The Mist Witches

In Dutch folklore, the Witte Wieven appear in many forms. Sometimes they are described as misty spirits who confuse or mislead travellers, sometimes as healers, midwives, or wise women. They are closely linked to thresholds, to places between worlds, and to moments of transition such as birth and death. Often they appear in fog, near burial mounds, the hunebedden, swamps, or forest edges. Their stories have no clear interpretation and remain open, shifting, and ambiguous… much like mist itself.

A Childhood Encounter

As a child, I once got lost in thick mist in the Ooijpolder. I remember being completely surrounded, covered by a blanket of mist, unable to see where I was going, yet feeling strangely protected, as if becoming part of a mysterious presence rather than threatened by it. That experience stayed with me. Later, when I learned more about the Witte Wieven, I recognised a similar quality in their stories. They are not only spirits of mist, but also echoes of the wise women of the past. Women who carried plant knowledge, assisted at births, guided the dying, and were connected to other worlds. My grandmother embodied this for me. She took me into nature, showed me plants, taught me to pay attention to all the rhythms, shapes and colours in which nature speaks. In that sense, she was my first encounter with a Witte Wief.

Dutch Landscape Magic

To root this project in place, I travelled across the Netherlands visiting pagan and archaeological sites. I walked among hunebedden, grafheuvels (burial mounds), and biked through many misty landscapes. I studied amulets in the Fries Museum, researched klokbekers and trechterbekers as vessels connected to death and transformation, read books and visited museums holding archaeological collections. I spent time meditating in swamps, camping in nature, and sketching on site. Slowly, a symbolic landscape started to emerge… a vocabulary made of plants, animals, archetypes, objects, and places from the Netherlands that form the backbone of this tarot.

Tarot

Tarot felt like the natural vessel to bring these elements together. Its archetypal structure allows many layers to coexist: folklore, landscape, psychology, and ritual. Through tarot, I can project a magical map of the Netherlands, inhabited by native animals, plants, sacred places, and forgotten figures. I have been studying tarot for more than ten years, and the learning process never stops. The deck will be based on the Rider Waite Smith deck and will consist of 78 drawings. My wish is that if you put all the cards together they will form one large landscape (inspired by the arrangement of Peter Balins Xultun Tarot). Creating this deck is also a way of deepening my understanding, both of tarot and of the stories that shape it.

With the Witte Wieven Tarot, I hope to invite people of all walks of life to rediscover the subtle magic hidden in Dutch folklore, archaeology, and nature. The deck aims to bring back a misty, intuitive feminine wisdom, one rooted in softness, listening, and attention to the natural world. It is an invitation to slow down, to tune in, and to return to a quieter centre of the heart that holds the earth.

The Road Ahead

The Witte Wieven Tarot will be revealed in my solo exhibition on the Witte Wieven at Dat Bolwerck in autumn 2026. The project is developed in dialogue with institutions such as the Embassy of the Free Mind and is supported by funding from the Mondriaan Fund. I am currently shaping the next phase of the deck and am open to collaborations with publishers and cultural spaces interested in its broader context, as well as to lectures and workshops exploring folklore, tarot, and intuitive knowledge. The Witte Wieven Tarot is an ongoing journey, and I am curious to see where it will lead.