Tarot Secrets of American Romanticism, Smut, and Occultism

We are so thrilled to be talking with Thea Wirsching today about her work The American Renaissance Tarot. Thea takes us through her journey of conception and creation and shares how she wants this tarot deck to help us "enchant our sense of the American past".

Find Thea online at theplutobabe.com americanrenaissancetarot.com and one Instagram at @the_pluto_babe and @americantarot

Head over to What The Smut to take a look at all of the cards we discuss today. 

Thea sees its deck somewhat like Our Tarot: A Guidebook and Deck Featuring Notable Women in History as the cards can be reviewed and absorbed one at a time to learn about the American Renaissance period, the literature, and the occultism. Thea and the deck are a treasure-trove of knowledge and we started out by talking about the role of women by discussing Victoria Woodhull who was a free lover and presidential candidate. Miss Woodhall was jailed for publishing the truth of Henry Ward Beecher's (represented on The Pope Card) extramarital affair because it was deemed pornographic.

We discussed Elizabeth Stoddard (on the Queen of Wands) and her novel The Morgesons (the 6 of wands) in contrast with Harriot Beecher Stowe (the Queen of Cups) and Susan Warner. Check out Theas blog 19th-century goth for even more about Stoddard. We also talked about Margaret Fuller's (the Empress Card) fall from grace, Emily Dickenson's (High Priestess) secret life, and the movie Wild Nights with Emily as discussed on the podcast Dyking Out.

Switching gears we talked about Herman Melville and the sperm squeezing in Moby Dick (Four of Wand) and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Paschal Beverly Randolph's (Lover card) contributions to occultism in contrast to the Fox sisters (The moon card). Thea turns us on to complex marriage with John Humphrey Noyes and his feminist sex-positive commune at the Oneida house. Continuing in the commune theme we discussed The Blithedale Romance (Three of Cups) by Nathanial Hawthorn and finished up with incomparable Walt Whitman (The World Card) and Leaves of Grass.