THE BLACK POWER TAROT by A. A. Khan
The major arcana of the tarot is numbered to show the journey and transformation of the fool on an illuminated path to fully understand the world. Each card is a step closer in this journey. The tarot is a language to understand the present, when you learn it you can help yourself and others realize the illuminated path. It is an ancient wisdom passed down from generation to generation. Fortune telling has nothing to do with this with this way of reading the Tarot and is basically considered to be a form of trickery.
I was invited to the house of Alejandro Jodorowsky, my spiritual guru, where he gave me my first deck of the tarot de marseilles. His first lesson to me was that for the purposes that we use tarot, it is enough to use only the major arcana. The message we are searching for is clearer to comprehend and easier to follow. Jodo also taught me how most decks made after the tarot de marseilles were just artistic impressions of this very important deck and did not adhere to the sacred geometry of the original cards. This was a very important factor when i began designing the Black Power Tarot. I made sure that the sacred geometry was fully respected because i wanted to be able to use this deck exactly like the tarot de Marseilles.
The task in choosing the right African American people for the cards had to be done "without using my ego". Jodo was adamant about me taking out my ego from the cards, in fact when he did not recognize Sister Rosetta Tharpe and assumed that it was me putting myself in the deck he said "you cant put yourself in the cards!" Finally I explained to him that it wasn't me and told him why I put Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the world card. After I explained it he understood and told me to write out what i had told him and include that with the deck. He also loved the name "The Black Power Tarot" and gave me the blessing i had waited all my life to recieve.
WHAT INSPIRED THE BLACK POWER TAROT?
During the past few years I began working on a film score for a Documentary about a black power group from Memphis called "the Invaders". For almost two years I was immersed in doing this soundtrack and working hand in hand with the founder of the Invaders, John B. Smith and the film's director Prichard T. Smith... Then I had a dream, a premonition.
In my dream was Jodo and he asked me to show him "a card that is weird!?" I immediately reached in my pocket and pulled out a card which we both stared at and agreed was very weird. Then Jodo said he was tired and he curled up into a ball and fell asleep in my lap like a wise old cat.
When i awoke from this dream i had the vision to make "The Black Power Tarot". I wanted to choose the right African American people to fit into the archetypes of the major arcana. The reason being that in my eyes the people i chose for this were all ones who were able to follow the path of enlightenment and illumination in their lifetimes despite living in a time where racism and prejudice was so strong, deep and was a constant hurdle. I wanted to take these chosen folk and bring them into a mythos and transform them into the sacred tarot. I wanted the images to be inspired by these chosen people but the names of the arcanas should be left the same as the original Tarot de Marseilles.
The challenge then was to find the right artist for this.... like a miracle he contacted me right when i needed him, completely out of the blue. Michael Eaton, a visual artist from Belfast, who previously worked mostly in film and television, was the one who painted all the flags and maps for the "Game of Thrones". I explain the task at hand in great detail and asked him to put the chosen people into the cards and to base it all around the Tarot de Marseilles. I filled him up with the black power tarot vision.
Michael was asked to carefully respect the sacred geometry of each card, right down to facial expressions
and the way the eyes were looking, they way the bodies were standing or falling or dancing so that the black power tarot could also be used in the exact same way as the Tarot de Marseilles.
The next step was getting the approval of Jodo, so I presented him with each drawing and asked him to sign off on each card.
In the first round, he immediately congratulated us, he approved 15 out of 22 of the cards. The remaining 7 were corrected until they also received the stamp of his approval.
The concept of Black Power is about giving "All power to all the people". I wanted to blend this into the idea that these cards give anyone who wishes to learn this language the power to control their own destiny and follow a path of illumination and enlightenment. These cards are a mirror of the soul as much as they are always simply representing the truth. Often the truth is what is feared the most, but if you let the tarot show you the way you will find an ancient wisdom that was passed on for centuries and that still remains strong and wise.
