Masculine tarot decks out there?

feynrir

Hi there! :)

Hope this doesn't seem an overly shallow question. Does anyone know of any tarot decks of a particularly masculine tone out there?

I would like a deck with a lot of robust energy and a lot of powerful, masculine figures. None of my decks really give me that, but I'd say that the original Rider-Waite-Smith and the Anna K Tarot inch a little closer to what I'm looking for. Bluntly rendered figures and raw energy.

I have a Thoth deck as well, which I consider "masculine," but it's a bit busy and the colors are not usually very opaque. I'm looking for something a bit clearer all around than the Thoth in these regards.

I've checked under the category of "Masculine Decks" on Aeclectic here, and there were only like 5 entries. The nearest one to what I'm looking for was an oracle deck, and I'm looking for a tarot deck.

As a last note, the colors red and orange are a plus, if they're prominent. (Basically, think 'The Emperor' :p ha!) Any deck that you yourself personally find "masculine" is worth mention here! Thank you so much in advance!
 

Richard

I'm not very sensitive to masculine or feminine bias, but you might consider the Liber T: Tarot of Stars Eternal, which is a Thoth based deck with lots of reds and oranges. The Aquarian, a Rider-Waite style deck, might be another possibility.
 

nisaba

The Gay Tarot, which despite its name doesn't exclude straight males - it's more a masculine look at the world. It would have to be the best.
 

Emily

I always felt the Morgan Greer was very masculine, both in artwork and colouring. :)
 

Aeric

I second that the Gay Tarot works very well as a general men's deck. Only four or five cards explicitly show same-sex relationships, and the rest are about men in various occupations, friendships, and social situations.

This card emphasizes best how it's for all of us :)
 

Forester70

An interesting thread. It's a bit of a pet annoyance of mine that some very good recent decks are spoiled by the male figures that are either malevolent, weak or too passive (jaded), but rarely strong in a positive sense! Are the creators working through some issues? Anyway, I think this is very subjective and personally I wouldn't agree with some of the recommendations so far, so take my view with a pinch of salt e.g. I think RWS and Anna-K are fairly well balanced rather than masculine.
The Thoth deck is very masculine to me and I know some women are very put off by the style!
Apart from the Thoth, I would say my Sheridan Douglas has good strong male characters epitomised by a superb Emperor and both the Kings of swords and batons. The Druidcraft has some good male figures, but overall, to me, is another more feminine deck! The gay tarot looks like a good option, but I don't own it so I can't tell for sure.
 

Aeric

The Fire Tarot definitely fits the colours, as its subject matter is fire itself. But the characters are mixed genders.

Honestly, the greatest challenge is that if bold and powerful are the only words you're using to consider a deck "masculine," it's very difficult. Many of the bold and brightly coloured decks that feature men show them as caretakers of families, nurturers, teachers, and other roles besides warriors and masters. The gentler side of masculinity and manhood is embraced as much as the forceful one in the vast majority of decks.
 

shaveling

In this 2002 review , Lee Bursten (the author of The Gay Tarot) makes the point that the Miss Cleo deck is particularly masculine. I agree with him on that. The colors are opaque and the figures are bluntly rendered and often have raw energy. And I like the backs, too.