shininglion
While the lawsuits may have ended her career as a spokeswoman for Mind & Spirit, she is clearly a remembered entertainment piece. Watch in amazement as she attempts to predict the future path of NBA star LeBron James (and fails quite miserably). This video is from earlier this year, 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQOV3KHjAM
I wanted to open up new discussion on Miss Cleo. I think the woman and the company she worked for are an interesting phenomenon.
I realize the entire company was running one big money-sucking scam, but I have to admit, when the Cleo commercials were airing, I was only a teenager, and I found her personality and alleged accuracy to be very inspiring. I would sit up late at night watching her infomercials, swooning over her ability. It would be a lie if I didn't admit those commercials were what sparked my interest in Tarot. They really brought it into the mainstream, and now that I'm a studied practitioner myself, I only wish I could watch some of her readings again and analyze them, see if there is any rhyme or reason behind her explanations.
I wouldn't be surprised if the calls in the commercials were entirely scripted, but I do recall watching one reading where she mentioned someone being too stubborn to listen to her father. A quick camera shot of the spread did show some cards that may have represented that. There was an Emperor card (father figure) and a Seven of Wands (resistance/struggle). Perhaps coincidence, because I've made the same observation as many others: Majors and court cards seem to be almost the only things that pop up in her spreads, far more than you'd expect them to.
As I heard, Cleo was actually a reader for the company before she became the spokesperson, so I wonder if she does at least have "some" degree of tarot knowledge.
The Four Doors Spread which she was commonly seen using is to this day one of my favorites (anyone know where this originates?). It's a very advanced spread that is fluid and widely open to interpretation. I personally have trouble even doing a reading with it, but I see it as a powerful tool for the advanced reader, and strive to be able to use it with ease one day. I love the amount of intuition it relies on. I wonder if Cleo was using the lack of structure in this spread to do a form of cold reading, using the cards as cues for things to talk about, but playing off of what the caller said to make her predictions?
Last, does anyone own Miss Cleo's Tarot Power Deck? I've seen these going really cheap on the internet, so cheap in fact that it's almost worth having as a novelty item and memento of what sparked my interest in tarot, and the humor I found in those late night infomercials. Whether I believed in her abilities or not as a teen, I did find her commercials hilarious, and she became the object of much spoofing in my group of friends. I have some good memories of skits I wrote and performed for friends at school in which I pretended to be her.
To anyone who has the deck, what do you think of it? Is there anywhere online you can see a large number of the cards? I've only seen a handful, and to be honest I sort of like the hokey simplistic Egyptian feel. It reminds me of the stereotypical "gyspy" psychics you'd see at a circus or state fair. I'm considering buying one, though I don't know if I'd ever use it for any serious readings.
I have to wonder if Cleo's commercials actually served a higher purpose in the grand scheme of things. The company was exposed as a scam and the modern public was reminded that there are phonies who call themselves psychics. We all learned a lesson from that, not to mention a lesson about believing what we see on television, and with the popularity of Miss Cleo, I'd wager that a vast amount of people took interest in Tarot and went out to discover how to do it themselves. Strange to think of it that way, but the fraud may have equipped many of us with abilities we wouldn't have without it.
Phony or not, Miss Cleo was a role model for me, and has a prominent spot in my memories of the first steps in my Tarot journey.
Dat be all I have ta say about Miss Cleo fer now! Tank you for humorin' me babies, and I lub you all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQOV3KHjAM
I wanted to open up new discussion on Miss Cleo. I think the woman and the company she worked for are an interesting phenomenon.
I realize the entire company was running one big money-sucking scam, but I have to admit, when the Cleo commercials were airing, I was only a teenager, and I found her personality and alleged accuracy to be very inspiring. I would sit up late at night watching her infomercials, swooning over her ability. It would be a lie if I didn't admit those commercials were what sparked my interest in Tarot. They really brought it into the mainstream, and now that I'm a studied practitioner myself, I only wish I could watch some of her readings again and analyze them, see if there is any rhyme or reason behind her explanations.
I wouldn't be surprised if the calls in the commercials were entirely scripted, but I do recall watching one reading where she mentioned someone being too stubborn to listen to her father. A quick camera shot of the spread did show some cards that may have represented that. There was an Emperor card (father figure) and a Seven of Wands (resistance/struggle). Perhaps coincidence, because I've made the same observation as many others: Majors and court cards seem to be almost the only things that pop up in her spreads, far more than you'd expect them to.
As I heard, Cleo was actually a reader for the company before she became the spokesperson, so I wonder if she does at least have "some" degree of tarot knowledge.
The Four Doors Spread which she was commonly seen using is to this day one of my favorites (anyone know where this originates?). It's a very advanced spread that is fluid and widely open to interpretation. I personally have trouble even doing a reading with it, but I see it as a powerful tool for the advanced reader, and strive to be able to use it with ease one day. I love the amount of intuition it relies on. I wonder if Cleo was using the lack of structure in this spread to do a form of cold reading, using the cards as cues for things to talk about, but playing off of what the caller said to make her predictions?
Last, does anyone own Miss Cleo's Tarot Power Deck? I've seen these going really cheap on the internet, so cheap in fact that it's almost worth having as a novelty item and memento of what sparked my interest in tarot, and the humor I found in those late night infomercials. Whether I believed in her abilities or not as a teen, I did find her commercials hilarious, and she became the object of much spoofing in my group of friends. I have some good memories of skits I wrote and performed for friends at school in which I pretended to be her.
To anyone who has the deck, what do you think of it? Is there anywhere online you can see a large number of the cards? I've only seen a handful, and to be honest I sort of like the hokey simplistic Egyptian feel. It reminds me of the stereotypical "gyspy" psychics you'd see at a circus or state fair. I'm considering buying one, though I don't know if I'd ever use it for any serious readings.
I have to wonder if Cleo's commercials actually served a higher purpose in the grand scheme of things. The company was exposed as a scam and the modern public was reminded that there are phonies who call themselves psychics. We all learned a lesson from that, not to mention a lesson about believing what we see on television, and with the popularity of Miss Cleo, I'd wager that a vast amount of people took interest in Tarot and went out to discover how to do it themselves. Strange to think of it that way, but the fraud may have equipped many of us with abilities we wouldn't have without it.
Phony or not, Miss Cleo was a role model for me, and has a prominent spot in my memories of the first steps in my Tarot journey.
Dat be all I have ta say about Miss Cleo fer now! Tank you for humorin' me babies, and I lub you all!
