I have a tarot question I think is in your wheelhouse (apologies if I'm mistaken). I've been trying to brainstorm Major Arcana associations with aspects of kink to help broaden the scope of my readings. Some are pretty intuitive (Hanged Man for bondage/suspension, for example), but I'd love some of your insights if you have any.
I think you could very easily associate some surface level kinks with them - Hierophant with religious kinks, Empress as Domme, Emperor as Dom - but that one, makes death a very...tricky card, and two, just doesn't feel right to me as someone who goes to the Major Arcana as sources of wisdom, as transformational knowledge.
So with that in mind, here's my thoughts on some of them (I don't have strong feelings on some):
The Magician - the ultimate switch, the dabbler, the hedonist, the master of altered states, the person who is not in it for a particular experience but for all of them. The High Priestess - hypnosis, the queen of the deepest recesses of her own and other's minds, after more than just the subconscious but kink as a window into supraconsciousness as well The Hierophant - group sex, kink as ritual, as connection with the material, the present moment, a way into mundane experiences instead of a release from them, taking a private aspect of life and sharing it with like minds The Chariot - the pursuer, the desirer, the forward step when dancing, the lead, the person to make the first move; though I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the obvious car sex connection Strength - this is actually the one I'd most connect with bondage personally, who can truly know their strength until it is restricted? If you can do something do something, but if you can't what are you going to do? Physical powerlessness as portal to mental resilience The Hermit - solo sex, the self as a whole sexual experience, self pleasure as defiant and deviant, as a counter to the idea that sex exists for us to form connections with others but can be a whole and complete experience while solitary
Justice - edgeplay, the intensity of going right up to a limit, where does a right cross the line to a wrong and what does it mean to be held right at that point? The clarity of something sharp. Hanged One - submission; surrender, subservience, turning the self over to something or someone else, the prerequisite to the unmaking of the Death card, the choice of it Tower - kinks around privilege, kinks that include role reversal or shine a light on the constructed nature of gendered (and other) expectations around sex, the ego is a story we tell ourselves The Moon - CNC, somno, anything that allows repressed or "distasteful" desires to come to the surface, There's something here around the idea of having privacy with another person's body present ad what that opportunity presents Those are just some of my thoughts at the moment. This is an interesting concept. Makes me curious about the possibility of exploring it in a zine form somehow. I appreciate the question!
I would say that Death would represent Orgasm, or at least a specific kind of orgasm. At least for me. I've got the connection from the French "la petit mort" that is referring to a kids of consciousness post orgasm. And also, some people don't have orgasms for years of having sex and that can be a transformative and healing experience to finally have one.
I really like this read on it! I think that's better than the one I gave in the comments.
