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. I feel like the author takes her own experiences and generalizes them out to being "2SLGBTQ+ experiences" in general. There are a lot of "we..." statements in the book that, to me, don't reflect intersectionality and presume a very particular reader. For example, phrases like "in our society...” are utilized frequently and demonstrate a clear presumption that the reader is American. I felt like the whole book presumed an American reader in their 20s or 30s who lives in a bigger city – a rather narrow focus audience. Finally, Cups represents the element of Water which is associated with emotions. The Cups are often linked with romantic relationships, but can also refer to any emotional relationship, as well as the process of healing. The fluidity inherent in water, as Snow points out, lends well to queer folks, creating a pretty queer suit. Giving Readings

Even if the intention was to define a list of queer signs each card could represent, the list felt weak. Where’s all the rich queer history references? 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. 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 TarotI 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.) It specifically looks at the cards from through a queer lens, as well as a sex-positive, polyam- and kink-friendly one. It doesn't shy away from discussing sexual or polyam themes, and that's fantastic. In addition, while there are caveats not to ever, ever assume or make concrete calls on a seeker's gender identity or sexuality - and rightly so! - there are also interpretations for readings that are about a seeker who's exploring or asking about those aspects of their life. "This card frequently appears when..." and "often this can indicate..." are a couple of the phrases used to point those things out. Again, nothing concrete or "this is how it is, all the time, no exceptions" because let's face it, humans don't do that and neither do the cards, just layers of interpretation that can help a reader to assist the person they're reading for. DNF @ Swords (at 50%). I have better things to do with my life than force myself to read a poorly written depressing book that excludes and stereotypes so much. 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.

And speaking of negative, oh boy is this book largely that! There are CONSTANT references to how badly queer people are treated, how much we suffer, how little progress there is, how everyone hates us, how isolated we are, etc etc. I think general references of activism is fine, I get it, we all get it. But the constant mention of it gets tiring. For a book where I'd like to feel seen and heard, I don't like being reminded about how much I'm not. It feels draining for me to read through sections where it's mentioned. (It's a large part of why this book took me forever to read, and while I ultimately gave up on it.) I'd love some more happy and positive examples of queer rep and readings with the cards, and not just mentions of our difficulties and hardships. Very few cards made me feel empowered. Most of them only focus on our collective trauma. It insists on a radical framework for tarot's symbols. It resists simple observation of archetypes, and demands participation. 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.)I think I'd be much less bothered if the author had said the book was more about their own experiences with tarot/being queer, rather than a book of "how to queer the tarot" for everyone in general. Like if they said this is a book of how they queer their tarot--I'd be more okay with it. But instead, it's marketed/written as how we should queer our tarot based on their experiences/rules. It read very much in a "my way or the highway," which is ironic, given how exclusive and at times, bigoted the author seemed to be. All of which is really off-putting. If you couldn't tell by this point in my review, haha. 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: Weighing in as a queer, nonbinary professional tarot reader with over 20 years of experience, some parts of this book really rubbed me the wrong way.

I'm sorry, what?? This was rather jarring to read, and completely alienates, I'd assume, a good chunk of the audience pretty early on in the book. What of the ace community? What of those with sexual trauma? This felt really random and out of place here. The High Priestess is all about feeling our truth, and there are few, if any, things more awakening than sex. Apply it to every person you read for, regardless of what you believe their sexuality or gender identity to be. Welcome to Tarot Bytes – the tarot podcast for people who want to learn tarot…but don’t have all day. Short, bite-sized tarot lessons. Episode 133: Queering the Tarot with Cassandra Snow Start with The Fool when queering the tarot, because they have queer meaning and queer place. Is The Fool the beginning of the Major Arcana or the end? The answer is unknown and unknowable as zero itself. The answer is not meant for anyone to know.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.