Miss Cleo's Tarot Power Deck
Copyright ©2001 Radar Communications
Inspired by Miss Cleo
Booklet Co-Authored by L. Thomas Trosclair
Cards Designed and Illustrated by J. F. Lambert
Cards Colored by Seth Stephens
$29.95

Introduction
Down at the local Walgreen's, one aisle over from the enema bags and laxatives, Miss Cleo's Collector's Edition Tarot Power kit awaits. Packaged in a cardboard container roughly the size of a small pizza box and decorated with vivid Barbie-doll colors, the kit includes both Miss Cleo's Tarot Power Deck and Miss Cleo's Tarot Power video.

The Deck
The Power Deck itself honors the tradition of 22 Majors and 56 Minors. Both the Majors and the illustrated Minors have been executed in a faux Egyptian style. Bare-chested, thick-limbed men with washboard abs sport vaguely Egyptian drag. Supple-breasted women with narrow waists strike comic book poses. Many other characters - the supplicants on the Hierophant, for example - appear as human figures with various animal heads.

While the box copy claims Miss Cleo "inspired" the deck, Pamela Coleman Smith clearly inspired both J. F. Lambert (the designer and illustrator) and Seth Stephens (who colored the cards). Those familiar with the venerable Rider-Waite will recognize several motifs: solitary figures against stark yellow backgrounds, streams meandering through background wastelands, characters isolated on a platform in the foreground of a card.

The Art
The illustrations recall the vivid imagery of children's Sunday School literature, particularly those associated with the Book of Exodus. To Lambert and Stephens' credit, the artwork in this deck features a simplicity of style and consistency of execution lacking in many decks the Tarot community is likely to take more seriously. If the deck were published without Miss Cleo's stamp of approval, I suspect many would have embraced it as a serious attempt to return the Rider-Waite-Smith deck to its supposedly ancient Egyptian roots. Etteilla would be proud.

Occasional departures from the RWS illustrations deserve mention. The Fool, a muscular young man with a shepherd's crook, staggers drunkenly on the edge of his cliff, a sloshing an upraised cup of wine. The Chariot driver reins in the Sphinx by pulling its tail. The wildcat on the Strength card, far from tame, means business. Justice, adopting a beaked visage and casting her sword aside, compares the relative weights of heart-shaped jar to a feather. The Tower appears to be a frowny, distressed cartoon version of the Washington Monument, inexplicably gripped between the thighs of one of the falling figures (how's that for a phallic image?). The Sun, sporting Tut's beard and twelve cartoon hands, gazes off into the distance while a muscular child prances atop Ferdinand the Bull, who gazes lovingly at a bright daisy.

Aces feature the symbol of the suit - staffs, cups, swords, or coins - gripped by a hand bedecked with a serious set of Lee Press-On Nails (the packaging for which, as does the Tarot Power Kit, features that bright red "As Seen On TV" stamp).

The court cards are unremarkable. Small touches from the RWS abound, including the little fish peeking out of the Page of Cups' cup.

Odd Features
The most interesting departures from RWS pip illustrations occur in the suit of Cups. Instead of the familiar, retreating figure of the Eight, this card features an eerie image of an Oracular eye, suspended in the air above a meditating man. Before him, eight cups, stacked end over end, tower into the air, with the eighth cup wobbling precariously. "A warning against vanity," notes the little white booklet. "Remember to give. It may be time to move on and stop new plans. Do not let your pride stop you from making change."

The man on the Seven of Cups drowns in a miniscule puddle, entranced by the vision of the seven cups arranged in a crescent above his head. On the six, replacing the familiar bestowal of flowers, a man in the background drinks from or stares into a cup. A line of cups extends into the foreground, where another man, gripping yet another cup, looks back. "Worry, petty upsets, stress, and self-doubt," warns the little white book. "You may become very tired."

In an interesting twist on the traditional illustration, the figure on the Five of Cups places the two remaining cups on an altar and worships them (!), leaving the three overturned cups forgotten on the dry desert floor.

The two extra cards in the 80-card pack bear, of course, full-color ads for Miss Cleo's Tarot Readings. There is no substitute, we are told, for a power of a real tarot reading from Tarot Shaman Miss Cleo. Card backs feature a reversible faux Egyptian pattern printed purple on white, and the booklet encourages the use of reversed meanings, which it supplies.

Conclusions
Say what you will about Miss Cleo, but this brightly-packaged deck goes a long way toward making Tarot as approachable as your nine-year-old nephew's Professional Magician's Kit (Easy! Fun! 100 Tricks in One!). The deck illustrations incorporate more esoteric content and symbolism than, say, the Dragon Tarot, the Sacred Circle, or many other decks I could mention.

Perhaps you should worry about me. I confess My Tarot Power kit has earned a coveted spot on the shelf in my office, just behind my desk, right next to my Thai Buddha, Chinese prayer sticks, and Richard Craze's Feng Shui Game Pack.

I gotta admit, "babees," . Good Ole' Miss Cleo makes metaphysics fun again ... and, much to my chagrin, her deck ain't half bad, either.

Mark McElroy - mark@hismailbox.com

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