lesbian deck

Vetch

Helvetica asked what people think of the motherpeace - I owned it but gave it away. I don't like it that much.
I don't like 'sweet', perfectly drawn decks, but the motherpeace is too crude for my taste.
I mean, yea, it's great to be a woman, but it's also nice if someone does a deck who can actually draw.
 

Lee

I was just reading my last few posts in the forum, and they must make me seem awfully grumpy. Sorry, everyone. I really do have a sense of humor. Really, I do. Honest.

There was a deck published in 1984 called the New Amazon Tarot. You can see it here:

http://www.themysticeye.com/pics/namazon.htm

It's a woman-centered deck. I don't know if it was specifically meant to be lesbian-oriented, but it would certainly seem so from looking at some of the cards. The deck was self-published and is long out of print, probably very hard to come by.

Oh, and thanks very much for the kind words about the GT!

-- Lee
 

shaveling

Vetch said:
I mean, yea, it's great to be a woman, but it's also nice if someone does a deck who can actually draw.
There was a funny time in the history of American feminism when you would have been jumped on for saying that. Excellence was considered elitist and simple competence was suspect. It was deemed un-feminist in a lot of circles to insist on correct spelling, for instance. I'm not sure the crude linework isn't a result of that mindset. I am pretty sure that the circular format is due to the egalitarian thrust of the movement: every point on the edge of the card equally close to the center.

I believe that the round decks, the Motherpeace and the Daughters of the Moon, were the unofficial canonical "lesbian" decks coming out of that way of thinking. Feminism and the lesbian community here don't have the unity of vision they did in the days that gave birth to those decks, the days of CR groups and communes. I'll be surprised if anybody has the nerve to publish anything called "The Lesbian Tarot" in the future. But "A Lesbian Tarot" is a possibility. But I wouldn't expect it to have the wide acceptance and distribution the round decks enjoyed. It probably wouldn't become the default gift to give for lesbian housewarmings and Holy Union and anniversary parties the way the others have been.

I personally like to view the knights and pages of the Ancient Tarot of Lombardy as the butches, and the queens and female trumps as the femmes of that deck. Except for the Queen of Staves and The Star. Definite butches, those two.
 

Lee

shaveling said:
I'll be surprised if anybody has the nerve to publish anything called "The Lesbian Tarot" in the future. But "A Lesbian Tarot" is a possibility.
When Lo Scarabeo first approached me about doing a gay deck, their original suggestion was for a deck that would be both gay and lesbian. However, I chose to focus the deck on gay men, because it would then be true to my own experience, and I didn't want to presume to tell someone else's story.

I certainly think there should be a lesbian tarot, and I hope someone makes one.

-- Lee
 

Vetch

shaveling said:
There was a funny time in the history of American feminism when you would have been jumped on for saying that. Excellence was considered elitist and simple competence was suspect. It was deemed un-feminist in a lot of circles to insist on correct spelling, for instance.

I know exactly what you mean, shaveling. I'm a German feminist myself, coming from a feminist background and I typed my sloppy stament feeling very provocative and daring. :)
 

NightWing

On Lesbian Tarot

Lee said:
When Lo Scarabeo first approached me about doing a gay deck, their original suggestion was for a deck that would be both gay and lesbian. However, I chose to focus the deck on gay men, because it would then be true to my own experience, and I didn't want to presume to tell someone else's story.

I certainly think there should be a lesbian tarot, and I hope someone makes one.

-- Lee

Interesting question (the original post). A friend of mine says she thought the Fenestra deck was a "lesbian deck", with apparently any and all roles being filled by females. (?) I'm not so sure.

I'm also uncertain what a "lesbian tarot" would look like. Would it include "butch" women in lumberjack shirts, jeans, and very short hair? As much as that is stereotypical, there is also some reality to it. Surely lesbians are so diverse that one particular deck could not hope to capture images that speak to/for all?

Lee, I think you wisely chose to avoid doing a combined gay & lesbian deck. I can't imagine it working. And I agree that such a deck should be created by lesbians to reflect their reality, or part thereof. Actually, it may well be that such decks HAVE already been created; just not identified as such, but fully reflecting a given woman's reality nonetheless.

I'd love to see a deck that was openly presented as "lesbian" though.
 

Rusty Neon

Thea's Tarot deck may be of interest.
 

petegrey

Lyric said:
The Cosmic Tribe has three Lovers cards--one gay male, one lesbian and one hetero.

Question about this deck because I don't have it- are you supposed to leave the one lover card in that matches the querents sexuality or leave all 3 lovers cards in? If thats the case, it seems like it would somewhat favor that card in draws.
 

the_surfacer

While I'm not a lesbian, I am bisexual, and I have to say that one of the reasons I'm so fond of the World Spirit deck is the ambiguity on both the Lovers card and the Two of Cups. When I was single, I loved it that the cards didn't try to pigeonhole me into one orientation or the other by presuming to tell me the gender of my ideal person. (Of course, that's all a bit moot now that I'm married to my ideal person. ;))

The ambiguity is also helpful when I read for others. I don't feel like it's my place to determine every querent's orientation, and some people have had really bad experiences with outing themselves to strangers and don't always want to do it. Because of this, I find the Cosmic Tribe's solution perhaps not the ideal way to do things -- I would not want to start a reading with such a loaded question as sexual preference, especially when the choices are only straight or gay, -- though it is a step in the right direction.

It wouldn't be my place to create it, but like many others, I really would like to see a deck like the Gay Tarot for lesbians that represents a broad variety of everyday lesbians doing the things that all people do.
 

jackdaw*

That's a good point, the_surfacer - what Lovers to leave in for the Cosmic Tribe? How to handle that with a querent you don't know very well? You can't start off assuming which card would fit!

The Quest Tarot goes one further, and integrates three orientations in ONE card - interlocked male/female, male/male and female/female symbols above interlocked rings and cups. No human figures, no awkwardness in that respect.