📌 Specs & Quick Summary
Deck Name: Rocky Horror Show (not Picture show!)
Publisher: Insight/Titan
Deck Size: Standard 78 cards, Major and Minor arcana
Card Dimensions: Standard size, two part box
Card Stock: Glossy elements on the back can mean the cards stick together at first
Guidebook: 128 pages of wry, slightly sarcastic information. Sections include cards meanings (upright and reversed), spreads, general guidance and getting to know the deck.
Spreads Included:
- The Time Warp (Celtic Cross)
- Double Feature (Seven card relationship spread)
- Hot Patootie (Four cards)
Skill Level: As a pip and fandom deck, I don't recommend this for complete beginners; you need at least some RWS knowledge.
Great For: Rocky fans. You need to have at least a general knowledge of the show for this deck to make sense.
First Impressions
The first thing I noticed was that several cards were stuck together when I took them out of the box. This seemed to be down to the glossy details on the cards, but they separated with very little effort and shuffle nicely now, so it wasn't a major concern.
Visually, I wasn't immediately convinced. The Major Arcana tend to feature characters against fairly simple, swirly backgrounds, while the Minor Arcana are pip cards rather than fully illustrated scenes. I usually prefer illustrated Minors, where the imagery can tell a story of its own, and I wasn't sure how much I would get out of this deck.
The suits have been renamed to fit the film: Candelabras for Wands, Lips for Cups, Lightning Bolts for Swords, and Tophats for Pentacles. They're fun, and certainly appropriate, but would the Rocky Horror theme bring anything more to the tarot?
Working With the Deck
I began with an interview spread, asking the deck to tell me about itself, its strengths and limitations, and what I might learn from working with it.
The resulting spread was surprisingly balanced. It suggested a deck trying to juggle two things - being a good fandom object and being a good tarot deck - without allowing either to overwhelm the other. It also seemed to be asking me to approach it with an open mind, keep going when things got difficult, and stay curious.
That turned out to be good advice. The more I worked with the cards, the more I began to appreciate the thought behind some of the choices.
This is the only deck I've seen where the same characters recur throughout the Major Arcana and Court cards, at different points in their arcs. It's a really clever way to use them, as well as getting around the show's small cast. I had to think about a couple of choices, but they always made sense when I looked at them in terms of the story.
The Major Arcana
This is where the deck began to win me over.
There are some fairly obvious correspondences. Brad and Janet are the Lovers; the roulette wheel is the Wheel of Fortune; the moon over the castle is the Moon. These make sense, but they don't necessarily tell us much about what the film adds to the traditional tarot meanings.
Other cards are much more interesting.
Frank N. Furter appears as both the Magician and the Emperor, which makes sense for a character who creates, performs and exerts control over his own little world. He also appears as the Devil, where the themes of desire, temptation and power come to the fore.
Rocky is both Strength and the Sun. These might initially seem like two ways of saying much the same thing, but they emphasise different aspects of his character: physical strength and gentleness on one hand, vitality and joy on the other.
And then there's Riff Raff.
As the Hierophant, he represents the rules and established order of his world. As Death, he becomes the agent of their destruction. When he turns on Frank and takes the household back under his own control, one order ends and another begins. It's a wonderfully apt use of the card, and a good example of the deck finding tarot meaning within the story rather than simply borrowing its characters.
The recurring characters are one of the deck's cleverest ideas. They allow us to see different aspects of the same person, and sometimes even follow a little character arc between cards.
Not every assignment works quite as well. The Hanged Man features Eddie in the freezer, which captures a sense of suspension and preservation, but Eddie isn't upside down. The missing visual reversal matters: the Hanged Man isn't simply about being stuck, but about seeing things from a different perspective.
One that I wasn't quite so sure of was the Tower. The image shows the house; the LWB assures us that it's about to take off back to Transylvania and upend everyone's life. Fine, but that's not visible in the image. However, most of the images were very well matched; the author clearly thought about them rather than just throwing people at the cards they most resembled.
