Review: The Gay Tarot, by Lee Bursten and Antonella Platano

Lo Scarabeo, 2004
ISBN: 888395382-7

Review by Kim Huggens

In Issue 3 of the magazine we featured an interview with the creator of the Gay Tarot, Lee Bursten. We also showcased a few cards from the deck. (This interview can be seen at cardiffpagan.co.uk/magazine/issues/3/interviews/lee-bursten.php).

Finally the deck is here, available to buy, and it has indeed been well worth the wait.

The objective of the deck is to not only provide gay men with a deck that provides "...a non-threatening venue in which to explore issues of relationship and of how to deal with a society whose attitudes towards homosexuality range from indifference to hostility", but also to help break the stereotypes associated today with gay men.

Ask somebody to describe a typical gay man, and they'll immediately draw up images of drag queens, camp queens, cliquey groups of bitching guys, promiscuity, pursed lips, wiggling hips, and bent wrists. But this image could not be further from the truth, and the Gay Tarot does an excellent job of showing gay men in the real light: the deck shows them in everyday situations. There are chefs, Fathers, lovers, artists, astronauts, sporty guys, builders, martial artists, gardeners, scientists, judges, and more!

The artwork, as usual for Antonella Platano, is beautiful: all smooth lines, perfect finishes, and accuracy. It is also quite realistic, and makes Lee's ideas come to life. Thanks to Platano, this deck is a joy to behold and is worth getting just for its pretty face.

But it is also a very readable and useful deck, with some pretty nifty hidden ideas... Go ahead, take out the Lovers card, and then take out all the Sixes from the Minor Arcana... Hey, aren't those the same two guys from the Lovers? And say 'hello' to the father and his daughter in the Empress card, because they pay us a visit again in the Three of Wands, Cups, and Coins. Throughout the deck, characters crop up time and time again, urging you to make more personal contact with this deck.

The images themselves, whilst sticking mostly to the Rider Waite tradition, and keeping some of the images, are changed - though not beyond recognition. They are also very evocative images, not overloaded with occult symbolism (which comes as a relief to a beginner) but simple yet deep at the same time.

The deck has reversible backs, and - as with all Lo Scarabeo decks - has the titles of each card in six different languages around the border. The card stock is good, and the cards are just the right size to shuffle.

All in all, I love this deck. I'm not a man, and I'm not gay, but I could see myself reading with this deck. It is definitely a great deck for gay men, but I also think everybody else could use it very well - simply because of its down-to-earth view of the cards, and the everyday situations shown in the images.

A deck who's message is too profound to be ignored; a deck too beautiful not to look at; a deck simple enough for beginners yet interesting enough for advanced readers; a deck that gives to the Tarot world something that has been missing for far too long.

I take my hat off to Lee Bursten for designing such a wonderful, and much-needed, deck, and to Antonella Platano, for bringing to life Lee's ideas.