Decks appealing to gay men

Moderator Note

It's a little late now, but please discuss Oracles over in the Oracles forum, starting a similar thread there specifically for Oracles.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/tarot-apokalypsis/ maybe?

I don't know if it's *supposed* to feel camp, but it has a certain overdoneness that feels pretty camp to me, and there seems to be a fair amount of buff shirtless dudes. I might just be suggesting this because I want it, though, so.

Yay Tarot, due to be published in the upcoming year

http://yaytarot.com/

I'll have to answer this based on gay clients. While I consider myself homosexual, I don't feel like I'm drawn to something because of "gay culture" or who I prefer to er...have fun with.

The gay guys (read as those whose lives revolve around gay culture) who I've read for, all seem to like the cartoonish, and bright, colorful decks that give everything a happy spin to it. From my experience, the gay people I've read for don't want to hear the truth so much as how it's going to fit into their lifestyle and it should always be positive, regardless if it's in the reading. I have a hard time as a spiritual counselor telling these friends/clients that it's not as rosy as the cards or they depict it to be.

ANYWAYS

The bottom line, to answer your question, is, from my experience, decks that feature strong colors that are happy looking, fun, and not too serious.

(maybe the ones I've read for have been the stereotypically gay ones)...

Other gay (while you'd never know it) clients I've had, care more about the message than the cards themselves and haven't expressed being drawn to one more than the other.

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Tarot4Change said:

Other gay (while you'd never know it) clients I've had, care more about the message than the cards themselves and haven't expressed being drawn to one more than the other

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I think that's true of all clients to be honest. We often fuss about which decks to use and nine times out of ten they don't care. I want the mechanic to use the best screwdriver for the job when mending my car. I really don't mind if it's not the lovely-sculpted-antler-handle-one.

I'm finding the discussion about the Myers Art Nouveau vs the Castelli one interesting. Things I'd never really thought of. I personally have never liked the Myers one - though I do have it - I find it too Ken (as in Barbie) and it owes nothing to art nouveau as we know it. It's kitsch but falls short somehow.

When I think of recent gay readings - gay themes for gay clients - I have used the Fantastic Menagerie, the Tarot of Delphi, Nicoletta Cecolli, Golden Klimt and Thoth. And I really did pick them thinking of the sensibility and style of each querent plus the fact that I love them all and read easily with them - so no unifying factor there, if you think of how disparate they all are.

The Touchstone tarot uses quite a number of paintings by Mannerist artists who have recently been claimed retrospectively for gay aesthetics, Bronzino for example. There's a whole group of "bachelor artists" who were each other's master or pupil... before the terminology for sexual identity was invented.

Since it combines works of many artists, it doesn't appeal to only one taste. The "gendering" worked differently in the Mannerist/Baroque era, just a historic moment before the definition and separation of the sober modern male vs weak feminine, a separation that started in the 18th century and reached its moral and visual peak in the Victorian era. Especially Mannerist art offers different nuances of ambiguity that were wiped out later.

@LeFanu : I didn't answer your post specifically but I really like hearing your inputs

BTW, what about the major arcanas of the Gilded Tarot...think Lovers and Devil... I remeber I bought that deck at the time just for those two cards!

aquestionmark said:

Yay Tarot, due to be published in the upcoming year

http://yaytarot.com/

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Haaaw nasty one! I want one! (Damn I was just saying to myself : no more deck you have enough with five). Love the style and that Man of Sword... finally something funny, well drawn and with other thing than the typical dull, white, straight looking male thing. Hope there will be some hairy guys as well in here too

I think someone has mentioned the Foutain Tarot and I will agree about its gay vibes. Some card have that particulary male sensibility like the magician. Great deck btw.

Lee said:

How about the Art Nouveau Tarot by Matt Myers?

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Hey Lee, off topic question. Since Lo Scarabeo has been reissuing older decks without multilingual titles, is there are chance of a text-less Gay Tarot reprint?

Aeric said:

Hey Lee, off topic question. Since Lo Scarabeo has been reissuing older decks without multilingual titles, is there are chance of a text-less Gay Tarot reprint?

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Hi Aeric,

I haven't heard anything about it from them, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. If it did happen, I have a feeling I wouldn't know about it until everyone else does.