Editor’s note: Don’t buy this deck, donate directly if you want to support the charity. We’re just doing a fun thing where Anne reviews some quirky decks of cards over the coming months. Don’t trust Uri Geller with your money!
Uri Geller has released a tarot deck so that you too can communicate with extraterrestrial lifeforms. Frankly, I figured they had better things to do like building pyramids or running world governments. Geller is a controversial figure, but his impact on mentalism is hard to ignore. Especially when he gives quotes for so many products. At 20 bucks the price seemed a little high, but it’s a novel tarot deck with some interesting art and according to Geller his cut of the proceeds are going to a charity for children.
For the launch of the deck he hosted a Zoom call from his museum. The actual overview of the deck was pretty quick. Geller went through the pack, showed off the art, and discussed the origins of some of the cards. A lot of time was spent walking around the museum and talking about celebrities he met. We did get to see both the designer of the deck and Uri do a one-card reading with the deck. The first reading was hit-and-miss, though there was an interesting presentation idea. The designer had the person imagine phasing through the floor into the room below them and tried to remote view the photos on the wall. He didn’t really land it but was able to use a lot of the standard psychic bag of tricks to weasel out a decent reading. Geller went next and got an early hit by suggesting the person was changing careers. Here, he showed how much experience he has as a motivational speaker and really captivated the audience.
Something I found particularly interesting during the call was that the technology problems we were frequently experiencing were chalked up to Uri Geller’s immense psychic energy. One of the hosts and the designer of the deck even provided a story of filming with Uri and one of the tripod legs bending. Personally, I suspect it was a combination of people from the UK, the US, and Israel all relying on the functionality of Zoom, but psychic energy is certainly a backup theory.
I have to confess I was giddy about finally getting to see Geller bend a spoon. He had us go and gather spoons and watches as usual, but an interesting new addition was grabbing broken phones to see if they would work and batteries to see if they will be recharged. These both felt like interesting potential additions to the Geller effect written about in Psychological Subtleties. Geller ended up breaking a spoon and he had the same infectious enthusiasm you would generally expect from him.
The deck itself consists of 52 cards. While some of the cards overlap with the major arcana of the tarot such as the Hermit, a lot of the deck is composed of unique cards. The theme of space runs heavily throughout the deck with cards such as Mars and Black Hole. I really enjoy the alien-themed cards such as the UFO, which is reminiscent of the famous Believe poster. We also get Geller-specific cards such as bent spoons and the flag of his island. Even the cards that have nothing to do with space have a cosmic, psychedelic style to them.
The whole deck is designed in a very vaporwave-y style with grids and geometric shapes that mostly tie all of the elements together with some notable exceptions like the Hawk, which looks more like a Judas Priest album cover. Quality-wise the cards feel good, though with how wide they are they can be a bit difficult to shuffle and the black background shows fingerprints.
Along with the deck you get a booklet that explains the meaning of each card. An inclusion I particularly enjoyed was the exercise section. You also get standard instructions for one, three, and five card readings. A “Geller Mind Bender” spread is mentioned, however it is not dissimilar to something like an astrological spread. One complaint that I have is that some of the meanings feel redundant. There are several cards that mean “change” in some capacity. I don’t think this is a major downside, especially in spreads that reference cards in different positions, but it does narrow down your options a bit. The cards also have a brief description at the bottom which makes readings incredibly easy. While a lot of the art is based on tropes such as Mars for masculinity and Venus for femininity, the meaning on the bottom helps with more abstract ones you’re less likely to guess. Like Spoon.
I think the Geller oracle deck is an interesting alternative to tarot. There is nothing groundbreaking and at 20 dollars it is on the expensive side, but the quality is good and it comes with an interesting art direction that fits in the public consciousness. I think this would kill with the conspiracy theory crowd; tell Joe Rogan to call me. It also has a degree of separation from the occult trappings of the traditional tarot deck, which is something I like having as an option for lighter tones while still having a respectable grandiosity.
Full list of cards
Alef, Angel, Astral Traveller, Black Hole, Circle, Comet, Cosmic Egg, Cosmic Lamp, Crop Circle, Crystal, Demon, Doorway, Ear, Earth, Einstein, Extraterrestrials, Eye of Horus, Hawk, Heaven, Hell, Hermit, High Priestess, Infinity, Isaac Newton, Lamb Island, Lightning Flash, Lovers, Mars, Meteorite, Mirror, Moon, Mountain, North Star, Om, Otherworlds, Prayer Mudra, Pyramid, Source of Life, Spiral Galaxy, Spoon, Sun, The Chariot, The Crown Chakra, The Elements, The Multiverse, Time, Tree of Life, UFO, Venus, Whirlpool Galaxy, Zener Cards, 11:11
Size of cards
