Let’s Make It Different
Based on a true story, this is the semi-serious account of a New Year's Eve evening that seemed like many others, but then... something changed.
Image by Racool_studio on Freepik
It was a stormy night, with pouring rain, one of those evenings when my partner and I would have much preferred a glass of wine in front of the fireplace (with a blanket attached), rather than going out to celebrate the start of the new year, in the middle of a city that never sleeps. The problem was that we also had no desire to sleep, on the longest and most festive night of the year. Our common thought? Doing something different from the world around us, despite having absolutely no idea what we could enjoy, all night long. I looked at any social network and scrolled aimlessly, but at a certain point, I came across one of the many fortune-telling videos on YouTube (the ones that predict the future), and... idea! I opened one of my drawers, took out a deck of Tarot cards, and suggested to him: let's play! He asked me, perplexed, “What are those?” and then I smiled, starting to tell a story with a… surprise ending.
The Tarot is the oldest deck of playing cards in the world, made up of 78 cards (22 major arcana, also called trumps, and 56 cards of the four Italian suits of cups, coins, wands, and swords, also called minor arcana). Their ancient origin is shrouded in mystery, but it seems to date back to the 15th century in northern Italy. However, there are those who say that they could have their origins in France, in the Marseille area, due to a tarot deck called Marseillaise having suits of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades, perhaps even better known than the Italian ones. They are numbered and finely decorated cards: some of the 56 represent court figures for each suit (kings, queens, knights, and jacks), but the real masterpiece often lies in the 22 trumps, which are illustrated with human, animal, and mythological figures; these represent allegorical scenes of life, rich in symbols that are still studied by esoteric enthusiasts or art history experts. Tarot cards are a real jumble of mysterious, curious meanings with a profound psychological impact on those who handle them. The great playwright, writer, and director Alejandro Jodorowsky made it a real tool for working and even caring for others, in his creative and existential philosophy.
After their maximum diffusion throughout Europe (even as far as Russia) starting from 1730, they began to be used not only as a "catch" game but also as a means of divination in noble courts. And this is how they came to us, to our contemporary curiosity and finally to the most current technologies (such as social networks). At the end of the 19th century, these cards became associated with the Kabbalah and other traditions of mystical thought, especially by the French freemason Antoine Court de Gébelin, Eliphas Lévi, the occultist Papus, and the Swiss Wirth. In 1900, the English esoteric tradition also dealt with it, through the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In the midst of the Gothic era, thanks to the new illustrations developed by Pamela Colman Smith following indications from the Christian occultist Waite, the Tarot became the greatest tool for tracing subconscious meanings, predicting the future, and describing peculiarities of a person's character. The deck is now known by the name of Rider-Waite, but from then on, other mystical scholars (such as Aleister Crowley, for example) have attempted numerous reinterpretations and illustrated variants. This game has been so successful that today we also find artist cards, considered true mini-masterpieces: from the deck designed by Salvador Dalí to Jodorowsky; from Emanuele Luzzati to the Tarot of Dario Fo, painted by his son Jacopo; from Elisa Seitzinger to the most recent gender equality by Vindur Deck. Then there are almost camp, kawaii, and erotic versions, like that of the famous Italian illustrator of sensuality Milo Manara.
The Tuan – De Luca sexual magic Tarot, photo by Denise Massone, January 2024
At this point, my story is interrupted by a question: “Nice, but what's so funny about it? And how do you play with two?" Here are the questions I couldn't wait to answer! I took my sexual magic Tarot deck by Tuan – De Luca out of the drawer and showed them to him. Cards that depict the primitive energy that is within all of us, the sexual energy, the creative energy that can be warm but also very curious or even scary. Combining such an ancient history with our contemporary life can be extremely mysterious and fun.
Now we lead the game: I asked him a question that teased him, while I shuffled the cards. I drew at least three from the deck, and I already felt that the complicity between us was established. It's like an instinctive current that flows without interruption, looking at the images together. I asked those in front of me now to formulate sentences, anything that might come to mind, while looking at the revealed cards. As if by magic, unknown images were released, gradually deeper, which concerned his most hidden fantasies. For my part, I participated with the thoughts I observed in myself. And together we truly discovered something different within ourselves, something that differentiated us and united us at the same time. The desire for intimate, powerful, and tender actions that we didn't know we had, the words we didn't know we could pronounce immerse us in a game full of shapes and colors, the same ones painted on the cards but which are already inside us. And everything merges into an even more intimate and important mystery, positive for those who experience it, to be put into practice in reality, which makes you discover and smile.
Image by freepic.diller on Freepik
Using the game of Tarot to manipulate energies of passion, instinct, and desire becomes a real form of expression of oneself, of a couple, or of a social group. So much so that the World Health Organization has officially recognized sexuality as a central aspect of human life. This is the current of thought called Sex Positivity, which also includes erotic playing cards. “Tarological readings can reveal what the psyche has not consciously expressed,” explain Tigrotto and Ligorio, creators of a deck of artistic cards as an artivist and tarologist. And this effect is enhanced when the reading is done by two people, as in the case of our New Year's Eve game.
With the desire to do something original, on a particular night, we explored live values such as communication and listening to others, feelings and sensations within ourselves and our sensual, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. We have implemented actions of non-judgment, consent, pleasure, and awareness, all through the game of erotic Tarot. So, let's make it different! We play, we laugh, we reflect with awareness, and we take pleasure in being in harmony with each other, with respect and complicity...After all, if we think about it carefully: there is nothing more serious than gaming!