When studying the tarot you must understand that chance and synchronicity exist and are connected. If you set your spirit to do something it can achieve whatever you want it to. If you try hard enough you can seek what Jodo calls "The Dance of Reality" and everything you set your mind on accomplishing suddenly falls into perfect order and does a jig right in front of your eyes. The idea that total realization through the tarot can help understand the suffering of others and thus give us the power to serve humanity using the wisdom of the sages is indeed an incredible thing. I wanted to bring this mythical phenomenon and mythologize the chosen people from African American history to help spread the ultimate healing potential of black power. During this I witnessed a true dance of reality and Michael and I received the honour of being one of Jodorowsky's spiritual warriors.
LE MAT - Fool - richard pryor
the fool is the card which represents absolute freedom and no limits. The fool can sit at the table and eat with the royalty and even poke fun at them, and at the same time he can go and hang out with the poorest of folks and enjoy their company. I chose Richard Pryor for this because he was able to do precisely that. He was one of America's greatest comedians and in his comedy he saw the absolute truth in the world and critiqued it and could make everyone laugh at it, no matter how extremely painful it could sometimes be. His humour addressed the great racial corruption of the times and made service to humanity into a hysterical feat. For most of his life drugs had been a great burden for him, especially cocaine, hence you can see the giant pipe on his shoulder. The fool is the beginning of the path of illumination.
I LE BATELEUR - Magician - Black Herman
The magician represents the right choice, the next step after the fool learns his divine craft and how to use his tools to become the controller of his destiny. Black Herman was a very successful African American magician who began performing on plantations for slaves but eventually became incredibly successful and rich and owned his own brownstone house in Brooklyn. There are many wild stories about him travelling all over the world learning magical secrets from chinese wizards and indian emperors. In one tale he had to fake his own death to escape the emperor of china whose wife he had had an affair with. His body was returned to America in a coffin from which he rose from the dead. Black Herman achieved much fame in his life and would perform sold out shows towards the end of his life for thousands of folks in the Marcus Garvey auditorium. He died on stage in Harlem and apparently when it happened no one believed he was truly dead so they left him there on stage for a while assuming it was just a trick. Sun Ra's mother named him "Herman" after Black Herman, and Sun Ra discovered his alter destiny by seeing the the letters R and A in the name Herman and combining them to form RA. So in a way the magic of Black Herman was even passed on to Herman Blount the father of interstellar space music.
II LA PAPESSE - High Priestess - Marie Laveau
The high priestess represents the combination of experiences. The compassion and wisdom of the spiritual mother. The mother here is the one who takes care of all the orphans but has no children of her own, yet she eternally sits contemplating on the egg of her fertility. She is reading the sacred scriptures and is supposed to know the secrets of the world. Marie Laveau was also known as the witch queen of new orleans. One legend about her was that she was asked to help a black man who was falsely accused of a crime, the man's family had asked her to use her magic to set him free. So Marie Laveau sat outside of the courtroom while he was being tried for days, and she would place a few fiery red hot chillies in her mouth and sit there and perform her spells with tears running down her face. Sure enough the man was eventually set free. This card represents the highest form of compassion.
III LIMPERATRICE - Nina Simone
The Empress shows us a young woman erupting into womanhood. It is supposed to show the powerful young mother who is exploding into the world with passion and innocence with no sense of direction. One step after the high priestess, the empress shows the other side of femininity, the young and beautiful, pampered and luxurious side. I chose Nina Simone for this because she was certainly one woman who can be described as an eruption. She emerged from utter and absolute poverty and used her infinite powers to turn into a true master of classical music and a true Nubian Empress, surrounded by the finest things the world had to offer.
IIII L'EMPEROR - Emperor - Howling Wolf
The emperor is a strong dominating man who conquers and sits and watches over his dominion. This card represents total stability. Howlin' Wolf was such a blues man, from his giant hands to his volcanic voice, he was the true embodiment of a Nubian Emperor.
