Musician King Khan and graphic artist Michael Eaton have collaborated to create an illustrated black power tarot deck. The deck incorporates black musicians as well as other black public figures into a traditional tarot card structure. The project was overseen by Chilean filmmaker and artist Alejandro Jodorwosky.

Musician King Khan and graphic artist Michael Eaton have collaborated to create an illustrated black power tarot deck. The deck incorporates black musicians as well as other black public figures into a traditional tarot card structure. The project was overseen by Chilean filmmaker and artist Alejandro Jodorwosky. The cards are available on Etsy.

About the project, musician King Khan writes:

I truly tried to take my ego out of these cards but music has a lot to do with what I was trying to achieve. I truly believe that it was music that freed the souls of African Americans. From the days when secret information was placed in blues songs to instruct the slaves, through the Underground Railroad, till now. It was this celestial shamanic music that guided the fool through the path of enlightenment.

The figures in each card represents a likeness to 19 real African american musicians, two real African American magicians (Marie Laveau La Pappesse, and Black Herman the Magician) and one comedian, the fool. The Fool in my tarot is not a musician; what he holds above his head is a crack pipe and the microphone is there to represent a comedian. He was modelled after Richard Pryor, who was in many ways the ultimate fool.

The Hermit in my tarot has a harp in one hand to represent the celestial alchemical music the guides the hermit. It was also based on Philip Cohran, a great black musician who responded to the Vietnam war by making incredible black classical music. He composed huge symphonies in Chicago ghettos and some of which had some beautiful harp. I made him have the Egyptian cloak to represent the times when black people were empowered.

The two musicians in the Maison Dieu are confronted by the eternal black monolith of black power one is falling from it and one is escaping, it is to show the power and the mystery of the tower of black power.

The World card is based on a woman whose name is sister Rosetta Thorpe, an incredible and powerful gospel singer and great activist.

The Temperance card is Curtis Mayfield who sang with a very high falsetto voice. You could say he sounded quite androgynous, but his music was also very much about balancing the love within.