Cups, Swords, Wands and Winter: Snow & Winter Tarot Decks
By Alex J. Coyne © Gifts for Card Players
Tarot decks are much like guitars: you’ll immediately know which ones you like best, and you’ll be convinced that you can never own enough of them. I’ve owned Stratocasters, Telecasters and a Flying V… But I have also owned many tarot decks including The Grail Tarot, the Marseilles Tarot, the Rainbow Moon Tarot and the more traditional Rider-Waite-Smith.
What about snow and winter-themed tarot decks?
There’s the Winter Waite, the Winter Season Tarot, the Yuletide Tarot and The Nightmare Before Christmas Tarot. Potentially unrelated to this, you can also get this guitar-themed Yuletide tree ornament.
Here our selection of wonderful winter-themed tarot decks for 2025.
The Winter Waite
The Winter Waite Tarot Deck takes the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith imagery and adds a classic wintery spin.
While it’s inspired by themes of winter, this deck doesn’t overdo the elements – for example, The Fool (0) is pictured holding his knapsack with a red-and-white stick. Many of its touches are subtle, though the detail is impressive once you have a closer look!
Cards are treated with an illuminating star effect, which can be distracting for some readers though perfect for others.
The Winter Season Tarot
The Winter Season Tarot is one of the most popularly recommended winter-themed decks by Redditors. This one is an indie tarot deck by Dani’el Norman (Astral Mermaid), which you can find either via his personal website or available on Etsy.
There are 78 cards like most traditional tarot decks, though there are two extra cards included here: Sleigh Ride and Christmas – see them as additional trumps like jokers if you will!
The deck also comes with an 80-page guidebook that leads you through the meanings and symbols. The deck is nontraditional but perfect for your Yuletide celebrations or readings for how to approach 2026 and what it may have in store.
Seasons of the Witch Winter Tarot
The Seasons of the Witch Winter Tarot takes its inspiration from classic winter symbols and mythologies, but largely leaves the traditional Christmas-themes and Santa Claus out of the deck.
The deck’s description says that it’s, “An evocative story of festive maidens, snowy creatures and frosty potions; brews and magical tools.” Traditionally, this is a witches’ year-round deck with winter themes rather than a deck associated with Christmas themes.
Created by Lorraine Anderson and illustrated by Tijana Lukovic, the Seasons of the Witch Winter Tarot is a new 2025 release you may very well love throughout the whole year.
It’s part of a series, if you’re wondering, and you can find the Autumn version at Simon and Schuster.
The Yuletide Tarot
The Yuletide Tarot is a creation by author Kristoffer Hughes (guidebook) and Erin O’Leary Brown (illustrations). The deck takes most of its inspiration from winter mythologies and Yule traditions, and makes some changes to the traditional tarot suits.
The Yuletide Tarot uses candles (wands), good cheer (cups), canes (swords) and gifts for pentacles. If you’re already an experienced tarot reader, you may find your way around this change easier than someone who has just begun their journey into reading cards.
According to its description, the guidebook explores individual card meanings, but also takes a look at various midwinter spiritual connections.
Here’s a review of The Yuletide Tarot that appears on Spirit Element – coincidentally, yes, that’s Lorraine Anderson (or the creator of the Seasons of the Witch Winter Tarot mentioned above!).
https://www.spiritelement.co/prettypowerfulthings/yuletide-tarot-review-jm6fe
The Nightmare Before Christmas Tarot
The Nightmare Before Christmas Tarot is co-created by Minerva Siegel and artist/illustrator Abigail Larson. Siegel also created and co-created other thematic tarot decks, like the Supernatural Tarot based around the hit television series – Larson also created the Horror Tarot and Dark Wood Tarot (Llewellyn Worldwide)
If you’ve ever loved this movie or considered it on your holiday must-watch list, this is the tarot deck you’ll want – a quick look at the illustrations is more than enough to draw you right into the unique art.
You can find a review of this deck on Wicked Moonlight’s YouTube channel along with a detailed flip-through of what it has to offer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_DWZLDnFJ8
The Snowland Tarot
The Snowland Tarot was co-created by partnership Ron and Janet Boyer – a couple with a mutual love for tarot decks who have collaborated on several of them so far.
They’ve also created the Coffee Tarot, which deserves some love from anyone who loves tarot as much as they love their caffeinated witches’ brew (okay, of coffee).
Janet has also written Tarot in Reverse (2012) and Naked Tarot (2018), a book about “stripped-down” tarot advice that takes the cards down to their most basic meanings.
The Snowland Tarot is inspired by the most classic snowy themes, though it doesn’t overly draw from the holiday feel. Simply, it feels like taking a mystical walk through a wonderful winter landscape – and afterwards, you might imagine it’s time for coffee…
A Christmas Tarot
A Christmas Tarot has been created by Dinah Roseberry (author) and Christine “Kesara” Dennett (illustrator).
It’s not a full 78-card tarot deck, but instead contains 22 Major Arcana cards and an accompanying guidebook: yes, there are many readers who only draw from the Major Arcana for some readings, and there’s a reason this particular deck chooses to do this.
Readings from this deck are inspired by A Christmas Carol, and looks only at the Past, Present and Future potential of the reading – much like the spirits from the story.
The description says: “For those who love the holiday classic A Christmas Carol, embark on a journey of discovery through this Dickens-inspired 22-card Majors-only Tarot deck.”
Bonus: The Winter Solstice Spread
If you’re taking out your tarot decks during winter-time, you might want to adapt your tarot spread to the season.
There are specific seasonal spreads that can be done around the correct time of the year – depending, of course, which world hemisphere you’re reading this from!
Here’s a suggested Winter Solstice Tarot Spread designed by Anna Rose at AlmanacSupplyCo.com. It might be the perfect fit for any of the winter-time decks we’ve featured in this article!
