Cassandra Snow, ed., Tarot in other words: an essential anthology by leading queer tarot writers. Newburyport, MA: Weiser Books, 2025. ISBN: 9781578638444.
The book is arranged in two major parts: "Finding Ourselves in the Tarot" and "Finding the Tarot in Ourselves." Each part has an introduction followed by a selection of essays. The book features a total of 11 essays.
These are not just texts providing basic meanings and interpretations. Each essay focuses on a specific card, cards, or some other aspect of Tarot and how it connects to queerness. To give readers an idea, here are three essay titles to show a sampling of topics:
- "The Grieving Fool." In this essay, the essayist looks at the Fool's Journey as a grief journey. For me at least this is quite a different view. Each card entry in this essay is short and concise, and packed with meaning.
- "The High Priestess as Black Femme Memory."
- "Queering Tarot's Numbers." This may be my favorite essay as it is practical and straightforward. It presents concepts I can easily apply in my Tarot readings.
The author described the kind of essays they received for the book:
"When people started turning in essays for this collection, it became very clear that those essays fell into one of two camps: personal storytelling that highlights the powerful ways tarot can move through and transform us, and instructional materials highlighting techniques and opportunities from you to look at tarot in new and queer-inclusive ways. That's not to say there's not overlap-- there definitely is" (3).
The essays are not only lessons. They also combine critical theory, personal memoir, history, and esoterica. Some essays may be a bit easier to read than others, but it is worth the effort to read them all. Some essays also includes spreads, writing prompts, and other exercises to try out, so you may want to keep your journal and a Tarot deck or two handy. As needed, the essays also include footnotes to document sources. The librarian in me always finds footnotes interesting.
Though I read it cover to cover to write this review, this may be a book to read an essay at a time, hold space with it after reading, then go to the next one. You can also just start with a topic of interest and go from there.
As I read the book, I found myself highlighting passages of ideas to remember and concept to try out in my practice. It is an engaging book, and I am glad I got to read it.
I recommend the book for libraries that collect pagan and esoterica materials. Libraries that collect LGBTQ+ materials may want to add this one as well. I'd add it to my personal collection.
5 out of 5 stars.
Additional reading notes:
On developing a Tarot understanding:
"What you need to develop a tarot understanding is just four things: study, practice, play, and a willingness to engage all three of these aspects" (xii).
A note on The Magician-I card:
"The Magician also reminds us that belief is integral to magic. To work with the tarot, you must believe in what you are doing and believe that it will have an effect, even if you never see the outcome. Belief is also at the core of the emerging self. You must believe in who you are becoming and believe that it is worth your while to continue to find out who that is" (30).
A note on the High Priestess:
"The High Priestess is the essential witch of the tarot, teaching us that a witch is nothing but a femme/nonbinary soul who lives in direct communication with the divine wildness that exists in all of creation without the permission or participation of the patriarchy. Their access to an internal divine audience as a femme/nonbinary is what makes them a threat to the patriarchy and a baddie in general. They sip the tea of the supernatural and make enough for us all to partake" (43).
On humor:
"There's a sense of humor to tarot that can't really be explained or replicated" (152).
This book qualifies for the following 2025 Reading Challenge:
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