Another addition to the Pop Culture Tarot deck. Purity.

Purity is represented by a drop of clear blue water. It is humanity's attempt to rid ourselves of all perceived imperfections and flaws. It is about cleansing and renewal. Purity has meant different things to different people and groups throughout history.

Purity, for the environmentalist, depicted in the upper left, is nature unblemished by human corruption. The sky, the trees, the forest, and the mountains are pristine until they are paved over by developers.

In the lower left, we see a suburb, a manefestation of the corruption brought about by human hands, but also itself a form of purity. For the modern American, suburban life represents a haven from all things alien, foreign, dangerous, or "impure". The houses, lawns, and streets are uniform in style. Conformity is purity. Suburbia was also created largely due to the "white flight", an attempt by people to rid themselves of racial impurity.

The ultimate attempt to bring about racial purity can be seen in Hitler's Final Solution. The concentration camp, lower right, was the horrific result of that experiment.

In the upper right, there is another another brutal form of purity: the witch burning. An attempt to purge a town of religious impurity, which culminates in a violent death. More generally, the fire could also represent nature's way of cleansing itself, leading back to the pristine picture of the trees. In this regard, purity relates to the Death card, as it can represent a violent transition -- a purging -- which leads to rebirth.