My Book is Out!

Hello tarot lovers and other readers,

I am writing this blog post today as a PUBLISHED AUTHOR and wow-ee that feels amazing to say. I had a whirlwind opening week with THREE book events that led to amazing discussions with audience about queerness, tarot, and other assorted witchery. I am so excited for the reception of this book, but I am sorry it’s taken me off the blog a little. I’m keeping up with my promised Patreon work and am still doing Instagram #dailytarot content and am still dreaming and scheming big things for this blog (along with my writing career in general).

I have ONE MORE book event on the horizon as of now: Minneapolis, Moon Palace Books on June 3rd. This event includes a mini tarot class as well as a reading or two for the book. I’ll answer questions and sign things. It’ll be a really good time so if you’re in the area please put it on your calendar!

One thing that’s really exciting is some of the interviews I have lined up or have already completed. I don’t have dates for the releases yet but if you’re a podcast listener you’ll eventually be hearing me on podcasts from Coming Out Tarot, The Tarot Lady, The Numinous and Weiser Radio Hour! I interviewed on InterroBang Tarot and Babes At The Table too. I have a radio show coming up for Beyond Reality radio, and got to chat with my local DJs here in the Twin Cities at KFAI! I’ve gotten to and am getting to talk to so many really wonderful people about this topic of the intersection of queerness and tarot that I care so deeply about. This whole project has been such a blessing.

A lot of readers and friends from all over the world have been asking me how they can support this project (and me overall), so below is a quick list of things that any new author needs—including me!

• Put me on or in your blog/magazine article series/podcast/etc. I am totally open to interviews and have a flexible enough schedule right now to accommodate most interview requests. Hook me up with editors if you’re not the person in power.

• Ask your local bookstore if they have my book. Even if you already have a copy, the more requests they get, the more likely they are to order it. If it’s sitting in bookstores, people are obviously more likely to see and buy it.

• Review the book on Amazon and Goodreads! This helps my publisher market my book and bumps me in visibility.

• Publish pics of the book or you reading the book on social media. You never know who will see it and want their own copy.

That’s it! It’s so easy to help me spread the word and make this a successful project. If anything I listed makes you feel vulnerable or unsafe, I totally understand. Even telling a couple of close friends about the book means more people know that might grab it.

In the meantime, I’ll be back soooon. I really want to talk about my growing relationship with Rhiannon from Celtic myth as well as provide new tarot content for you to mull over. I’m very eager to dive back in I just still need to save my spoons for a few days. Hope you’re all doing well!

Blessed be.

Cassandra

My Book is Coming! My Book is Coming!

As you likely now by now if you’re here reading my blog, I have a book called Queering the Tarot coming out on May 1st from Weiser/Red Wheel Publishing and y’all I am so so excited! Yesterday a big box of books showed up at my apartment and look. how. cute.

This process has been so wonderful. I got to re-write my earlier columns which I was less proud of and explore the tarot as a whole—not just card by card. The final product is something I am truly excited about and proud of.

AND! The true reason for my post; it’s on hella sale on Amazon and a few other places. Pre-orders help new authors SO much. It’s what will convince Weiser to bring me back for more books and it certainly helps my always-struggling bottom line in the meantime. Grab your copy for chhheeeeaaaap right here.

I’ll have another post soon detailing my book events and the radio shows you can catch me on, plus my regular tarot and witch content is (hopefully!) coming back this April.

In the meantime, Blessed Be Y’all!

Cassandra

Why I Write and Teach About Sex & Tarot + Get a FREE Copy of My Upcoming E-Zine/Workbook

The first lesbian I ever saw on TV was Genesis from MTV’s Real World: Boston.

I was roughly “third or fourth grade” years old, and I remember staring at her and realizing for the first time that anyone could be gay. I had the good luck to not be brought up in a homophobic household. All of my parents listened to Melissa Etheridge and the Indigo Girls and I knew that they were lesbians. I don’t think I really knew or understood what that meant though until I saw Genesis. She talked openly about her relationships with women, the occasional bout of sexual fluidity, and she was so different than the other lesbians I had seen. I’d known I liked girls from around that age, but for some reason the amalgam of watching Genesis every week and crushing on my childhood friends allowed me to figure out who I was VERY early in life.

I still didn’t come out of the closet until I was in my 20s though. I had been sexually assaulted multiple times, and had this weird irrational fear that if people knew about that AND knew about my sexual identity, they would think they were linked. Furthermore, I primarily lived in the Bible Belt and while my experiences with church were mostly positive, I knew that being gay was not okay. I knew too, from watching too many people I knew and loved get assaulted that little if any care would be given to me in a time when I desperately needed some healing and empathy.

All of this is on top of a few sexual run ins with boys, and later, men that weren’t terrible only led me to a big pile of confusion about who I was AND even more confusion about what sex was or wasn’t. When I started using tarot in Freshman year of college to come to terms with my assaults and come into my own as a human, I knew that my relationships with sex and with tarot would be forever connected.

Fast forward to my 30s.