V LE PAPE - Pope - Rev. Johnny L. Jones
The pope is the spiritual father, one step after stability comes the beginning of spirituality. The pope represents the power of the gospel and the word and it's persuasive ability. In this card we first see other folks in the image, the faceless followers below him. I chose Rev. Johnny L. Jones, a preacher who is called "the hurricane" who lived in Atlanta and passed away in 2015. His gospels were both hypnotic and incredibly spiritual.
VI LAMOUREVX - Lover- James Brown, Irma Thomas and Etta James
The Lover is the card that represents unconditional love and to finally be able to do what you enjoy and establish relationships in the world. The vagueness of what is happening in the card is supposed to show how this card could mean all the many different types of love. I chose Etta James, James Brown, Irma Thomas because the three of them and their music represents so many different faces of love and celebrates its ultimate power.
VII LE CHARIOT - Chariot- Little Richard
The Chariot is the youndblooded prince full of energy racing to reach the next level of illumination. The card represents action in the world. Little Richard had this same fire in his blood, who inspired and challenged the world to race him in his fiery blaze. The pure raw power of his scream and banging on his piano could set your soul on fire. He was the perfect one to represent this youthful explosion of power and helped emblazoned the way to accepting perverse sexuality and abandon in music.
VIII LA JUSTICE - Justice - Eartha Kitt
Justice is supposed to show us the mother that we all deserved. Sitting there with a double sided blade, one that can hurt and heal with the same incredible force. Eartha Kitt rose from being a homeless child and took the power back. She transformed herself into very powerful performer who even stood up to the President's wife (Ladybird) at the time and made her cry with her stance against the Vietnam war for which she was personally thanked by Martin Luther King Jr. Eartha Kitt was a powerful force for civil rights as well as an incredible performer mother and the greatest "Catwoman" ever born.
VIIII L'HERMITE - Hermit - Philip Kelan Cohran
The Hermit shows us the man who in crisis raises the lamp and in turn must find his own inner light. The one who needs to be alone and away from all distraction to find his true alchemic ways. Philip Kelan Cohran was such a musician, he was able to put together orchestras of people despite watching the neighbourhoods empty because of the huge number of poor black teenagers and young adults who were sent to die in Vietnam. He played briefly in the Sun Ra Arkestra and then settled in Chicago in the 60's where he dug deep into his soul and created some of the most profound black orchestral music.
X LA ROVE DE FORTVNE - Wheel of fortune -
The wheel of Fortune represents the end of one cycle and the pause and the wait for the next cycle to begin. Closure of the past and expectation of the future. I chose Malcolm X for this card because of the impact that his life's work and untimely assassination had on the rise of black power. The card shows three Malcolms, the first being Detroit Red, when Malcolm Little was a young thug, the second is him as Malcolm "X" when he joined the nation of islam and the last is what i like to call "Saint" Malcolm when he rose above and began to understand the supreme truths and preaching love for all humanity and forging his way into immortality.
As you can see in the card there is one thing missing, the hand that shall make the wheel move.... this also shows the unfinished work that was left behind and how it will take an outside force to make everything move swiftly once again. This card is about the ushering in of a new era, which was the case after Malcolm X was assassinated. His death was a principal factor of change, causing an enormous wave of rising strength and a true shift in black power. Naturally the next card is strength.
XI LA FORCE - Strength -
She who opens paths to unconscious energies... The card shows Tina Turner, the perfect personification of the celebration and conquering of the animal that is the libido within us all and its materialization. TIna was subject to much abuse and torture but she overcame with the power of her will and sexual rage and it is exactly this that shows us a very different type of black power. She was shown the darkest sides of humanity, and was made to wallow in the myre. From this dark place, grew her immense strength and understanding of the beast. The power to overcome, the power of taking risks, and the empowerment of sexuality. In this card it is important to ask one thing... is she reigning over the lion or is she letting it express itself? In both cases there is a return of vital energy.
