Astroamerica - Not a Fan (a gay tarot rant)

AJ

in my search for a new after-Easter doorknob avatar I ran across this one today. Not sure why it came up in a spring search, but it would be perfect for this thread

gregory

That is somehow really worrying......

rachelcat

The gays are making a major power play. More about them needs to be known.

Of all the ignorance and bad attitude displayed in the review, this is the only part that is actually scary. Whipping up fears of an unknown but powerful agenda of a shadowy minority is really going down the wrong road.

(To tell the truth, I thought some of you, my friends, were over-reacting by contacting GLAAD about the review, but now that I've seen this part of it, I have to agree that it needs to be taken seriously beyond the tarot community.)

Sphinxmoth

AJ said:
in my search for a new after-Easter doorknob avatar I ran across this one today. Not sure why it came up in a spring search, but it would be perfect for this thread

so, AJ, you ain't gonna be using that for your avatar? darn.

if those were all the doorknobs in a house where the Gay tarot reviewer were staying, how*ever* would he be able to get out of a room? or better yet, into the house to begin with..

AJ

pull up, not down?

People are never going to be perfect, but stories like this just make me sad all over. It sounds cliche, but some of the nicest people I know are gay; generous, loving, funny, smart. I could say the same for straights I guess, but I just wanted to stand up and be counted as a friend.

Sphinxmoth

AJ said:
pull up, not down?

People are never going to be perfect, but stories like this just make me sad all over. It sounds cliche, but some of the nicest people I know are gay; generous, loving, funny, smart. I could say the same for straights I guess, but I just wanted to stand up and be counted as a friend.

Nicely said. I just want to stand up sometimes and ask people to be responsible for the words they use, and the things they say, and maybe face up to the real motivations they have for saying them and quit projecting their own personal psychological failings upon others.

gregory

rachelcat said:
Of all the ignorance and bad attitude displayed in the review, this is the only part that is actually scary. Whipping up fears of an unknown but powerful agenda of a shadowy minority is really going down the wrong road.

(To tell the truth, I thought some of you, my friends, were over-reacting by contacting GLAAD about the review, but now that I've seen this part of it, I have to agree that it needs to be taken seriously beyond the tarot community.)

That's why I quoted it in the first place. It's sick and nothing to do with the deck.

the_surfacer

I've spent quite a bit of time now reading reviews at the site, to get an idea of the greater context of his Tarot reviews. What I see now is someone whose words make him look like someone terrified of any and all potential threats to his privilege.

He apparently also has a thing about Protestants, and some ... interesting ideas about Catholicism and Wicca:

Tarot of the Saints review said:
But saying this deck is "Christian" may be a bit broad. The confused followers of Luther have no saints.

Tarot of the Saints review said:
We are talking here about the most Holy Roman and Apostolic Catholic Church, the greatest clan of male magicians ever seen on this planet. I've made that observation elsewhere, but for those who haven't read every nook & cranny of this site (not that I blame you), I will repeat: The Church Christ founded is by its very nature an ongoing work of magic, in the most sublime sense. What's striking is the publisher of Tarot of the Saints, Llewellyn, in St. Paul (!), Minnesota, is a leading advocate of Wicca, which is female-based magic. Generally, these two groups of magicians believe they have little in common. Publication of Tarot of the Saints could be just an isolated blip on the radar, or it could be part of an eventual rapprochement between males & females. Differences between these two are long entrenched, it is hard to be optimistic.

http://astroamerica.com/t-saint.html

Also, I would very much like to know exactly what he means by this:

DruidCraft review said:
Wicca always hides how these energies work out when you put people into them & set them in motion. Wicca has been hiding for centuries. Understanding the court cards is critical to understanding Wicca as it is practiced.

http://astroamerica.com/t-dc.html

More "Wicca is the dark enemy of the Catholic Church" conspiracy theory:

Pagan Tarot review said:
Remember that paganism (as presented in this deck) is, essentially, female-based magic. The Catholic Church is, essentially, male-based magic. In an ideal world they might be partners, but this is not an ideal place. They are otherwise natural enemies. In the Piscean Age, the Church vanquished the Pagans, but in the Aquarian Age the Church is much weaker. Paganism is, of course, much older. It might be that its time has come again. To me, this deck does not look like the sort of fun-fun wicca that Llewellyn has been promoting all these years, but I could be mistaken.

http://astroamerica.com/t-pagan2.html

Oh, and just in case you were wondering about his thoughts on women:

Goddess Tarot review said:
Women complain that men are crude and coarse and brutal, but society does it to us, generation after generation. Between the ages of 12 and 20, a time when the boy/man can only follow the path laid in front of him. And that path is frequently filled with adolescent rage and military service, with the resultant horrifying brutality.

While I applaud what feminism has done for women, I'm not impressed by what it wants to do to men.

Universal Goddess Tarot review said:
Both Ceres & Demeter relate to mothering, not magic. And while the process of becoming a mother is indeed magical, the magicians who create this condition among women are the males of the species. It's not that women cannot be magicians (of course they can!), but that, by definition, motherhood is not an example of female magic, in that females cannot produce it among themselves. This deck is full of such misunderstandings.

http://astroamerica.com/t-godds.html
http://astroamerica.com/t-ugt.html

SolSionnach

motsa said:
I am so never going to be able to look at that tarot again without seeing that in my head.

Glad to be of service.
It's funny, yes - but there are way too many people that would go into an all-caps rant at the thought of being in the same room with TEH GAY.

I think our Astroamerica chap is one of those, unfortunately.

the_surfacer has come up with some really interesting insights, too. I guess the guy is one of those white males who are so threatened by anything that they can't put down, or some such (it's late - time to go to bed, and I don't know if I'm making much sense..)

::yawn::

Shade

I was also concerned about why the gay tarot represents a power play for gay folks. By this logic the Mermaid Tarot is the sign of the upcoming spiritual invasion of uppity merpeople everywhere!

The reviews on the site really do get prickly whenever any group seems to be trying to do something the reviewer thinks Catholics do best. It suggests a seriously polarized view where everything is at odds. The comments about feminism echo this. I'm a guy but I am a serious feminist. I see the goal of feminism as the empowerment of women not the destruction of men. I also don't view paganism and Christianity as competing with one another.

That comment about Ceres being an inappropriate magician card bothered me as well. When I first looked at the Universal Goddess tarot I expected someone like Morgan le Fay or Circe on that card but when you really get into that deck's cosmology the choice makes perfect sense. The energy of creation and manifestation is perfectly embodied by Ceres. But in the reviews on that site there are many mentions of Christ being the most appropriate image for the magician. Anyone who thinks the magic of creation comes only from men can't possibly know very many women.

Astroamerica - Not a Fan (a gay tarot rant)

AJ

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