity. A black-and-white PDF guidebook is emailed after purchase; there is no physical guidebook in the box.
