"Erotic" Tarots?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Oct 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

caledonia	12 Oct 2003
I have seen quite a few "erotic" type tarots on quite few websites and a couple of stores... the one I found most intruiging was this "Tarots of Casanova"... I thought that, while racy, it was pretty, and I love 18th century subjects. So I was wondering, does anyone here have this deck, or one similar? And what use are they? Do they give any extra "oomph" to a reading about a romantic subject? And do they read any differently than any other "standard" tarot deck? Or is it simply a thing for collectors? Regards, Caledonia

firemaiden	13 Oct 2003
Well, I have it, it is ... cute. I wouldn't say I've ever tried to read with it. Although, hey, there's always a first time. I also have the Manara Erotic Tarot. I find the Manara evocative and beautiful, but you must know it was compiled from his pre-existing work, not created as a tarot deck. A few of the cards are breathtaking. I prefer art decks to theme decks, the theme thing (the story of the life of Cassanova, for example) kind of intrudes like an army boot. I've also looked at the Decameron (lo Scarabeo) - (hmmm, quite, er... earthy, LOL). I have yet to see an erotic deck that really works for the tarot...

catlin	13 Oct 2003
I have traded the Cassanova deck several times away, looked at the Manara but still not bought it as most of these decks are more for collecting than readiing. Maybe you want to check out the Tantra Tarot by Leah Levine or the Black Tarot by Luis Rojo.

WolfSpirit	13 Oct 2003
I have the Manara tarot, but I would not recommend it. What is in the pictures does not have much to do with tarot meanings. It is not a gender balanced deck, there are a lot of naked or partially naked women on the deck and only a few men, and it has more to do with voyeurism than to show fun people have, except in a few cards like the Chariot which is my favourite. I must say though that I often find one sensual card in a non-erotic deck that grabs me much more than a deck meant to be erotic, but that is just the kind of person I am.

lasourciere	13 Oct 2003
I own the Tarot Sutra, purchased for me at the Hustler Store by my boyfriend. *laughs* It was sweet of him, I guess... It's pretty much a clone of the Rider-Waite, only its colors are much subtler and are, for the most part, done in melancholy hues of blue, purple, etc. It comes with a handbook that has sexual interpretations of all the cards instead of the standard ones. However, I've read it as a standard deck before and it worked pretty well. It's basically a recolered RW with sexual content tacked to it. I can't say it's a particularly good deck. It is frighteningly kitsch. I feel almost dirty using it... Oh, and despite the name, it has absolutely nothing whatsoever in it dealing with the real kama sutra or eastern thought. It's just a glorified sex game. (Well, what did we expect? it came from the Hustler Store, for the love of Pete....)

Shade	14 Oct 2003
Ok here's my thoughts Tarot Sutra: Nice idea but lacking something in the delivery. The idea of using the tarot to help in your sex life is a great one and they came close with this deck. For example if your soul card or the card you draw is the Chariot you should make yourself daring bold and passionate. Suggestions included things like having sex in your car... while driving... fast. The Emperor and the Empress represent having power and control, the Devil temptation, etc. However, sometimes it felt like the suggestions weren't creative enough. The sugeestions for handcuffs, blindfolds, whipped cream and whatnot seemed overused and I kept thinking doens't everyone alrerady know about these ideas? Maybe not perfect but a pretty good starting point. http://www.tarotpassages.com/sutradw.htm Tarot Erotica: Some people felt this one was too strange or disturbing. Of the erotic decks this one really does take place in its own dimension. People are shown in rooms with walls made of penises or standing outside of giant cosmic vulvas. Unless you are into the idea of the erotic at this amorphous level it mmight not be for you. http://www.tarotpassages.com/erotica.htm The Casanova: I felt that this one suffered from a general feeling of "sameness" what's a better word for that? Monotony? You have some sexy masked people in period costumes and masks and they look great... but you have a LOT of these same people. Also the deck only depicts nude women the men always seem to manage to stay covered up. Perhaps this has something to do with Casanova's role as a seducer I don't know. Also the art had a sort of "posed" feel as if the models froze in time, it is a very still deck. The Manara: Like the Casanova it's almost entirely women. Some people had trouble with cards showing violence and I'm sure anyone who is a rape survivor might be very opposed to reading or being read with the deck. However the Tarot is supposed to show the range of human life and taht includes dark stuff and when you metaphor is sex then sex for control is an applicable metaphor. Not all of the cards are sexual, every once in a while you have a card that is just a knight or an electrician which can at times feel random. http://www.tarotpassages.com/manara.htm http://www.tarotpassages.com/rverot.htm http://www.tarotpassages.com/Manara-kh.htm The Decameron: This deck is a lot of fun. While if you do a full count you will see more naked women than men this deck comes a lot closer to gender balance. And while the scenes are almost completely heterosexual this one does include two homoerotic scenes (the Queen of Swords and the Sun) which isn't many but it was nice to see an attempt to include. Most of the scenes are "in the act" rather than sexy posing figures. The renaissance theme lends a sort of bawdy fun feel to the images. http://www.tarotpassages.com/decameron78.htm I haven't seen a copy of the original Majors only version but I understand a few changes were made to the cards and the consensus seemed to be the changes were for the better. here's a review of the original http://www.tarotpassages.com/decamerone.htm As to the readability of the decks I suppose the question is do you do a lot of sex-based readings. And I don't mean relationship readings... those I think can be better handled by a more common tarot deck. I've done a lot of sex readings for folks and the decks, especially the Decameron worked. A reading could go anywhere from how can a querent spice up their sex life, what makes them sexy, what do sexual relationships represent to them or how does sex factor into their relationships or the cards can be used very literallly for suggestions. I've heard of the Gay Male Tarot but only saw images on tarot garden. It might have been interesting as most erotic decks seem very hetero-oriented

The "Erotic" Tarots? thread was originally posted on 12 Oct 2003 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.