LGBTQ+ Tarot and Magic: Resources, Readings, and Reflections
This page contains resources on LGBTQ+ Tarot and Magic, as well as our posts on the topic and some suggested reading. What does that cover? Magic and tarot are both systems of healing, connection, exploration, and discovery. This makes them especially well-suited for LGBTQ+ folks who are lacking connection, exploration, and opportunities for discovery in a culture dominated by cisgender-heteronormativity. The resources and readings on this page address the overlap of queerness, transness, tarot, and magic in unique, insightful, and provocative ways.
Table of Contents
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If you’d like to read more of our thoughts, here is a carousel of some of our most recent posts on LGBTQ+ Tarot and Magic. Below that are further resources and suggestions. You can also see all of our posts on this topic at its category page.
Resources on LGBTQ+ Tarot and Magic
Want to learn more about this topic? These are educational resources that we have personally vetted—no spam to be found here. If you’re still new to this topic, start with the resources on the first list. For those more familiar, the second list has more in-depth resources.
Covering the basics:
- Queer Magic: Creating community through deep connection with self, others, Ohio and the world (Ryann Beaschler, The Buckeye Flame)
- Queer Magic Tarot Spread (Interrobang Tarot)
- The Magic of Trans-Formation: Alchemy, Gender, and JKR (Tess Bourbeau, Southwestern College & New Earth Institute)
- Spirituality Without Dogma: How Tarot Guides LGBTQ+ People Back to Ourselves (Nicole Lee, Gay 45)
A deeper dive:
- Transgender magic and the Tarot with pro Rachel Pollack (Arts University Plymouth)
- Trans and Nonbinary Representation in Magic (Alex Katz, Card Kingdom Blog)
- Queer occultism, sentimental biopower, and becoming ‘bottoms’ as a means to divest from white supremacy among practitioners of magic in Montréal (Sydney Sheedy, Concordia University)
Do you know of other resources that would be a good fit for this list? Reach out to ash@ashtonrosewrites.com, and we’ll take a look and let you know if we want to add it!
Recommended reading:
(and viewing, listening, etc.)
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir by Kai Cheng Tom
“The highly sensational, ultra-exciting, sort-of true, coming-of-age story of a young Asian trans girl, pathological liar, and kung-fu expert who runs away from her parents’ abusive home in a rainy city called Gloom. Striking off on her own, she finds her true family in a group of larger-than-life trans femmes who make their home in a mysterious pleasure district known only as the Street of Miracles.”
Ten Essential Books for the Queer Pagan by Storm Faerywolf on The Wild Hunt
“This month, I wanted to highlight some of the books on Queer Witchcraft and Paganism that I have personally found to be essential to the Queer practitioner.
All of these books have been helpful to me in various ways and appear in the bibliography of my latest book project, a work focusing on Witchcraft for Queer men. (Stay tuned!) As I have been compiling my research materials, I have been struck at how some of the titles that were especially important to me when I was younger are now out-of-print, with some now going for hundreds of dollars from second-hand book sources. This greatly reduces the availability of this information to the general public and is a terrible blow to the Queer Pagan community. Thankfully, many titles are still available, with new ones being released all the time. What follows are my top ten favorites with a mixture of both old and new.”
Queer Magic by the Austin Public Library
“Fantasy novels that feature LGBTQ characters.” This contains some of Ashton’s personal favorite authors when it comes to LGBTQ+ magic!
7 Queer Jewish Books With a Touch of Magic, Mysticism, and Folklore by Shelly Jay Shore on Electric Lit
“Ghosts and spirits have a heavy presence in Jewish folklore, from Talmudic ghost-summoning rituals to Yiddish folk stories passed down through generations. There’s a touch of magic in those tales, always with the very Jewish common denominator that the unexplainable doesn’t need to be explained, that the mysterious doesn’t need to be solved.”
Including my own books:
Each of these topics is important to me, which also means they show up in my own novels. If you’re interested in spirituality and some magic, check out Synclair! For suggestions on which book is best for you, see my guide on where to start with my novels.