Fool

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Pronouns: She, her

+ Madness; extravagance; spark of an idea; the breath before inspiration 

– Apathy, carelessness, or rash behavior; ­expectations can breed resentment; poor ­planning, ­lack of perseverance; better starter than finisher

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The Fool card in every Ki11erpancake deck is a self-portrait. At this point, it’s become an inside joke: “I’m such a fool for making another deck! Why do I keep doing this?!”

The Fool is as much an illustration of hope as it is a manifestation of the creative spark and potential. 

However, within the context of this deck the Fool is also about purging fear. CULT was born of my desire to express a number of ideas about gender roles and to come out as a queer woman in a self-made space where I felt comfortable. My hesitation comes from not feeling “queer enough”. After seeing other people discuss this topic, I chose to use my work to talk about who I am, the world as I see it, and the hope I have for the future.  

This card is very meta. Just as the Fool travels through the Major Arcana cards, meeting the different challenges found in each, I as the illustrator of this deck am tasked with meeting each card and crafting a new interpretation. The goal is to create a usable deck and a piece of art that brings new ideas to the table. (No pressure.)

The Fool depicted here is no different than any other in a deck I’ve created except she an older and wiser Fool. This is the fourth self-portrait I have created for a tarot deck but the look in my eyes is a look of hope towards the future. The blood pouring our of my mouth is a purging of things deeply hidden and feared. I’ve decided that I am done worrying about being “enough”.

If this card comes up in your reading it can mean a number of things: At the beginning of a reading a Fool could be something exciting (a new project or person) is in the works and you are in that dreamy ideating phase. Don’t forget, that coin has two sides! If this ends up later in the reading I would read this has a pivot. If its negatively aspected this tends to be a sign of procrastination or flakiness. The best way to combat this would be to sit down and tackle one thing on this list. Once you get started the rest will follow.

Magician
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Pronouns: They, them

+ An informed choice; flexing skill; the alchemist, building something out of seemingly nothing; clever and skillful negotiation 

– Logic and skill based profession or personality; regulator; controller; the used car sales-person of the tarot; knows how to manipulate things to their own advantage; a failed experiment

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Regardless of how the card is aspected know this, the Magician is not someone to fuck with. They know what they are doing and their actions are intentional. 

The Magician has all the elements of each suit laid out in front of them and can wield these items as they see fit. Since this deck features characters from across the horror genre in each of the suits, mastery over these supernatural elements requires a level of acumen that is appallingly powerful and one mistake can result in catastrophe. They don’t seem to sweat it though. 

Those familiar with the Rider-Waite’s Magician will note the positioning of the hands, one gestures up adjusting their glasses and the other clutching the scissors pointing down, “As Above, So Below”— everything has a counterbalance and everything comes back around. Those scissors and the red jumpsuit are a direct reference to Jordan Peele’s second film, Us and his consistent use of doubling, counterbalance, and deception within the film. 

Like each of the Major Arcana cards the Magician can be a person or be applied to a situation. If this card comes up as part of the unconscious aspect of a reading, it could refer to something or someone pulling strings behind the scenes or unintentionally being controlling. It’s hard not to see this as a negative thing but sometimes someone has to step up to the plate and do something. It’s called “being the adult in the room”. The Magician is a doer and unapologetically so.

High Priestess
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Pronouns: She, her

+ The oracle; knower of secrets and keeper of wisdom 

– Doubling down on a bad faith deal resulting from confirmation bias; denial

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The High Priestess stands before the gates of the Universe, with a slight smile playing on her face. Is she hiding something? Maybe she’s waiting to divulge a secret. This card is another one that is very meta within the tarot. A card about introspection and mysticism, it reminds me of a tarot reader. When Sarah McKenzie reached out to sponsor a card, I was not surprised that she chose this one. A tarot reader and intuitive, she comes from a long family tradition of offering guidance. 

The High Priestess is the oracle of the tarot, who stands between this world and the deeper meaning of the cards. After discussing her connection to the High Priestess, I took each of the symbols found in the Pamela Coleman Smith’s illustration (the columns, the crescent moon, and the pomegranate) and reinvented them for CULT.

Traditionally the columns she sits between are black and white, referencing Boaz and Jachin, (two pillars that stood before Soloman’s Temple in Jerusalem).  Their coloring denotes two opposites that uphold a greater purpose. The columns here however are shades of gray and not evenly upholding anything—suggesting  Sarah stands before an unknowable  and nebulous portal. 

A pomegranate sits before the High Priestess, cleaved open but instead of seeds, she is presented with a fruit filled with eyes. Pomegranates are historically associated with fertility (aka a symbolic uterus). Filling the fruit with searching eyeballs returns the gaze back on to the viewer— “look elsewhere”.

The tattoo on Sarah’s back signifies her journey as an adoptive mother. The shadow of the wolf refers to her ancestors. In Mi’kmaq culture, each family line or clan is identified by an animal based on the mother’s line. (This is not a spirit animal.) Sarah’s is the Wolf that appears just over her shoulder in a protective stance.

Thank you to Sarah McKenzie for sponsoring and modeling for this card. Learn more about Mi’kmaq culture at Mi’kmaq Spirit.