The Psychobilly Tarot Deck is a Major Arcana tarot deck of 22 trump cards and 4 aces, with original illustrations featuring psychobilly themes. It can be used as a deck for doing card readings, used for playing card games or just collected for the spectacular art work.

Below are a few examples of the Tarot Deck illustrations and photographs of card prototypes.

Working with artist Michael Hallberg (of Humanthing Media Arts Lab) we have created all 26 designs, 22 major arcana and the 4 aces.  We researched both modern and vintage cards symbology and meanings in order to create the most meaningful designs possible. We have the funds necessary to print the deck and are working on the final edits for the art. 

This Indiegogo campaign is to upgrade the deck with gilded silver edging and more rounded corners. With your help we can make an incredible deck even better. 

I’m expecting two types of people to visit this campaign – those interested in Tarot decks and those interested in Psychobilly music. Hopefully I can convert Tarot deck enthusiasts into Psychobilly fans and vice versa.

For the Psychobilly fans, let me explain a few things about Tarot decks. Tarot started as a type of card game. There are two parts to a Tarot deck, the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana consists of 56 cards – the “Court Cards” which are the King, Queen, Kight and Jack (or Page), and four suits of ten numbered cards. The suits are: swords, batons or wands, coins or discs, and cups.

The Major Arcana consists of 22 “trump cards.” Each card has a title, like “The Magician” or “The Lovers” and an appropriate illustration for the concept or “archetype.” Abreviated decks can be made with just the Marjor Arcana, often with one card of each minor suit added. 

The Psychobilly Tarot Deck is a Major Arcana deck and for divination will have the aces as well. I am also providing a set of card game rules for people who would like to use the deck as a card game. The standard tarot card size is much larger than regular cards - 2.75" x 4.75" (70mm x 121mm), just the right size to properly display the illustrations. 

We Want Your Input! 

As one, or more, of the stretch goals we want to add additional Minor Arcana Cards. Which card would you like to see as part of this deck? We will allow the backers to help choose which cards will be illistrated and added when we hit the stretch goals.

We would also like to hear any thoughts, suggestions and ideas that you may have. crowdfunding campaigns get better with backer feedback and that's the kind of campaign we want to run.

About.com put it best, I think. Psychobilly "takes the traditional countrified rock style known as rockabilly, ramps up its speed to a sweaty pace, and combines it with punk rock and imagery lifted from horror films and late-night sci-fi schlock,...[creating a] gritty honky tonk punk rock. 

The term psychobilly was first used in the Johnny Cash song "One Piece at a Time" in 1976 and musical acts, such as Screamin Jay Hawkins, Hasil Adkins and the Cramps, were early precursors to psychobilly. The genre got started in the early 1980's in England and spread to Europe. It did not get a real foothold in the United States untill the 1990's, though the band The Reverend Horton Heat started in 1985. 

The fashion and style of psychobilly mirrors the music. It borrows from both early rockabilly/rock and roll as well as punk. It includes a lot of imagery from horror, science fiction, tattoo art, kustom kulture and vintage pin ups, often in a tounge in cheek manner.

I’ve selected the card printing company I’ll be using and have received sample cards. I have also selected the fulfillment center for the physical rewards.

In addition to the Tarot Decks, these designs will be placed on T-shirts and other merchandise which will be sold through my online store.

My marketing plan has been developed – I’ll be advertising to both fans of the Tarot but also to fans of Psychobilly music and themes.

• $400 - for upgrading the deck
• $100 - Indigogo's cut, and marketing.

Stretch Goals

• With every additional $400 above the funding goal we will add an additional card from the minor arcana to the deck.

• $1 You will receive a Thank You shout out on our Facebook page.
• $5 We will email you a wallpaper of our Tarot card designs, suitable for any computer platform.
• $10 We will email you the wallpaper and a digital copy of all the cards.
• $25 You will receive a copy of the Psychobilly Tarot Deck and all the digital rewards.
• $50 You will receive two copies of the Psychobilly Tarot Deck and all the digital rewards.

After 13 years with my current company, I hit a bit of a plateau. I needed a creative outlet where I could do something different. I decided that I wanted to sell interesting and unique shirt designs. As my target audience I chose rockabilly and psychobilly fans. I love the energy of the music and there is always a sense of fun.

The fashion of this genre is full of colorful and imaginative designs, so I needed something a little different to stand out. For my line I wanted a unifying theme that was very flexible at the same time. I didn’t want just a series of random designs. That’s where tarot cards come in.

I’ve always liked and been intrigued by tarot decks. Just looking at brand new decks makes my hands itch to open them and get a feel for the cards and images in them. There is such a diverse symbology and variety among the different cards. It’s always interesting to see how different artists choose how to express the cards.

So this was the perfect fit. It’s a different take on both the tarot deck and the common elements of the psychobilly genre. It allows the artist I work with, Michael Hallberg, a lot of flexibility yet gives him a framework to create around. The Tarot Decks and the Line of Psychobilly Tarot T-shirts fit together perfectly – each one complements the other.

W. Kurt Wenz- Born and raised in Florida, I grew up watching the best and longest running horror movie show- Dr. Paul Bearer's Creature Feature, and space shuttle launches. I’ve served on a howitzer crew, crafted and fought in my own set of armor and co-authored old school RPG adventures. 

I have 20 years retail management experience, most of them in the pet trade, and 4 years experience in a screen print shop, both textile and flat work. I'm a voracious reader of science fiction and fantasy. I have an eclectic taste in music  and, as you can tell, I’m an avid fan of psychobilly and neo-rockabilly.

Michael W. Hallberg- 28 years professional experience in illustration, screen printing, photography, motion picture, print and design. Clients include NASA, Disney, NASCAR, NHRA, Budweiser, The US Gov & Military, a billion shirts for Ron Jons Surf Shop, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, House of Blues, shirt designs for Grave Digger (because monster trucks RULE!) Aerosmith, Graceland, Prince and a slew of bands across America.

In his own words-"I got into art sideways, no schooling. An aunt of mine whom I thought was cool drew horses and liked The Rolling Stones & Johnny Cash. That was enough to set me on the path. Then I got good enough that chicks dug my work and people handed over cash.

Done, career path established.

From there on out, the artist Robert Williams kind of was my guiding light philosophically: “Take Mescaline and learn to draw eyeballs & skulls…”.

Pepper that with being a 3rd generation worker at Kennedy Space Center, where I got the technical side in photography and visualization down, and I developed a desire to communicate (with mostly eyeballs, spaceships & skulls…).

I turned my creative eye loose on highly, engineering oriented stuff, the best of both worlds, as a rat rod rocket artist…"

Other Ways You Can Help

 Please share this campaign with everyone in all your social networks! Anyone interested in Tarot or Psychobilly music will love these cards. Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.