Erotic Playing Cards, Street Finds & Beauty!

I mean, who doesn’t like boobs hey?!...

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I have a thing about cards. Whether it be those playing cards that are most familiar to me growing up from seeing my parents playing bridge with their friends on a weekly basis, which I instantly deemed as boring; to the ones whereby my brother and I used to play the ‘scrapes and raps’ game with, which really was just seeing how much we could impart pain and bloody knuckles on to each other (sibling love hey?!). Back when I had a TV set, I used to stay up very late to watch the World Poker championship religiously, (I love Poker), rooting for the player I most resonated with, which one year included an ex-Buddhist dude. In a rather bizarre series of events, a few months later I met him in a bonkers way at a festival where we ended up snogging as part of a game (don’t ask!). Imagine my surprise to discover, as we pulled away from each other post snog, that it was him, the man whom I’d been cheering on through the small square of my television screen alone in my room at 3am!! Talk about a wild (card) coincidence hey!?

And then there’s Tarot cards. And those Angel Cards. Who can forget the 90s knowing that if you had an Oracle pack by Doreen Virtue, you were in good hands!? That’s until they seemed a bit twee for me, and then I also heard that Doreen had renounced her involvement in the belief of Angel cards for in 2017 she rejected her New Age spiritual beliefs and became a born-again Christian. Go figure!

I’ve always had a fascination with Tarot, and have over the years collected many a pack, done readings for myself and my friends, until finally taking a year-long training with an incredible teacher. Now I use Tarot daily as a ritual tool to access something deeper than ole father time and his logical linear landscape. I also offer readings to clients too, whether for a specific issue, or as part of their creative coaching sessions.

The use of playing cards for divination, known as Cartomancy, has references dating back possibly as far as the 1400’s, and was certainly quite widespread by the mid-1700s. While the use of playing cards for fortune telling may seem like a bit of a leap, it was actually quite a natural step to make. Throughout human history nearly anything that had an element of repeatable randomness, from dice to butchered animals, was used for fortune telling! Playing cards would have been quite natural for this purpose as not only are they random, but the various numbers, suits, and face cards would make it easy to assign clear and symbolic meanings to each card.

In more modern times, scholars and educators such as Carl Jung, would fully and openly adopt the use of the symbology on cards as part of their understanding of human nature, archetypes and the hidden parts of our psyche. When I trained as an art therapist, it was the dream imagery, the playing out in these imaginal realms, and the power of a crayon and its scribblings that deepened my fascination and respect for parts of who we are that is impossible to fathom without art and images. It’s innate in us from the moment we are born, and it’s part of what makes us these complicated, multi-layered, human creatures.

Indeed, I view the Tarot cards as simply the act, art, and arc, of storytelling for us human beings. And who doesn’t love a good story?! Telling tales is one of the oldest art forms there is, and one that is still a necessity for making sense of the known and unknown aspects of this thing called life.

For many years now I have taken great delight in collecting playing cards that I find on the streets. I cannot recall why or when this particular ritual took hold, but each and every time I come across one, or two or a whole goddamn deck, that I can only assume was tossed into the air with the frustration of the loser on that day, perhaps a decision that they reflected upon and regretted later on that evening, my soul does a little dance of sheer delight and I feel that all is well with the world. It’s like a personal wink from spirit. Just for me.

Vietnam was like the Vegas of playing card street finds. It was like I’d hit the jackpot and was on a winning streak. Nearly every place we went I found street cards, sometimes, actually rather often now I think about it, a whole smorgasbord of cards laying strewn on the streets just waiting for me. I couldn’t be too greedy I had to tell myself a few times let me tell you!!

And then there’s the erotic playing cards!

I first came across those saucy 70s playing cards about 10 years ago. Twas a rather marvellous evening of Tantric delights. An intimacy and a birthday gift from my then partner. A dalliance of three. Oh my, I felt very grown up, and oh so bohemian, frolicking around my city centre flat all day and evening. Yes. It was a whole day of pleasure and possibility, sprinkled of course with my shyness, awkwardness and the reclaiming of an innocence that feels such an imperative part of that whole erotic world.

At one point in the evening, satiated by pizza and tea, half-clothed, we decided to play a game of cards. The game I cannot recall. But the cards I can. They were of naked women, boobs mainly, photographed in that soft Vaseline smeared way that only the 70’s could think was sexy! I loved them. Playboy in pocket size!