XII LE PENDU - Hanged Man - Tupac
The one who offers the worries of his ego as a sacrifice for his inner work. The hanged man is deeply in touch with his spiritual side by not making any choices and momentarily stopping the world. The hanged man can be seen as the child born from the egg that the high priestess is sitting upon thus making him the eternal "voodoo chile". The man in this card is not concerned with winning or losing, he simply hangs in stillness and watches the world unfold. The hanged man's meditation gives him access to universal wisdom. He is the one who makes the greatest sacrifice for the good of all humankind. Tupac attained a mastery of self and through his lyrics tried to show this wisdom to the world and spread his message about the evil truths about material wealth and the class war. He truly is "the living light that circulates in the darkness of the blood." The one who chose to hang upside down to deeper understand the universe, and who made a sacrifice for the greater good of all.
XIII - The Nameless - HR from Bad Brains
After the deep work of the hanged man, one must require a radical purification of the past. The nameless arcana forces us to submerge ourselves into the darkest parts of our soul and what rises from this is pure humanity. This card represents an immense change that is coming that one is forced to submit to. H.R. (Human Rights) was the lead singer of Bad Brains and their music can definatly be described as being a very radical liberating explosion. The speed and ferocity of the music fuelled by an anger towards injustice made them an unstoppable force. Also being such a minority in the predominantly white world of punk rock they were constantly fighting against racism and introduced that world to the rastifarian concept of Jah. "My permanent destruction opens the way for constant creation."
XIIII - TEMPERENCE - Temperance- Curtis Mayfield
The angel on the card of Temperance is finding his balance in tranquility and healing himself which is much needed after the Nameless card. The water, a symbol of love, is being transferred from one vessel to another, he is finding out where to give his love and how much is required. Curtis Mayfield sang in the softest most beautiful falsetto voice, a perfect trait to go along with the androgynous nature of the angel of temperance. Curtis was also a guardian for the people, especially reflected in the message behind his songs, a soothing healer who offered advice but also wrote some of the most calming majestic music ever made.
XV - Devil - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
The Devil represents getting in touch with your creativity without any fear. In this fearlessness we find the absence of all morality and hypocrisy, the miraculous strength of magma, the love and worship of absurd nonsense. He is the tempter that challenges you to follow your passion. Screamin' Jay Hawkins was known for celebrating the absurd, finding his true voice in trance induced states of bliss and fathering many children all over the world. His music was soaked in wild sexuality, loads of nonsensical mumbling and sometimes pure freaked out horror.
XVI - LA MAISON DIEU - Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley
The Tower is not "the house of god" it is "the House/God". The two people outside of it are both honouring it. Chuck Berry is doing his famous duck walk out side of it and Bo Diddley is walking on his hands. They are both pushing their boundaries and going beyond their mental limits. The union of soul and god celebrated by a cosmic dance. Both Chuck and Bo harnessed the true power of rock n roll and brought this joy to the world in an explosion of power. They emancipated the sounds trapped within their bodies giving birth to something that was long gestating. The powerful rock n roll music was indeed the catalyst for much revolution, and celebration which hit the earth like an earthquake. The lightening that is striking the tower is releasing its full potential. I wanted to make a nod to the monolith in Stanley Kubrick's 2001, so the tower is also representing rock n roll as a mysterious primitive form of power and the supreme catalyst for societal evolution and change.
XVII - L'ETOILE - Star - Alice Coltrane
The Star is the first naked person in the tarot, she has found her place in the world and receives energy from the cosmos and gives back to it purifying life itself. Literally it can be called "Le Toi Ile" which mean "The Isle Of You". The star is irrigating and nourishing the earth with her splendid colors representing both her sexual and intellectual powers. The star is our spiritual guide to the forces of the universe. Alice Coltrane spent her life in spiritual service, her deep understanding of jazz mixed with her tantric studies and her deep understanding of indian classical music and yoga gave the world a very incredible body of work vital for our own inner work. She represents someone who found her place in the infinitum and became the star that guides us through the night.
