Esoteric practices and Tarot-Cards specifically are widely popular among people who identify as leftist and/or queer-feminist. This might seem surprising at first glance, there being a long tradition of crititque of superstition and esoterics in leftist theory, starting with the enlightment and continuing for example in Adornos "The Stars down to Earth" where occultism is linked to fascism and antisemitism. Yet in the wake of 1968 esoteric practices have played a huge role in the counterculture movements and some of them have linked themselves explicitly to the project of an emancipatory Tarot, either by questioning the Tarots assumptions of gender-roles, changing the imagery or including Tarot reading into radical practice. We want to trace back this history and discuss virtues and pitfalls of these approaches. Most of all we want to hear your arguments and intuitions about Tarot in an emancipatory context. We'll also bring some examples from our collection of tarot decks to peruse. Actual Tarot reading might occur but is not really the subject of this session. max 10 Participants
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