the dark library tarot manifesto
A playful hand-drawn deck that celebrates the beautiful lessons we can learn from classic horror, sci-fi, and gothic literature.
naturally after a year reading "classic" literature to create a tarot deck inspired by "classic" literature, i wrote a manifesto on "classic" literature. indulge me, babes, you know i love a manifesto.
we've spent the last year creating a deck that celebrates "classic" literature. most of us, by now, know that what gets held up as classic is primarily stories written by white men; occasionally there's a white woman.
the past few years there's been a beautiful push to expand the RWS tarot deck to include more than just white, presumably straight and able-bodied people. we want to see ourselves and our stories in the deck. if not for these decks, i probably wouldn't have gotten into tarot at all. we deserve to see our stories in tarot decks, and on television and in schools, and in literature.
so why did we choose the "classic" books that we did? knowing that this particular slice of genre and time period would really limit who we would depict and what stories we would tell?
there are a few practical reasons-- we’re a small team, and using public domain literature means no plagiarism and no copyright disputes. public domain also means no cost access for everyone.
within the parameters of public domain works, written in or translated to english, and the genres of horror, sci-fi, and gothic literature, well, you have the selection of works we've presented. my librarian collaborator did an incredible amount of research trying to find works within these parameters written by people of color. maybe there were once many; works that were never published, or published but not widely circulated, or published but actively suppressed, and therefore, in myriad ways, lost to us now. there are a lot of white english authors represented in our deck, but you'll also find works by Zora Neale Hurston and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
there's another reason, both simple and complex, which is that we ourselves, with our own mix of identity labels, enjoy these works. They're entertaining and they're profound.
prior to this project, i hadn't read many of these works. i was surprised by what i found-- in jekyll and hyde, frankenstein, dr. moreau, searing critiques of rich white men practicing sciences fueled by their own god complexes, heedless of the way their technology destroyed lives. in wuthering heights and carmilla, lovers destroyed by society's abhorrence of interracial and queer relationships. i learned that the original "mad woman in the attic" was a Caribbean woman, locked away because she couldn't control her emotions. i wanted bertha to burn it all down.
these stories are full of fear of all things sensual, emotional, soft, indulgent; full of punishment for having sex, being brown, being crippled, wanting freedom. non-white races are depicted as degenerate, immoral, barbaric, gross, threatening. women are whores, infantile, or ruined. there're also full of apt critiques of wealth and classism, full of horror at the cruelty of wealthy white men, a lingering grief at the way society punishes divergence. sometimes the villains in these stories are people yearning to simply exist in a world that despises them. sometimes the villains are exactly who they are now: white men with so much money it's destroyed their soul.
i find comfort in both. a lot has been written about queer people's tendency to identify with the villain. i feel a thrill in pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable in society by clawing the wallpaper off the walls of my cell, naked and smiling; to revel in satisfaction at suckling at life itself like a vampire; to dance wildly in dangerous bacchanal rituals designed to usher in new, incomprehensible world orders. and i feel righteousness when the real villain is named-- it's the old white guy, who dines with magistrates in his beautiful home paid for by slavery, his pursuits egotistical and ruinous. i hope you feel this comfort, this thrill, and this righteousness too as you use our deck.
we've celebrated the "villains" who are different, who are yearning and fighting in world that hates them. and we've named the villains who participate in this punishment. we put them into a tarot deck because we wanted a deck that reflects the questions we have right now.
and we've laughed in the face of so much horror, because joy is essential.
all these images are cards in our super spooky tarot deck, funding on kickstarter right now! please check us out and tell a friend!
