lesbian deck

gregory

I'd agree there. I don't like issue decks either. I bet gay men in Olde Times didn't have an issue with the Marseille.....

I think tarot - like life - should be INCLUSIVE rather than splinter-grouped. I have nothing against the art either; I have both the Gay and the Brotherhood decks for interest, but I wouldn't be happy to read with them, as I think it would be limiting. And before anyone says that's because I'm not gay - I also have Motherpeace and Daughters of the Moon and Thea's and the Amazon - and I wouldn't be comfortable reading with any of them either - or being read for with them!
 

sharpchick

The Hanged Man said:
I haven't closely examined the cards, but I'll point out that it is not the artwork that I dislike on the Gay Tarot. . . It's just the theme I don't like.

And you'd have to actually look at the artwork to see that the cards do not depict gay men engaged in sexual activity - to the contrary, the vast majority of the cards depict men going about daily life.

What the cards do show is the angst, fear, and sadness of people who are snubbed (and worse) for being different. In that context, the deck has broad ranging application to people who are not gay men.
 

The Hanged Man

As I've seen the artwork, I'm already aware that they do not depict scenes of men engaged in sexual activity. I'd probably be more interested if they did. ;)

I do not consider myself to be anxious, frightened, sad or snubbed and nor do I feel at all 'different' on account of my homosexuality. It is this sort of presumption about who I am merely on account of my sexuality alone that I dislike, and the Gay Tarot propogates this sort of attitude.

I feel that the Gay Tarot is probably for a certain type of 'gay man'. Before you ask 'what type of gay man?', I mean someone who feels that this deck illustrates who they are and what they're about. They just don't speak to me, depict my life, or illustrate my thoughts, concepts or opinions about what homosexuality means. They're just not my cup of tea, that's all. It's no big deal.

The Gay Tarot is inevitably political - and politically correct with it, which is even worse - such a Tarot is bound to inspire debate.
 

Shade

He never actually said he was opposed to sexual imagery.

Meanwhile: I asked a few friends where they went for lesbian tarot infromation and was directed to Stphanie Adams' websites:

http://www.sapphica.com/

http://goddessy.com/

Playboy playmate, astrologer, and tarot reader, who says you can't have it all?
 

gregory

He even said he'd be more interested if there were some. })

But I agree - sexual imagery is not the issue. Segmenting off one particular section of society is.
 

Fulgour

We are the Tarot.

Remember the scene... "I am Spartucus!"
ALL decks are Lesbian! And I say Hooray!

~Fulgour - all possibilities exist within me.
 

gregory

Fulgour said:
~Fulgour - all possibilities exist within me.
And within us all, I think. That is why.................

Sexuality is a continuum, not a load of separate compartments. OK, I am basically straight, if we have to define terms. But I could fall in love with a woman. Why shouldn't I ? And if I did, that would not make me any different as a person than I now am.
 

Grizabella

My daughter is lesbian and while I was on my little vacation trip with her and her SO, she said again, as she's said many times before, that it's not about sex. It's about loving another person who is a woman. Sex isn't love. It's an expression of love. I honestly don't know what my sexual orientation would have been had I had a choice. Someone made the choice for me, in a manner of speaking, before I was a year old. I'm sure that will sound preposterous to everyone, but those who have seen me mention my life's details might understand. If they don't----oh well. My life is mine and I can only speak for me, so there it is. Like gregory, I could fall in love with a woman were I to choose to explore that but I don't choose to at this point.

I'm not going to get too personal here. It's not appropriate. So back to the topic. I have mixed feelings about a "lesbian" tarot. Why not a "genderless" tarot? I do understand that being a lesbian and using a deck with only men shown involved in love and sex isn't really right. But there are also the transgendered people---how do we include them? Drag queens, how about them? LAMBDA---how about them? Making separate decks based on sexual preferences misses the mark in so many ways. Sex isn't life. It's a part of life and a small part at that. Love is huge and all-encompassing. No matter what your sexual preferences are, that holds true. The fact that most of society confuses sex with love is where we go wrong with this Tarot thing, you know, just like we go wrong with it in life. Why not a deck that's genderless and just portrays people for whom sex is a part of life but isn't love and that just portrays life as it pertains to us all, but without leaving anyone out? We're all people, no matter what floats our boat in the bedroom. Whether I choose to achieve orgasm with a man, woman, b.o.b. or however just isn't all of me any more than my choice of food is when I'm hungry. I'm far greater than what I do to satisfy that urge.

A little comment on Motherpeace and Daughters of the Moon. I respect the Motherpeace, but I don't like it. The in-your-face crotch shots hit me like a sexually abusive man's "here it is, take it whether you want to or not" and I don't think that's necessary or helpful to women's issues. I think the DOM is much more beautiful, sensitive and respectful of women than the Motherpeace. Again, just me telling my own story. I realize many people will disagree. :)
 

brujaja

Well I wholeheartedly agree, Grizabella. And anyway -- aren't the m/f figures in tarot allegorical/symbolic/etc.? To me, they speak to concepts of masculinity and femininity -- which -are- concepts, and we -all- do partake of both. Images are alive. I think we do ourselves a disservice when we take them so literally.

[Disclaimer: I used to identify as lesbian, and can perfectly well understand the need to see true reflections in our images. I just call for more imagination, and less politics, in working out the answers as far as tarot goes.]

The in-your-face crotch shots hit me like a sexually abusive man's "here it is, take it whether you want to or not" and I don't think that's necessary or helpful to women's issues.

A (most fascinating!) case in point: something very masculine at the heart of a "woman-centered" image.