You’ve probably heard Professor Ashley say on the podcast multiple times that she loves anything with witches in it. This extends to pretty much everything from comics to movies to television shows and, of course, it encompasses the world of merchandise. Witches have enjoyed an up swing in contemporary popular culture the same way superheroes have. It makes sense they would eventually dovetail.

There are tons of cool taro decks you can get which are superhero themed. There’s one entirely dedicated to The Avengers. I may be biased, but the Doctor Strange art is particularly cool.

There’s a school of thought that a tarot deck should be given as a gift. Given with the best of intentions for a specific person who has only you in mind. When I celebrated my American citizenship I was gifted the Movie Tarot Deck by a friend who attended and knows about my penitent for all things pop culture. That was almost a year ago and I’ve used this deck regularly ever since.

above pictures by: Cameron Rice Photography

If you’ve never worked with tarot before you are probably familiar with the idea of them. You have probably seen the beautiful artwork adorning everything from classic to contemporary decks. The visual is what is most appealing about the cards. Their strongest suits, so to speak. Tarot cards are very much like comic books or movie posters in that way. It makes sense to me they would appeal to the same type of person who covets CGC issues. Like members of a movie cast or crew, each tarot card has a specific job. It means something different from all the rest of the cards in the deck and it is up to you to unwind what this means for you.

For example, the much coveted card, The Lovers in the Movie Tarot Deck shows an image of Jack and Ennis from Brokeback Mountain. It’s one of my favourite choices the creators of the deck made in their iconography!

Every deck comes with a guide book with general interpretations to help beginners. I’ve been pulling tarot cards for about three years and I still consider myself very much a beginner. I refer to the guide book with every deck I use. If there isn’t a guide book at hand (maybe I’m traveling and tried to save space while packing), or I feel I need a little more I like Biddy Tarot as an additional resource.

I like to work with small spreads (5 cards of less), and more often than not I’m asking only one specific question. I’m going to walk you through my process right here right now. This topic is a bit of a divergence from our usual fair here on the Geek History Lesson Blog, so I’m going to ask the cards:

Is publishing this blog post a good idea?

I pulled Strength!

Somewhere Alien franchise fans are screaming because they recognize Sigourney Weaver’s feminist icon, Ellen Ripley and her big, big gun.

Per the Guide Book (remember I wrote about that earlier?), Strength means:

“Perseverance is the answer. Seek out a better strategy, even if it is counterintuitive.”

Knowing that I was concerned about writing this post and broaching this subject matter with our beloved Mind University Students and Geek History Lesson listeners, the message Strength/Ripley is sending me is to push through my own doubts about this post and that trying something which may, at first blush, seem “counterintuitive” is actually me taking a step in the right direction.

For an extra bonus energetic burst, try watching the corresponding movie to drive the message home.

Whether you are curious about tarot or looking for a fun gift for the pop culture enthusiast in your life, the Movie Tarot Deck is straightforward and easy to use for readers of any experience level, it is beautifully rendered - both artistically and in the quality of the cards. Matte finish? The designer is going straight to my heart! - and the character correspondences are very, very smart. If you are thumbing through the Movie Tarot Deck and come across a movie you are not familiar with I would say you definitely have something to add to your Recommended Reading/Viewing list!