XVIII - LA LUNE - Moon - Billie Holiday
The Moon symbolizes the grand goddess and archetype of receptivity. The mysteries of the soul and the light of absolute truth. The two dogs howling in front of their respective houses can be seen in celebration or in mourning. From the depths of the waters crawls the mysterious crawfish, showing us the strange creatures that exist within us. The card shows the strange duality of madness and sadness very much like the life and times of Billie Holiday. She was a true creature of the night, and her music shone a light of truth exposing things for what they really are. The card also represents the "luna"-tic tendencies of the soul. Billie Holiday was as known for the light that shone from her beautiful music as she was known for her insanity and her "dark side". She sang the poetry of the times and sadly wallowed in the muck of madness.
XVIIII LE SOLEIL - Sun - Sun Ra
The sun is the archetype of the beginning of new life and total love. The universal father and the symbol for life and love. The source of all life and the provider of all sustenance. So was the power of the music of Sun Ra, not only did he shine his majesty into the darkest parts of the soul, he found his arkestra in this way giving purpose and discipline to each person providing them with what he called the "alter-destiny". Discovering his music was the most religious experience i have ever had in music and to this day i listen to his music for its intellectual and spiritual nourishment. Sun Ra could also not be who he was without his followers, this need for the other is also expressed in the Sun card.
XX LE JUDGEMENT - Judgement - Erykah Badu and Andre 3000
All of the tarot's energy is concentrated on this card, Judgement shows us the step before total realization, where the perfect union of masculinity and feminity occur. The birth of consciousness coming out from the receptivity of the moon and the new construction under the sun. The angel and his trumpet are inviting the birth with supreme desire. A force that defies death is being born here, the immaterial and immortal consciousness. Judgement refers to the emergence of desire and a call to order, a profound rebirth. Erykah Badu and Andre 3000 are both artists who have travelled a long road to find the illuminated path and the perfect couple to birth this supreme androgynous being. They exude brilliant spiritual ecstasy in their music as well as provide us with a honest reflection of humanity, the creation of the androgynous thought that leads to a superior mind. Their music asks their audience to rise above and attain something more. There union symbolizes this profound rebirth and call to order. Their music is a celebration of the divine essence of the word.
XXI LE MONDE - the world - Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Freed from our own self-destruction by having followed the illuminated path, the world arcana symbolizes total understanding and realization of above all the suffering of others and the action of putting ourselves in the service of humanity. This card is very much in the Christian tradition, so Sister Rosetta Tharpe fit in miraculously. The woman in the center is supposed to represent a soul full of joy and that was definatley what she was. Her feminine side, her masculine side, her intellectual side, her sexual side, her emotional side and her earthly side were all joined together in the way she ferociously sang her gospel. She was also known for her incredible wild guitar playing and was reaching unimaginable feats with the guitar long before most of her male counter parts. Her ability to bring in this savage style into the gospel world made spiritual service a pure unadulterated joy and brought all the parts of her soul into beautiful sensational harmony.
A tree not a leaf am I part 1&2
by A. A. Khan
i watch you float down
with such ease
a paraplegic tease
changing your mind
as easy as the wind
dew drops and rain
give you so much pain
you think your life's in vain
a tree not a leaf am i
my roots they don't need to fly
i eat the leaves when they fall off and die
i grow so high
i grow so high
why don't sway a while
before you turn into dust
into the color of rust
just find a whole you can trust
and dig a lil'
c'mon and dig a lil'
a tree not a leaf am i
my roots they don't need to fly
From the fruit that we learn to yearn
We have all been born
Twisted, tossed and torn
Into elevated forms
From the famine was born a need
Fill your belly for love or for greed
Watch'em starve, beg and believe
That we're all born
Born to be free
a tree not a leaf am i
my roots they don't need to fly
i eat the leaves when they fall off and die
i grow so high
i grow so high