I need to admit, I’m not really a fun of circus – I get creep out by clowns, I hate animal cruelty and I get strangely turned on by bearded ladies. The only circus I have ever truly loved is Britney Spears’ Circus album from 2008. However, the Horror Circus Tarot deck, created by Una in Space, pulls people into a world of the strange and unexpected through imagery drawn from dark carnivals, old travelling shows, and theatrical eeriness.
What works here is that tarot and the circus actually share a lot of DNA. Performance. Illusion. Risk. Transformation. The idea that you step into a role, do your act, and then disappear again. The cards don’t feel playful or ironic. They feel deliberate. A little uncomfortable. Which, honestly, is where some of the most interesting tarot lives.
The artwork leans theatrical but not cartoonish. Faces stare back at you a little too long. Characters feel caught between performance and exhaustion. It is the kind of imagery that does not rush to explain itself. You either sit with it, or you don’t. And I appreciate that it does not try to soften the experience.
This is not a deck I would reach for when I want reassurance or gentle affirmations. It feels more suited to nights when you are asking harder questions. About roles you play. About who is watching. About what parts of yourself feel like an act, and which ones feel real.
I still do not like the circus. But I respect what this deck is doing. It takes something I instinctively avoid and turns it into a mirror. And sometimes, that is exactly what tarot should do.
Support the project here from Kickstarter: Horror Circus Tarot by Una in Space starting from $45.
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