Oak, Rowan and Yew: The Real Trees Behind Woodland Symbolism
November 11, 2026
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Stories Behind the Cards · Part 2 of 8
Original AI-generated editorial illustration. Two paths into an imagined woodland: an illustration about choosing how to explore, rather than a product photograph.
You do not need to decide what sort of person you are before choosing a deck. A more useful starting point is what you want to explore. Perhaps you enjoy learning a connected system of images. Perhaps one woodland creature or a familiar tree gives you a clearer way into a question.
Tarot and contemporary oracle decks can both be approached through attention, story and reflection. Their practical differences become easier to understand when you look at their organisation and the guide supplied with them.
Veilbound’s The Crossing of Realms contains 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana, arranged into Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Its companion guidebook includes upright and reversed interpretations.
That framework gives you something to learn across readings. You can follow a suit, compare numbered cards or notice how a familiar title has been reimagined. Within this deck, each suit also travels through a different fantasy realm. The settings help the images belong together, while the tarot structure provides an additional thread.
For example, you might explore how the guidebook treats the beginnings represented by its Aces. You could then compare that theme with The Fool’s invitation to a first step. This is a way of studying the deck; there is no need to memorise every entry before you begin.
Many contemporary oracle decks are organised around a creator’s chosen theme and supplied interpretations. The word “oracle” by itself does not promise one shared list of cards or a universal reading method. A particular deck may still have a carefully designed structure.
Veilbound’s oracle decks each contain 36 cards, but that is a feature of this collection, rather than a rule for every oracle deck. The Wildwood Court pairs 18 trees with 18 imagined woodland creatures. Its English Oak card explores Steady Support; Rowan considers Visible Courage; Yew introduces Deep Time.
The guidebook is therefore part of getting to know the deck. It explains how these particular pictures and themes work together. Another creator could use an oak for a different purpose, and their choices would need to be understood in their own context.
A broad question can produce a vague response. Try naming the situation and the kind of attention you want to give it. “What deserves preparation before I start this project?” offers a clearer task than asking whether everything will go well.
A woodland card might help you consider support, timing or boundaries. A tarot card might invite a comparison with a broader theme in its guidebook. In either case, you can decide whether an interpretation fits what you actually know.
You might use either deck to explore:
These are reflective uses of images. The cards do not establish what another person secretly thinks, or turn a guess about an outcome into evidence.
Begin with one image, one question and one short note. Describe what you see before deciding what it means. Then read the interpretation, keeping any useful connection and leaving room to disagree.
Three cards can be helpful when you want to separate aspects of a subject. You might assign them “what I notice”, “what needs examination” and “one possible next step”. Those positions are a suggested exercise, not a historical rule. Writing the positions down before drawing helps keep the task clear.
If a particular creature or landscape makes you want to look more closely, that is a useful reason to explore it. If you enjoy following relationships across a larger set of images, tarot’s recurring structure may hold your interest. You can also use both approaches at different times.
The free Dragon Oracle offers a gentle place to try a reading. You can browse the wider Oracle Library or explore the separate Veilbound Tarot collection when you have a sense of which experience you want to return to.
The two online memberships are separate, each £8.99 per month, renewing until cancelled. Printable cards and PDF guidebooks are separate purchases. You can take your time choosing; the useful starting point is curiosity about the pictures and the questions they open.
For the historical background to tarot’s framework, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s introduction. The contemporary deck descriptions above refer specifically to Veilbound’s own cards and guidebooks.
