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. This book has given me so, so much more to consider in terms of interpreting the cards, especially in regards to giving readings to folks in the queer community. It's definitely not a book for beginners, and novices may still find it a bit overwhelming. I consider myself an advanced novice, and there is a lot to take in.

Many 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.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. When we allow a loosening of meaning, truth can shine through. Personal transformation can then enter. Queers know well that there is more than one way to tell the truth. Living the Tarot

The Minor Arcana is broken into four suits. The Wands represent the element Fire. As Snow describes in Queering the Tarot: Swords correspond with the element Air. “The swords do not always bring us what we want, but they do get us what we need,” writes Snow. Swords correspond with mental clarity, intellect, and reason. The Swords relate to mental health, and in readings, it is important to remember the unique challenges queer people face in receiving mental health treatment. 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 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. How do we bring the practice of queering the tarot into our everyday practice? Begin by questioning what you think you know about tarot. Let it guide you towards more complex meanings. Stop trying to nail everything down.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. Dear Neighbour tells the story of Alice, a single mum living in Leeds, her next-door neighbour Bill, a widower still grieving his wife’s death a decade earlier, and the other residents of their street. It’s a novel about the power of community and found family, and the real definition of home. A love letter to the necessity of resilience, resistance and empathy." It insists on a radical framework for tarot's symbols. It resists simple observation of archetypes, and demands participation. The High Priestess is all about feeling our truth, and there are few, if any, things more awakening than sex. 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?

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: While I empathize people saying that despite not liking the book, they still think it's important, I question how important it can be if it's done so poorly. For a book that markets itself about being inclusionary and about the queer community as a whole, to write a book where the focus is almost entirely about your own personal views/experiences, and how we should change our style to fit those specific views/experiences, that feels...well, exclusionary. And kind of bigoted, tbh. I can appreciate the idea of this book, but I cannot find myself recommending it. I've found more queer readings and understanding of tarot in non-queer focused books. This one felt often close-minded, ignorant, or extremely biased. (And the Swords section was just...I have no words. We are not therapists, and to associate swords with mental illness is insane to me.)

Episode 133: Queering the Tarot with Cassandra Snow

I'm a queer and trans tarot reader who has been doing this a long time, and I really wanted to like this book more. Unfortunately there were simply too many interpretations of the cards that were offered as absolutes. "This is a bad card" or "This is a great card" are statements that simply can't apply to the practice when we look at tarot beyond a surface level. 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. I think the author means well and is clearly writing from their own experience. The book makes it clear that intersectionality is crucial when it comes to reading for others in the queer community (it is) and does a decent enough job trying to deconstruct the influence of white supremacy and capitalism within the tarot system. The most common keywords for the Six are progress, victory and triumph. When I hear the words victory and triumph though, I don't just think of the success or win that comes with them. These words bring battle, rough terrain, and hard-fought success to my mind, and that's important to note for this card. This isn't just a good thing happening--it's something you've fought long and hard for finally turning in your favor. It's triumph over adversity, specifically."

The Emperor card was also wildly sexist. I know the author tries (or says they try) not to associate the cards with their gender, but there seems to be a personal bias against the stereotypical masc-associated traits with this card. (Really, any masc card.) Saying it's all about control and forcing people into submission feels like a huge loss to the meaning of the card, and is contrasted wildly against the almost purely positive portrayal of the Empress. I don't feel like the author did a good enough job here overcoming their own personal issues with this card and genuinely giving it a queer perspective. I still start this off by saying I was biased before reading this book. I had heard enough bad things about it that I had zero interest in it. But when enough people told me it was a valuable read despite those bad things, I decided to give it a shot. (Spoilers: it's awful.) Queering the tarot is one part believing the impossible, one part feminist storytelling. It makes space for people isolated from spirituality by Christian supremacy to reconnect.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! I also can't help but mention that the artwork chosen for this book feels tone-deaf to it's subject matter. The Justice card, for example, features a police officer. The Lovers card is of a thin feminine woman with a fit masculine man (Yes queer relationships can look like that, but we're not exactly starved for that imagery and the book missed a huge opportunity in offering something else.) 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." 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 Times Tarot helps us see the world anew. We must also let it help us act well. We must also let it push us to inspect the archetypes of patriarchy, and suspect them.