queer + trans tarot 🌈 cards for the hard times
in my last post, i talked about supportive cards for the transgender experience – cards that show up as support when you’re clueless about what to do next, cards that want to help you honor your place in the legacy of queer people – and in this post, we’re going to talk about more of these cards. 💫 specifically, though, we’re going to look at the cards that show up for us when everything sucks and hurts and we don’t know what to do. 💛 this is, in my experience, what tarot is particularly good at: comforting us, holding us, and helping us through the bad times. this time, i won’t be listing the card first but instead will lead the problem the cards listed can help with 💫
🌈 oppression + marginalization
knight of wands, iv the emperor
it’s no surprise that both of the cards that come through for this topic are connected to aries, or Ares. 💫 this archetype is another often-misunderstood energy; it’s not about power and dominance but rightness and fairness. these cards show up as supportive energies that can hold you through experiences of oppression and marginalization.
knight of wands: this card is a helpful reminder that you can always fight for what you know is right. 💛 it’s an active, urgent energy, and it’s particularly useful to call on when you absolutely must take action, no matter how scared you are.
iv the emperor: this card, in contrast to the knight of wands, isn’t so much about what you do as it is about how you show up. 💛 this energy is the spread of the base of the mountain or a baby’s first cry – they’re not worried about taking up too much space or being in the way, they assert their needs and unashamedly take up the space that belongs to them. this is a gorgeous card to draw on whenever you feel like you don’t have the right to take up the space that belongs to you.
it can be hard as hell to be part of a community with so many needs and different levels of engagement, especially when the group starts to turn on itself. this is a commonly referenced problem within the queer community – the tendency to bite our own tail and call it activism. these cards are particularly helpful for recentering in the midst of infighting.
v of swords: this card can show up when you’re hurt, or when you’re the one doing the hurting. that’s the magic of tarot; it doesn’t just coddle you, but it also takes you to task and asks you to look at your own responsibilities. 💫 this card in particular asks you to look at ways that you’re contributing to the dynamic, and how you can healthily withdraw and make amends if necessary.
v of wands: this card speaks to the tendency to fight the nearest demon instead of picking the right battles. 💛 it’s well-established that we don’t lash out at the problem all the time; sometimes we lash out at the safe person, the one who will still try to help us, because it’s easier than fighting the unmoveable rock. this card shows up to remind you that the cause of this lashing out is suffering, and that it’s not personal to you.
iii of swords, v of cups, ix of swords
these problems and cards aren’t unique to the queer community, but it’s not hard to imagine why this topic would be extra urgent for queer and trans people. 💛 these cards are all ways to help us honor our needs and take care of ourselves.
iii of swords: this card scares a lot of people, and i think it’s because we don’t like to acknowledge hurt in our larger culture. grief hurts. it leaves indelible scars. but you can learn to work with it, to move without jarring those swords left inside your heart, and this card is a wonderful ally in acknowledging that your grief is real and you’re not wrong for feeling hurt.
v of cups: this card is a great representation of what happens when we lose parts of things: when our bio-family casts us out, but our chosen family has our backs; when one parent turns away from us, while the other comes closer; when the people you thought cared for you don’t, and the ones you were concerned about show up. 💛 it can be easy to get so mired in the details of the pain that we forget what’s left, and what’s left is usually what’s most important. this card invites you to feel your grief and then embrace what you still have.
ix of swords: this card tends to show up for me when everything’s already at its worst. it’s not telling me that something bad is going to happen; it’s reminding me that the cool thing about the dark night of the soul is that it, too, will eventually pass. 💛 this card asks you to take care of yourself in the bad times so that you can be here for the good ones.
🌈 burnout + caretaker/activist fatigue
x of wands, iv of swords, ix of wands
one of the beautiful + difficult things about being in a community is that we often take on much more care work than we normally would. it requires that we provide additional layers of support that aren’t typical of the majority of our cishet counterparts, and that we are constantly on alert for the needs of others. these cards are particularly helpful in reminding you to take care of yourself and offer ways to lighten the load 💛
x of wands: this card calls on you to hand off some of your caretaking and activism to those who can do it. it often shows up when we’re convinced we’re alone and the only ones capable – there’s always more support than you know, whether that’s handing off a task to a trusted ally, sharing your thoughts with a therapist, or having your bestie help out with a care task.
iv of swords: this card invites you to rest, recuperate, and recharge, even when it feels like you aren’t allowed to. you might not have access to a week-long vacation away from all your responsibilities, but can you hide in the bathroom at work for thirty seconds and just breathe?
ix of wands: this card is like the energy of a wounded lioness taking a moment to lick her wounds before she resumes her trek. i like this card as a contrast to the iv of swords because it reminds us that our pause doesn’t have to last forever, but it’s just as important that we take a second to reorient as it is that we continue forward. 💛
