Miss Cleo's Deck

danieljuk

I do remember American friends talking about Miss Cleo in her telemarketing heyday and it was a shame she went such a premium route for people to spend money with her and was eventually tarnished as a fraud because of several lawsuits against her company "psychic readers network". She also turned out to have a fake accent and persona, but was really L.A born and bred :) However she did a lot for LGBT charities and is a fascinating person.

I have let her reputation put me off buying this deck but I do like its look. I think I will look out for a copy of the deck sometime to add to my collection. It has a very nice Egyptian design, shall see if it comes up in my life!

Some of the interviews with the lady in recent years are great reads, she is also part of documentary you can find online called "Hotline" about the pressures of running such a pressurised environment. She has now left telemarketing though. One of the positive things left from that former life is the tarot decks still going around the world :)
 

greatdane

I was surprised, Danieljuk

It is not an expensive deck, yet the cardstock is much better than some decks costing much more. One of the things that cracked me up upon opening the deck....two cards in the deck that both have telephone numbers promoting Miss Cleo! It says as Seen on TV!

I am a "shuffler" and just enjoy sitting and shuffling decks while I watch a film. This deck is great to shuffle!
 

Aeric

Don't forget that one card promoting her as a "true Tarot Shaman." I won't pretend there aren't people in the world claiming to be such a thing, but I have a hard time believing Miss Cleo herself specifically was a Tarot Shaman, whatever it is <_<
 

greatdane

LOL AERIC!

Yes, that is on one of the two cards that promote Miss Cleo.
 

Aeric

I think the most useful thing I got from Miss Cleo is her Four Doors spread, a flashy but very light and loose reading that can be used with any deck, not just hers. Four Doors is what she uses in all her infomercials, including with the Waite deck.

The deck isn't horrible, but there are certainly better Egyptian decks, and the crude art is serviceable but not exactly compelling. I highly doubt that Cleo herself had any participation in the design process except to specify an Egyptian theme. Apparently, the training videotape that used to be packaged with the deck isn't at all deep and she might as well have been reading with her own deck for the first time on camera, and the LWB text is different from how she describes the card meanings.
 

Aeric

Four Doors is pretty easy to do, just flipping cards and judging subjectively, but being very quick about it. I don't think Cleo ever stuck to hard and fast rules for it, at least not in her videos.

She also seems to be quite literal. "Here's the 5 of Wands, I see five people arguing in your life."

"10 of Pentacles reversed, you have to get a better lock on your door, someone's going to come into your house and steal your money."

Um, ok.
 

Lenorma

Out of curiosity as to what the whoopla is all about this psychic reader, for the paltry sum of $4.24 which includes s&h (I know that seller didn't make any money off me--the cards were not in her favor), I have just won on ebay the VHS video and tarot deck the seller offered, still packaged, unopened in collector's edition box. Of course, I got them for entertainment purposes, you know. Expect to get them in mail in about a week, I guess.

It is interesting to see that the Miss Cleo tarot deck and the VHS are still being offered in lots for sale or for resale, in packaged edition or sold singly. Somebody is still mass producing these for sale or selling what was backed up after the lawsuits and bankruptcies, etc., for resale.
 
Lori Walls' Erotica Tarot Tree of Life Tarot