Deck Review for Winter Waite Tarot: Santa's Helpers

My honest deck review for this winter and Christmas themed tarot deck!

Winter Waite Tarot - Santa's Helpers

By: James Battersby and Christine R Aguiar

Published by: self-published by Tarot Collectibles.

Published in: 2020

Average price/MSRP: $70-$75

Cardstock quality/GSM: 350 GSM

Card Finish: Light shine

Deck Theme: Winter Holidays

Diversity: Very little/no

Deck box: Tuckbox

Deck Sizing: Standard (standard RWS size comparison shown below)

Backs Reversible: Yes

Card Backs: Candy cane like diagonal stripes (pictured below)

Tarot Deck System: RWS clone

Where to legitimately purchase: Listed below

Tarot Collectibles Website -  Winter Waite: Santa's Helpers (tarotcollectibles.com)

Guidebook: Not included (There is a PDF form of the guidebook with card meanings and cards pictures available for free on the product page of tarot collectibles website.)

The Major Arcana:
In this adorable and fun winter holidays themed deck the major arcana gets a fun holiday style makeover while still remaining true to the common RWS imagery. All cards titles are unchanged. The only exception is the bonus card for a different version of the Death card titled, Jack Frost. I've included this card in the pictures below of all of the major arcana.

The Minor Arcana:
The only cards in the major arcana with the card names on them are the Aces of each suit. Other than that, there are no card names on cards in the minor arcana. However, they all have the roman numerals at the top of each card. Just like with the major arcana, the imagery stays true to the RWS so, if you're at all familiar with the RWS imagery, you will have no troubles whatsoever recognizing what each card is because there are no unrecognizable changes to the suits. The only differences are how each suit is portrayed but each is still easily recognizable. I've listed below what each suit is represented by.

Swords are icicles
Cups are goblets/chalices
Pentacles are green swirled round candies
Wands are peppermint sticks

Each card in the major arcana is fully illustrated which means that it is not a pip deck.

Court Cards:
There are no major deviations in the court cards of this deck from the standard RWS. They are still the pages, knights, queens, and kings. Just as with the minor arcana above, the imagery matches each of its own suit in regard to which suit is which (wands being peppermint sticks, swords being icicles, etc). Pictures are below.

My overall thoughts and opinions on this deck:

I feel that this deck is very whimsical, sweet, fun, and festive. I very much enjoyed using it on twitter in December of 2022 for the Mon-Fri card pulls for the collective and I received very positive feedback on this deck as well. Many people enjoyed the imagery, and I did too. The card stock is great and sturdy but flexible. Not too shiny and not too slick either. It's easy to shuffle both overhand and riffle shuffling. If I was to give any criticisms it would be that I only saw diversity in 2 cards in this deck. While that's better than nothing, I'd like to see more diversity in the skin tones of the characters in more of the cards even if it's not in every card.


Would I recommend this deck to beginner readers?

Yes, I would and do since they are so closely adhering to the standard RWS. However, I'd also strongly recommend having a separate book about the RWS tarot system with card names, cards pictures and their meanings to refer to if they are literally just starting out with learning the tarot.


Final Thoughts:

I think this is a really fun and festive deck to use during the winter holidays (or any time of year if you like) as it really helps to put me into the holiday spirit and it helped to bring that festive spirit through in the readings that I used it for. It was very easy to bond with this deck and its readings are clear, concise, accurate, and lighthearted. I absolutely recommend this deck to any tarot reader (beginner, novice, intermediate, advanced, or professional). While it is a bit on the pricey side, the price includes shipping so no extra charge for that which to me, since it came from the UK, made it worth it.



Thank you for taking the time to read my review and I hope that you found it helpful and that it answered any questions that you had about this deck. Wishing you many happy tarot readings and much love and light!