One of my favorite tarot decks, The Deviant Moon deck created by Patrick Valenza. Here is the 7 of Pentacles, with a woman as witch, beneath the branches of an elderberry tree. Women, witches and the elderberry tree have a relationship in lore:
She may provide a potent link with the Mother Goddess and facilitates contact with spirits of other trees. In a sense she acts as a mother figure within the woodland. She carries the wisdom of the Crone, and is mistress of the deepest magic.
Witches were said to be able to turn themselves into elder trees. Gypsies believe that it is very bad luck to cut down and burn elder wood and that the Elder Mother will take revenge. This superstition arises from an instinctive realization that a lack of respect for Nature is dangerous, ultimately, to the human race. Elder's unruly growth hints at the untamable aspect of Nature, the black heart of the earth to which we owe our being.
Elder fairy has an aged, feminine wisdom, too long mispriced in our culture, but with a little respect she will act as teacher.
The Fairy Bible, Teresa Moorey/
