Father and Daughter’s Icelandic Tarot Deck Wins ‘Oscar For Witches’

Fréttablaðið have reported that Haukur Halldórsson and Gunnhildur Hauksdóttir been presented two CARTA awards by the International Tarot Foundation: Best Artistic Achievement and Judge’s Choice for Oracle Deck. These awards (which Gunnhildur suggests are ‘some kind of Oscar for witches’) are for a divination deck, Yggdrasil, that the duo created together. This was their first creative collaboration. The father-daughter duo specify that the deck is not a traditional tarot deck exactly, but rather a prediction system based on Nordic mythology.

The original run of 7,000 decks, which was published by the American publisher Llewellyn last year, is already being reprinted. The deck is in English, with the words being written by Gunnhildur and the pen and ink illustrations drawn by Haukur. To create the deck, Haukur and Gennhildur drew from the Edda poems and the mythology of the Yggdrasil tree. The 81 card divination deck is intended to be used for guidance and spiritual connection, and is sold alongside a 216 page guide book.

Haukur, who is 83 years old and has been an artist for many years, has also been in the Ásatrúarfélagið (the Ásatrú Fellowship) for decades. He was a good friend of Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson, the first official chief of the Ásatrúarfélagið. These many years of knowledge and practice, paired with the artistic skills of Haukur and Gunnhildur have contributed to the creation of the award-winning divination deck. You can follow the duo’s Instagram and YouTube to learn more about the divination deck.

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