| LIST 85 | 17 Tarot Decks |
1
The Alcohol Tarot
By the Cult of the Drunken Prophet. Some people who really, really like booze have come up with a full Tarot deck devoted to a different kind of “spirit.” The four traditional suits have been replaced by Beer, Wine, Lager, and Spirits. “The Magician” is, of course, the bartender, who can combine all kinds of alcohol and other beverages into an endless variety of yummy concoctions. “The Hanged Man” is a guy puking in a toilet, while “The Star” is a dartboard. The images are in the form of photographs. The heavily Photoshopped major arcana are so-so, but the minor arcana are elegant.
2
The Bosch Tarot
By A. Atanassov. Many decks use the style of famous artists to reinterpret the Tarot. In this case, Atanassov employs many images straight from Renaissance painter Hierony-omous Bosch, whose bizarre, labyrinthine works detail the joys of heaven and the horrors of hell. “The Chariot,” for instance, shows a man in reptilian body armor riding a chariot made of a saddle on a giant fish. Two dogs wearing sweaters appear to be pulling the odd contraption. It only gets weirder from there….
3
Chaos Tarot
By John Berger. In this gorgeous deck, every card is a radiantly colorful fractal. Although it may not always be immediately apparent, each image has been carefully selected to correspond to the meaning of the card: the isolated feel of “The Hermit,” the merging of “The Lovers,” the fiery explosion of “Strength.” Some of the Major Arcana have been changed—”The High Priest” has become “Progenesis”—and two have been added to the end: “Hyperspace” and “Eschaton.” One of the most beautiful Tarot decks ever created.
4
Cosmic Tribe Tarot
By Stevee Postman. One of the most popular recent decks, these phantasmagoric, psychedelic images show the possibilities when Photoshop is used by the right person. Influences include Alex Grey, the Grateful Dead, collage art, butterflies, flowers, LSD, sacred geometry, and attractive, naked people. Perhaps the most talked-about aspect of this deck is “The Lovers” card, which comes in three flavors: gay, lesbian, and het. I can't help thinking that the originators of the Tarot would be surprised but pleased.
5
Erotic Tarots of Milo Manara
Taking a different approach to the idea of a sexual Tarot, legendary erotic comic Euro-artist Milo Manara fills the deck with his trademark pouty, slinky women.
6
Erotica Tarot
By Ylva Trollstierna, Patrik Carlsson, and Pierre Brawin. From Sweden, this deck takes its cue from sex magick, Tantra, and other traditions that merge flesh and spirit. The black-and-white line drawings display only a medium level of sophistication, but there are many interesting ideas here. “The World” is represented by a daisy chain of people performing oral sex on each other, overlaid with the symbols of the zodiac. “The Lovers” sit entwined in a lotus position on a flaming heart. The phallic symbolism of “The Tower” is made blatant when it becomes a gigantic penis cracking in half.
7
Glow in the Dark Tarot
The Major Arcana have been taken from the Rider-Waite deck, reproduced in black and white, and printed with ink that glows in the dark.
8
H.R. Giger Tarot
The biomechanical work of artist H.R. Giger—best known for giving the Alien movies their sinister look—has been selected to represent each of the 22 Major Arcana. Dark and fearsome.
9
Hello, Tarot
By Joe Rosales. Comic artist Rosales has designed a black-and-white line art Tarot featuring scenes from the Rider-Waite deck but with the hypercute characters from the “Hello Kitty” universe replacing the traditional figures. Naturally, Kitty is “The High Priestess,” while Pochacco the puppy is “Death,” striking down other saccharine characters with his scythe.
10
Physical Egg Tarot
By Dirk Gillabel. The image for each card (Major Arcana only) was painted on the shell of a brown egg, which was then photographed on sand. In a similar vein, Gillabel's Oak Tarot is a series of photographs showing the Major Aracana painted on slices of a young oak tree.
11
Rock and Roll Tarot
by Chris Paradis. Photoshopped images show how rockers fit the Tarot archetypes: Frank Zappa is “The Magician”; Tina Turner is “The High Priestess”; Kurt Cobain is “The Hanged Man”; and Elvis is “The Emperor.” The “Guitar” suit features Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Carlos Santana. Tori Amos, Aretha Franklin, and Bob Marley appear in the “Voice” suit.
12
The Silicon Valley Tarot
By Thomas Scoville. This deck is basically a vehicle to spoof dot-com culture. The Minor Arcana's suits are disks, cubicles, networks, and hosts. The Major Arcana includes “The Hacker,” “Venture Capital,” “IPO”, “Spam,” and “The Layoff.”
13
Tarot Art Quilt Project
In this collaborative project, 42 fiber artists created all 78 Tarot cards, each as a full-size quilt. The entire set was displayed at the 2003 International Quilt Festival.
14
Tarot of Baseball
By Robert Kasher and Beverley Ransom. The illustrations have the style and coloring of the Rider-Waite deck, but they poke gentle fun at America's Pastime. “The Fool” is a rookie, “Death” is a general manager running over people in his big car, and “The High Priestess” is the girlfriend or wife forced to watch the games. Gloves, caps, balls, and bats make up the Minor Arcana.
15
Tarot of the New Vision
By Pietro Alligo, R. Cestaro, G. Cestaro. Three Italian artists had a brilliant idea: Take the familiar images of the Rider-Waite deck, and paint them from the opposite perspective, showing what was previously “out of the frame.” Thus we see that the Magician, with his candle burning at both ends, is performing for an audience in a garden, while a small monkey behind him tugs on his red robe. In the Nine of Swords, the anguished man in bed is actually being attacked by a demon, and two women behind the imperial Justice are nestling a baby into a basket.
16
Tarot Universal Dalí
By Salvador Dalí. Although many decks are retroactively done in the style of master artists, very few famous artists have directly taken up the challenge. Supreme Surrealist Salvador Dalí did, and the result—as you might expect—is a wild, phantasmagoric deck that is often considered one of the most stunning ever published.
17
The Thoth Tarot
By Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris. Using concepts from the Kabalah and the Golden Dawn combined with his own wild insights, the world's most famous occultist directed Harris to paint the surreal, abstracted images that adorn the cards.
Honorable Mentions: The Tarot of Oz, Lord of the Rings Tarot, PoMo Tarot, Stick Figure Tarot, Wonderland Tarot, Ferret Tarot, Gummibear Tarot, Fantastic Medical Tarot, Tiny Tarot, Vampire Tarot, Gay Tarot, Nightmare Before Christmas Tarot. 
The Wonders of Modern Medicine,
part one
In the medical procedure called enteral feeding, a nutrient in liquid form is piped directly into the digestive system. To see if the fluid leaks into the patient's respiratory system, it is sometime colored with blue food coloring (specifically, FD&C Blue #1, the same type used in M&Ms). Problem is, it sometimes turns the patient's shit and piss blue. Even worse, some people have been smurfed (i.e., their skin turns blue). But that's small potatoes compared to the dozen people who have died from the azure liquid as of September 2003.