Queering the Tarot

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Welcome to Tarot Bytes – the tarot podcast for people who want to learn tarot…but don’t have all day. Short, bite-sized tarot lessons. Episode 133: Queering the Tarot with Cassandra Snow

Firstly, tarot cards without context are rarely positive or negative. We apply and project those meanings on to them during the course of a reading. This author loves to label cards as inherently positive or negative which truly limits the multi-dimensionality of all these rich cards. The Minor Arcana is broken into four suits. The Wands represent the element Fire. As Snow describes in Queering the Tarot: I’m Theresa Reed (aka, The Tarot Lady). I’ve been a full-time tarot reader for 30+ years — which, in my industry, makes me pretty badass. OK. If you are a person who is cisgender and heterosexual, and you read tarot, especially if you read for other people sometimes, here's what I need you to do:Why is tarot so popular? A huge part of the draw (get it?) is the beauty of the cards themselves: 78 little stories, each with multiple layers of meaning, that reveal stories about your life. If you’ve ever performed a reading or had someone read for you, you’re probably familiar with that eerie moment when the cards seem to know exactly what your problem is—and, like a gruff but loving aunt, they call you out on it! Tarot is best used as a tool for self-discovery, healing, growth, empowerment and liberation. Tarot archetypes provide the reader with a window into present circumstances and future potential. But what if that window only opened up on a world that was white, European and heterosexual?

While it's definitely thoroughly geared toward queer folks, it also highlights the way many marginalised communities are affected. For example, the Justice card might not be all sunshine and roses in a reading because the institutions that were ostensibly put in place to protect us can (and do) work against BIPOC folks as well as queer ones. So it's a case of adding that layer of interpretation to the card in consideration to those surrounding it. There are some truly wonderful points that I'm glad were put to print, but they were drowned out by what felt like a beginners interpretation of what some of these cards can offer. If you want to make more sustainable choices and shop new, the Good on You Sustainable Fashion Directory and App are really useful!Cassandra has been reading tarot for over about 14 years and has “gone pro” for about 9 years. You can find out more at www.cassandra-snow.com or support their work and get exclusive content at patreon.com/cassandrasnow. The most common keywords for the Six [of Wands] are progress, victory, and triumph. When I hear the words victory and triumph though, I don't just thin of the success or win that comes with them. These words bring battle, rough terrain, and hard-fought success to my mind. In Queering The Tarot, Cassandra Snow deconstructs the meanings of the 78 cards explaining the ways in which each card might be interpreted against the norm. Queering The Tarot explores themes of sexuality, coming out, gender and gender-queering, sources of oppression and empowerment and many other topics especially familiar to not-straight folks. Cassandra's identity-based approach speaks directly to those whose identity is either up in the air or consuming the forefront of their consciousness. It also, speaks to those struggling with mental illness or the effects of trauma, all seekers looking for personal affirmation that who they are is okay. I wish the card interpretations felt more three-dimensional. Rather than discussing how archetypal symbols can relate to common queer experiences, it felt more like defining the cards as a sign of a particular common queer experience. To me, there’s a major difference between a symbol and a sign. A sign directs our attention toward something very specific that requires no further interpretation. Symbols involve in-depth interpretations that are semi-universal, or threaded through various associations and schemas. Of course, this is also a fantastic book for tarot readers who are themselves LGBTQQIP2SAA, especially newer readers who are struggling to connect with the cis- and heteronormativity of mainstream interpretations. Snow takes the cards' conventional meanings and their own experiences and shows us that this magical tool absolutely is "for us."

Queering something, then, means taking what our society has given us and finding our own way, outside of that society’s limits. They put us in a box, and we still find ways to create and prosper and make it the most well-decorated box you’ll see. Queering erases the narrowness and small-mindedness of normal. It embraces the beauty, the mystery, and the vastness of our differences. It welcomes everyone who needs a safer space, and it takes responsibility for helping those people heal. Cassandra Snow, Queering the Tarot TW: Biphobia, whorephobia, discussion of sex work and sugar babies, drugs, sex, suicide mention, outing, queerbait culture, harassment in clubs/bars. When examining specifically-gendered cards like The Emperor/Empress, Magician/High Priestess, and kings and queens of the court cards, Snow’s approach is to examine the experience over the portrayed gender to get at its truth. The Empress represents anyone, regardless of gender, who is nurturing, artistic, in tune with nature, for example. What’s your favorite book on tarot? Is there a book that was formative in your tarot reading journey? Let us know in the comments! In Queering the Tarot, Cassandra Snow opens up the world of tarot and makes it inclusive for the LGBTQ community and other marginalized folk. I think this may be one of the most important tarot books out today. It gives much needed representation and respect to a whole slice of the population that has been left out due to tarot’s tendency to focus on white, cisgender, heteronormative. Queering the Tarot is a wonderful book who’s time has come. It belongs on every serious tarot reader’s shelf." —Theresa Reed, author of The Tarot Coloring Book and co-author of Tarot For Troubled TimesMany of us find tarot as we leave Christian supremacist ways of doing faith. This makes sense because tarot undermines dogmatic ways of seeing the world. Tarot asks us instead to see a web of connected symbols and archetypes guiding our lives. We see the archetypes in friends and enemies, in systems and relationships.

On the positive side, so many tarot books are cisheteronormative and this one gives a basic fill-in-the-gaps for beginner tarot readers or readers who want to learn how to provide non-cisheteronormative tarot readings. For example, the Ace of Wands can be viewed as a phallic symbol (not my style of interpretation, but it is for some) and the author makes a point to explain that a phallic symbol is not necessarily a sign of a man/masculinity. Not all people with penises are men, and many men don’t have penises. This can be helpful for readers who are new to trans-inclusivity. Pamela Colman Smith's queerness and gender nonconformity flesh out this concept of tarot. We see the androgynous Fool, the genderless/all-gendered angels, we see ourselves.Don't feel obligated to read this book just because of what it promises--queer representation. It does not deliver. Even if the intention was to define a list of queer signs each card could represent, the list felt weak. Where’s all the rich queer history references?