The Minor Arcana
The Minors are pips, so they don't offer the same opportunities for character-driven storytelling as the Majors. Most of the images consist of the suit symbols against colourful backgrounds.
I was initially disappointed by this. I enjoy decks where every Minor has its own scene to explore, and here there is inevitably less to look at.
However, simple doesn't have to mean meaningless. The Eight of Candelabras, for example, has the objects spiralling towards a vanishing point, giving the card a sense of speed and momentum. It's a small detail, but it helps communicate the energy of the Eight of Wands.
I did appreciate that each suit has a different coloured background, as it helps with recognising them; Majors have a solid red background, Candelabras are orange and red, Tophats are purple and green, Lightning Bolts are pink and light blue and Lips are light blue and dark blue. It's an extra little clue to which suit you've pulled before you even look at anything else.
The renamed suits are also an entertaining touch. Candelabras, Lips, Lightning Bolts and Tophats all belong in the world of Rocky Horror, and I found that the changes didn't prevent me from recognising the cards. The Ten of Lips was my first draw, and I had no trouble reading it as the Ten of Cups.
Still, I would have liked more of the Minors to have this sort of visual contribution.
The Guidebook
The 128-page guidebook has a wry, slightly sarcastic tone that fits the show nicely, without leaning too heavily into mysticism. There's no requirement to hold your cards under a full moon while reciting a mantra, which is always a bonus in my book!
The explanations of the Major Arcana are particularly useful, showing how the same character can represent different cards at different points in their story. This is where the deck's approach to its small cast really pays off, helping to explain some of the more thoughtful choices.
The Minor Arcana are treated more simply, which is a little disappointing, and I would have liked the guidebook to identify the Court characters by name. Most are recognisable from their illustrations, but I'd still prefer to be certain rather than have to guess.
Overall, the guidebook is a useful companion, particularly when exploring the Major Arcana. I just wish the same level of thought had carried through quite so consistently to the Minors.
The cards shuffle well after their initial separation, and the standard tarot size is comfortable to handle. The reversible back is a good touch, as many readers prefer not to know if the card is reversed or not before the reveal.
How Does It Read?
A deck can have clever card assignments and still be difficult to use in an actual reading. I wanted to see whether Rocky Horror could move beyond being an interesting collection of images and become a deck I could work with.
In my interview spread, the cards suggested balance, open-mindedness, perseverance and playfulness. That felt like a useful description of the relationship I was developing with the deck itself.
The Finding Community spread was another interesting experience. Four Major Arcana appeared, with no Cups or Swords. Rather than focusing on emotional connection or communication, the reading seemed to emphasise what we bring to a group, what we do within it, and how we grow. The Fool suggested a community of curious people who enjoy trying new things, while Justice offered the possibility of a group in which everyone is heard and valued.
The guidebook describes the deck as having a sense of humour, encouraging readers to laugh and occasionally snicker as they work with it. That seems entirely appropriate for Rocky Horror.
I found it easy to work with the cards once I got past my initial reservations, and the character choices gave me some interesting angles to explore. The deck doesn't reinvent tarot, but it does offer a different way of looking at some familiar archetypes.
Final Thoughts
The Rocky Horror Show Tarot wasn't an immediate favourite. The pip Minors and relatively simple backgrounds initially left me wanting more, and not every card assignment adds a new dimension to the traditional meaning.
But I came away appreciating the thought that has gone into the Major Arcana, particularly the way recurring characters can represent different archetypes at different points in their stories. Riff Raff as both Hierophant and Death is a particularly good example of what this deck can do when it gets the balance right.
It's a deck with some clever ideas, a recognisable visual identity and a theme that offers more than a few familiar faces. Whether that is enough to make it a regular reading deck for me remains to be seen.
As mentioned above, I wouldn't recommend this for a complete beginner even if they're a huge Rocky fan. It's just too far from the RWS standard. But once a reader has the background to appreciate the character assignments in the Majors and Courts? This is definitely a fun deck. It's direct, it's sarcastic, and it doesn't take itself too seriously. Hmm, sounds like a certain musical...
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