I’ve had a lot of therapy, but I also have a terrifying and painful sexual dysfunction. My clients are constantly getting terrible messages from a sexphobic world that also idealizes sex and it’s all very confusing. Everyone I know has sexual hang-ups and only a handful of people that I know are consistently and regularly having the sex that they deserve. This might be because of confidence, those societal messages, sexual dysfunction, not knowing who they are, not knowing their own body, or a hundred other reasons.

Yet I’ve had really great sex. I’ve had partners who treated me like royalty and strangers who made me go wild for one night only. So in spite of the myriad of reasons listed above, I know that sex is and can be absolutely stunning and worthwhile. I’m not qualified to be a sex therapist or a gynecologist. I don’t want to be, quite frankly.

What I do know and have always known though, is all of the beautiful and strength-supplying ways tarot can be used as a tool for ownership and transformation. That is why I write and teach about Sex & Tarot: because I want everyone to be able to use this powerful and accessible tool to have better sex. As I develop a new workbook and/or e-zine on the topic of Sex & Tarot I am super interested in what you need and want to know from the cards. I’m obviously including some Tarot 101 info on how and where to even find sex, healing, and fun in the tarot, but I want to help you even more!

That’s where you come in!

Anyone who takes time to answer the question:

“What would you want to learn about in an e-zine or workbook about Sex & Tarot”

will get a FREE copy of it when I’m done! No strings attached, seeking your input only. (Though, if you wanted to @ me on the various social media platforms and tell the world how much you love the workbook once you have it, that’d be amazing.)

How can you offer your input? EASY! Comments are on on this blog, so that’s probably the easiest/quickest way. If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram there are posts up looking for input there too. Finally, if you want to be anonymous but ensure you get a copy of the finished product, e-mailing snow.cassandra@gmail.com is the way to go.

In the meantime,

Blessed Be and Happy Tarot-Ing.

Cassandra Snow

Queering The Tarot: IRL Workshop

I'm so excited, y'all! On June 19th from 12-2:30 P.M. I am doing my "Queering the Tarot" workshop AND I'm doing it at my steady tarot gig, Eye of Horus. While I've done this workshop several times, I'm so pumped to be doing it in such a renowned environment that I love so much. If you're interested, here are the deets:

"This is a beginner-to-intermediate tarot workshop about reading for LGBTQQIAP+ querents (or as an LGBTQQIAP+ person.) The workshop examines how card interpretations and applications are different for queer seekers and encourages participants to think critically about how life circumstances, spirituality, and the institutions of our society that are present in the tarot are challenged by and challenging to people who are not both straight and cisgender. The workshop is part lecture, but also requires participation and critical thought among attendees. Queering the Tarot welcomes readers at all levels, but experience or basic knowledge of the cards provides a stronger platform for challenging tarot standards. "Queer" in this class is body and sex-positive, poly-inclusive, embraces non-binary identities and thinking, and is anti-patriarchy, and as such addresses the tarot's guidance on these ideas. Allies and queer tarot lovers alike are encouraged to come learn an alternative approach to tarot. Participants should bring a tarot deck they feel comfortable with, paper and pen/pencil, and an open mind."

Facebook event is here, and You can sign up here! Unfortunately, this class is only for people who live or can get to Minneapolis, MN. While traveling with this workshop or doing a telecast/webcast are dreams of mine, this one is in person, in Minneapolis.

Until next time,

Blessed be.

12 Totally Legit Reasons My Blog is Slow To Start

Hey all! I am so excited about this website and having a tarot/personal blog to go with my business. Already I've met so many awesome people who just Googled me or whatever, and I'm so pumped to see that grow! That being said, my high hopes for tarot, business, queer, and personal posts is clearly off to a crawl. Here's my list of excuses!

1. Stomach virus! Two days off work meant one million hours of catch up.

2. My other writing gigs. I love, love, love them and clearly work better on a deadline :/

3. My super rad theatre company needed me to make some hefty leadership decisions and I'm curating a three-day festival that took a couple days to get ahead on.

4. An influx of beautiful, wonderful clients.

5. Dog-sitting has me up and down at weird hours.

6. I'm dog-sitting. They have CABLE and a JACUZZI you guys.

7. Depression. Why lie?

8. I would say writer's block but the real reason is procrastination. I have TONS of ideas.

9. Mercury Retrograde.

10. I'm truly, very upset by the U.S. GOP Presidential race. Like "need to cover up with a blanket and hide forever" upset.

11. I forgot my password.

12. Fear of success. Or failure. Or both.

SO there you have it--12 extremely legitimate reasons why I haven't blogged since Christmas, and the actually useful info that I'm back now. Let me know if there's anything you want me to cover, queer tarot witch wise or just in general. 

Blessed be, and thanks for your patience as I get used to even having this thing.

Queering the Tarot--So Far

Photo by Melissa Hesse Photography

Welcome back! My eventual goal is to repost all of my Queering the Tarot series here, but I did want to go ahead and start by at least linking to them. First runs can be seen here, at thecolu.mn , and I highly encourage you to check out Little Red Tarot, one of my favorite websites in the whole world, where I am blessed enough to see my articles reprinted.

Enjoy! Blessed be.