Christina Ricci Reflects on Tarot Journey With Cat Full of Spiders Book

Christina Ricci learned an important lesson on the path to creating her Cat Full of Spiders tarot deck and guidebook.

“It may feel like [an] answer came from magic, but it really didn’t,” she exclusively shared in the latest issue of Us Weekly while promoting her upcoming Cat Full of Spiders tarot deck and guidebook. “Our brains are what is magic.”

Ricci developed an interest in tarot after filming a scene for Now and Then where childhood friends visited a psychic for a reading.

“I just thought it was cool and interesting,” she recalled. “I personally love looking at things people view as mystical or magical and finding how it works in a more grounded way.”

Call Full of Spiders offers fans a surrealist dive into Ricci’s cinematic subconscious with a set of 78 tarot cards. Ricci hopes those interested in tarot — and newcomers curious about the process — remember that they are in charge of their fate.

“Tarot is a great tool to employ self-reflection, self-knowledge, awareness and intuition to answer your own questions,” she added.

Cat Full of Spiders hits bookshelves on October 8. For more from Us‘ exclusive interview with Christina Ricci, keep scrolling down and pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.

What is it that you love about tarot?
It’s a great tool to employ self-reflection, self-knowledge, awareness and intuition to answer your own questions. You pose a question and then draw the cards, and they bring up themes and ideas. When you apply them, you are combining your own self-knowledge to come up with the answer.

How has tarot helped you?
It has always just been a fun hobby for me. The one thing tarot does do for me is help me to really know myself. As I’ve gone through my life, I’ve had more experiences, and that has changed my reaction to some of the cards. It reconnects me to who I am.

What is the meaning behind the title Cat Full of Spiders?
For me, it’s a metaphor. As the cat goes through life, it keeps eating spiders. And when the spiders in his belly get crazy and start going nuts, the cat feels anxious. If the spiders are sleeping, the cat feels calm and warm. So, it’s a metaphor for as we go through life, we collect all these memories, experiences, traumas, moments that then predict and influence the rest of our lives.

The guidebook explains each tarot card, from Death and the Hanged Man to Wheel of Fortune and the Magician — but this deck is special. Tell Us more about that.
The idea was taking this deck and using me as the inspiration. There are complete stories for the characters involved. There are worlds and just really gorgeous, gorgeous illustrations. And so for me, it was important to have there be a lot more depth and dimension to this piece of art I’m putting out there in the world. [The goal is to] draw people’s attention to all the different versions of ourselves that we can be and how much is inside of one brain and one subconscious.

Who did you collaborate with on this project?
My husband [Mark Hampton, credited as the creative director] and I had this concept, like, three and a half years ago. We started working on it before we had a publisher! Then we found Felipe Flores, an artist whose work we felt best exemplified this idea. Then we all started collaborating with [tarot consultant] Minerva Siegel on the stories, the characters and the world.

You have also teamed with West Elm on items that make this a whole experience.
All the pieces we created — the tray, the smudge bowl, the smudge stick and two different candles — those are tools that help with a ritual. They set a mood, so you can focus.

Any plans to expand?
I do think that this is just such a rich world we’ve created. I think there’ll be more to come from this but not necessarily another tarot deck.

What do you want readers to take away from Cat Full of Spiders?
I hope it lends itself to people practicing more openness to the fact that we are all human beings with so much depth and complexity.