Queer Tarot Cards

A print series with the Queer Ancestors Project

The Queer Ancestors Project (QAP) is devoted to forging sturdy relationships between LGBTQI+ people and our ancestors. Using history as a linchpin, QAP builds community by providing Queer and Trans people, age 18 to 26, free interdisciplinary workshops in printmaking, writing, and Queer history. Public exhibitions and readings of their work provide a window on the past through which the larger community can glimpse our collective future.

As part of QAP’s 2016–17 artist residency, printmaker Corey Brown carved a series of linoleum prints in the form of tarot cards. Street Spirit is grateful to publish a selection from this series, and have included Corey’s artist statements for each card below.

The Star (Miss Major)

Guidance, serenity, and hope: In the words of Barbara Moore, a well-known modern author of tarot meanings, “Stars have played roles both mystic and mundane in the lives of humans. We like to wish upon a star. Looking at the stars gives us perspective. Stars are used for navigation. The constellations tell stories; we use them to find understanding, direction, and hope. Their gentle yet brilliant light gives comfort and hope in times of darkness. They are not illusionary like the moon nor overwhelming like the sun. They are soft, gentle, and yet amazingly powerful. This card brings refreshment and cleansing after troubles. It promises restored faith and renewed purpose.”

Miss Major has been an activist and mentor in the transgender community since the 1960s and was an active participant in the Stonewall Riots of 1969. She moved to California in 1978 and provided support during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. She went on to become the Executive Director of the Transgender Gendervariant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) which provides direct service and support for trans women, many of whom are of color and currently or formerly incarcerated, and works to fight against the Prison Industrial Complex.

I wanted to honor Miss Major’s legacy and pay tribute to all the guidance, serenity, and hope she has given and continues to give to me and so many other people. She’s still fucking here, just like the stars.

The Lovers

Making a decision that makes your heart glad: To quote Barbara Moore, a well-known author of tarot meanings, “Almost everyone likes falling in love or being in love because of the way it makes us feel. This is a complex card about the union of opposites, communion with the Divine, and completion, but at the end of the day it is really about making a choice. Specifically it is about making a decision that makes you feel as good, as certain, as strong (and maybe even as scared and vulnerable) as being in love makes us feel. The decision can be about any aspect of our lives. The choices can be many or few. What matters with this card is picking the option that resonates with your heart, makes you feel good about yourself, and creates the sense that all is right in the world.”

Queer love is communion with the Divine. I wanted to depict faggot love between two trans men as it is an image so rarely celebrated and I am deeply in love with a fellow trans fag. Growing up, I didn’t know being transgender was an option. I could’ve never imagined the choices I would make throughout my lifetime would lead to exactly where I am today. I want to always remember to make choices that make my heart feel glad.

The Magician

Using knowledge, resources, and will to create change in the world: To quote Barbara Moore, “The Magician functions by a fundamental belief: as above, so below. This means that the higher plane of existence is reflected in the lower plane. It implies connection with the Divine. If he is in line with the Divine, he becomes a channel that can effect change in the world. His knowledge and understanding of the laws of the universe allow him to use what is at hand to achieve his goals. Combining base elements with the spirit of the Divine allows for a result that is worth far more than the sum of its parts. This card says that in this situation we can do the same. We have the necessary knowledge and resources to achieve our goals.”

Willem Arondeus was an openly gay artist and anti-fascist fighter as a member of the Dutch Underground resistance group. One of the main roles Arondeus played in the group was to provide forged identity papers to Dutch Jews after the Nazi invasion in 1940. By 1943, it became clear that time was running out for groups on the Gestapo’s watch lists which included Dutch Jews and many others. Arondeus and comrades, some of whom were also openly gay, devised a plan to massively interrupt the Nazi agenda and flow of information—blow up the Amsterdam Public Records Office.

On March 27, 1943, Arondeus dressed as a German Army captain and marched a group of fighters to the Records Office. They drugged the guards on watch outside and placed a number of explosives inside the building. By dawn, the building had been charred and a large number of records destroyed.

Sadly, within only a few days, 13 out of the 15 fighters responsible for the bombing were captured, after the group was given up by an anonymous traitor within the organization. Arondeus took full blame for the bombing at his trial in an attempt to have his comrades freed, but they were all sentenced to death. His final words, spoken to his lawyer, were “Homosexuals are not cowards.”

His legacy, as well as that of the other openly gay members of the group, was largely overlooked in history records until the 1990s. When Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940, same-sex relations quickly became recriminalized despite having been legal in that country for over a century, playing a part in this revisionist history.

His actions embody those principles of The Magician. In today’s climate, we need more leaders like Willem Arondeus—folks willing to use their creativity to put resources, knowledge, and their will to work and create tangible change.

The Tower

An unexpected event that changes everything: As Barbara Moore writes, “Sometimes we build something, such as a home, career, relationship, or belief system. We care for it. Then, out of the blue, something occurs that changes everything. Our cherished creation is knocked down, utterly destroyed, and we are surrounded by shambles. The Tower represents this experience—and a little more. It is not merely destruction for destruction’s sake; it is a breakdown that allows for a break-through. It releases us from what no longer serves our best interest. It takes away what is no longer good or sound. The Tower destroys something as we know it, thereby providing the raw material and experience to re-create something new.”

For many of us in the Bay Area, the Trump election came, perhaps as not a totally unexpected event, but certainly as a shock. In the immediate wake of the election, I found myself feeling as though many parts of my world were going to come shattering down around me and so much of the work I had put into the world – relationships, community, activism, art – was going to be destroyed. However, as the days and months push on, we are witnessing what I hope is a breakdown that allows for a breakthrough. We will continue to fight back. We will continue to raise our voices louder. We will continue to forge relationships. I wanted to remind myself that we will do this. Set it ablaze, crack its foundation, make it crumble. Create a new system from the ashes. Create a world that works better for all of us.

Strength

Calm control that soothes the situation: This print memorializes those who became ancestors in 2016 when the print was initially created—the Pulse 49, the Ghost Ship fire victims, and the many trans women of color who were murdered. A reminder that healing comes through strength of our communities, soothing one another, creating rituals to move forward, knowing that memories will continue on. Together, in community, we fight like hell for those of us still living, forging the paths of our collective futures.