Nate and Jacki have more to say about the tarot trend in books and music, but first, get ready for a few spoilers for Prince of Swords, the sequel to Arcana Academy.

Music Mentions:

• IKON back catalog is now streaming on Spotify including Destroying the World to Save It
• Oceans Above, Stars Below by Triosphere
• Audiobook: My Effin’ Life by Geddy Lee

We discuss:

• Nate does a five-card tarot spread to investigate tarot as a trend, with topics including:
• An overview of the trend
• Tarot and cozy intersect
• Tarot history including tarot as card game
• The mainstreaming of tarot
• Tarot in social media influencing
• Tarot’s influence on writing and music
• Where is the tarot trend headed?
• Book Mentions:
• A Vow in Vengeance by Jaclyn Rodriguez
• The Sisters of Crimson House by Melissa Sweazy Anderson
• Arcana Chronicles series by Kresley Cole
• The Tarot Trials by Katee Robert
• Music Mentions:
• Tarot – Aether Realm
• Tarot of the Bohemians Pt. II – Heavenwood
• Arcani – Temperance
• Vapor Trails – Rush
• The Rush album Nate is trying to remember is the underrated Test for Echo
• Nate does a three-card spread to make a few book and music recommendations:
• Book Mentions:
• The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino
• Arcana Oracle series by Susan Wands
• Music Mentions:
• Spelleater, “Eight of Swords” and “Tower” – Huntress
• Tarot – Darkmoor
• A Restless Shelter Under the Remote Stars, “Hokmah-Kether: The Sephiroth of Kabalah and “the Fool” Card of Tarot” – Lord Blasphemate

Join us in two weeks for a bonus fifth Thursday episode!

Our book club selection for November is Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard.

The Metalheads give tarot-mantasy a try and dig into Elise Kova’s Arcana Academy, the first book in a planned trilogy set in a world where a lucky few can wield magical tarot cards. The romance is unhinged, the plot is trope-tastic, and the catchphrases fall like rain, but is it metal? We’ll find out! We do our best to spoil the plot, then discuss:

• The magic system and how it deviates from traditional tarot structure
• The romance – hot or not?
• The heist
• Catchphrases
• Good cat/bad cat

You can find our Spotify profile with our Arcana Academy playlist at https://open.spotify.com/user/31kosaxlm6j56e44766ijo4ndzjq?si=cdd4a1a247c646e1

Special Features:

1. Trope Ranker
2. Magical Metal School Quiz
3. Tarot Sequel Predictions

Music Mentions:

Tarot by Aether Realm

Jacki reads an epic “band members wanted” ad, spotted in the wild

Reading Recommendations:

1. Weavingshaw by Heba al-Wasity
2. The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem
3. The Rider-Waite Tarot Illustrated: The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite

November’s Book: We’re reading Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard for November, a late aughts black comedy about a necromancer out to get his soul back from the devil with the help of a demonic carnival train. Fair warning: The humor held up, but its attitude toward women and minorities does not always stick the landing.

Playlist Contents

Tarot - Æther Realm

Solntse - Alkonost

Voidborne - The Svnth

Smile of Hate - Vreid

The Hermit and the Lover - Blackbriar

We Die in Such a Place - Japan Suicide

Cruel Lover - The Devil's Blood

I am Coin, I am Two - ...And Oceans

The Hanged Man - Moonspell

Drawn in Blood - Guardians Of Time

All the Loss - Morgion

Shadow Consummation - Dissona

My Blood Is Gold - Myrkur

The Tower - Aleah

Naked in My Cellar - Lordi

Chaos Waltz - Gladenfold

Toxic -Trollfest

Lovers - Dark Moor

The Choke - Shedfromthebody

Star-Crossed Enemies - Ice Nine Kills

a judgement from the past - Ostel

Which side are you on? Nate and Jacki observe Labor Day (month) with a listening party for the legendary album Kentucky by black metal icon Panopticon.

Music Mentions:

• “Kara no Bara” – Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist – Saidan
• Moonlight Sorcery
• Dawn of the Dragonstar – Twilight Force

We discuss:

• Panopticon’s vital stats
• Austin Lunn’s trademark authenticity
• Bluegrass meets black metal
• “Bodies Under the Falls” and its inspiration, a local-to-Kentucky legend that Cherokee women and children were massacred at Yahoo Falls. This story is unsubstantiated, but plenty of stories about the US government’s abuse and removal of Indigenous people from the region are substantiated. If you’d like to learn more, the Kentucky Heritage Council has the following resource: https://heritage.ky.gov/Documents/Native_History_KyTeachers.pdf
• “Come All Ye Coal Miners” and its original composer Sarah Ogan Gunning
• “Black Soot and Red Blood” and its inspiration, the 1930s so-called “Harlan Wars” coal mine strikes, followed by other famous strikes in the 1970s and as recently as 2019, plus the rise and fall (and rise and fall) of unions in Harlan County, Kentucky. For a good rundown on the topic, see https://labornotes.org/blogs/2019/08/brief-history-harlan-county-usa
• Panopticon’s sampling of documentary and interview clips highlighting the real voices and stories of miners
• Movie Mention: Oscar winner Harlan County USA
• “Which Side Are You On?” and the history of this union anthem, its composer Florence Reese, and Panopticon’s choice to arrange it with “O Death,” an American folk song with likely roots in European folk songs
• “Killing the Giants as They Sleep” and “Black Waters” and the impact of coal mining on the Kentucky landscape and environment, plus Nate has to summarize “Black Waters” because Jacki will cry if she talks about it
• American folk and American black metal’s lineage from European folk and black metal: It’s all related!
• If we wrote a book based on this album, what would it be about?

Our Favorite Protest Songs:

• Jacki:
• Gadaar – Bloodywood
• Refuse/Resist – Sepultura
• Wildflower – Witch Club Satan (“You don’t give up! You don’t give up!”
• Nate:
• Speak Godamnit – Vreid
• Violent Revolution – Kreator
• Riot – Riot

Read the cards (and the book) with us in October’s book club episode in which we discuss Arcana Academy by Elise Kova, a tarot-themed magical school/heist drama romantasy edgelordy merch-ploy of a book with a savage cliffhanger. But is it metal?