Last year, talking about these sensual playing cards with my beloved, we went searching Etsy and Ebay (and the internet web in general), in order to purchase a pack. Imagine my surprise and disappointment to find that a) there aren’t many out there, and b) they’re bloody pricey. For some nude pics of soft-core women, that’s a little more than I feel that they deserve!

Down in Brighton last summer my heart leapt to find a pack in a store on one of the famous alleys known as The Lanes. Kitsch meets hippiness meets consumer tourist tat! Good fun though!

With change from a tenner, and now sat in a pub waiting for friends to arrive before going to watch the phenomenal visual and storytelling experience that is Oppenheimer, I ripped off the plastic cover only to discover perhaps the most laughable, lacklustre and profoundly unsexy imagery on said cards. Seriously, these cards were less stimulating and titillating than boring and staid. They certainly were ‘not in the mood’ and the setting suggested that they weren’t creating these scenes and moves with any passion nor budget! The Kamasutra need not worry that’s for sure!!

Disappointing. Again!

So, back to Asia, this time specifically Thonglor in Bangkok, which is where we spent the last few weeks of our trip. We chose Thonglor as it was described as an area of culture, hipness, and where artists and creatives hung out. It’s pretty much two long roads with many side streets where, if you were to explore with curiosity, you’d discover all manner of squeal inducing wonders. One such wonder was this industrial looking space, with large ceilings, housing a vintage clothing market. Browsing said store, imagine my delight upon stumbling upon a large, framed piece of arty and erotic playing card art magnificence! If I wasn’t thousands of miles away from home, with a backpack not designed to carry such a mahoosive piece of art, I would have purchased this on the spot. Alas, that’s not possible so instead I took many photos ~ I’ll just delight in this visual feast instead!

I’ve always loved erotica. Bodies and flesh and curves and boobs and the slightly naughty sense of voyeurism that I admit to making me blush! I particularly enjoy illustrated erotic art, pen and ink, pieces that wouldn’t look at all out of place as a tattoo.

And there’s something about these images on cards. Pocket sized. Reminding me of those Victorian-esque slides that one had to view through a device. Closing one eye. Leaning in close. Acceptable, though risqué, peepholes of high culture and at times profane cheekiness. Basically, the epitome of those freakily sexually tense Victorian times in a nutshell!

We are erotic beings. We are meant to be turned on. To enjoy pleasure. To take delight in beauty. And what’s more beautiful that the body?

**Just a note here to say that I don’t like the more explicit of these cards or images. The ones that have graphic images on them of penetration and the kind of porn that, excuse the pun, makes me gag. In fact, these are a complete turn off for me.

But the ones that sit on that edge. That scintillate and titillate are the bees’ knees!

In the past, playing cards were seen as sinful, whether they were associated with gambling, divination or merely idle frivolity. I guess this makes sense when seen in the context of the religious fervour of the time. Indeed, many of the earliest mentions of these seemingly innocent cards in European history come from bans on them! In 1890, Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer published a book on the history of playing cards called The Devil’s Picture-Books, after a Puritan name for cards. According to one anecdote in the book, Columbus’s sailors brought decks of cards with them on their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, but threw them overboard out of superstitious fear during bad weather. After the ships landed safely, the crew made themselves new cards out of tree leaves. Later, even the Puritans approved of some card games if they had educational themes. Seeing playing cards as a sin doesn’t eliminate their appeal. In some cases, it may even contribute.

Then there’s the fact that during WWII, when men from the Navy and Armed Forces went abroad, there was a trend for images of girls dressing seductively for their men to ‘pin up’ and gaze at during months away from home. This gave way to a rise in popularity of the genre of pin-up posters. Stills of the erotic. Positively, these can be viewed as expressions of femininity and beauty. Conversely, these can be seen as simply smut and purposely subordinate women as objects and are therefore distasteful.

And here goes the continuous debate around women and their bodies and expressions of desire and sensuality and for whose gaze is that for?! In a world whereby how many social media followers do you have, content that’s heavily filtered, the need to be seen, and the rise of OnlyFans as a means for women to feel empowered through selling their bodies akin to the peephole slide images of over a decade ago, it’s still not a black and white issue.

As long as there’s a demand, there will be a supply. And I for one cannot imagine a world where the demand and desire for female imagery that’s erotic and seductive is not there. I mean, we only need to look to advertising for this. It’s the number one means of grabbing one’s attention. Sex sells. Since time began. And so, it will continue I’m guessing until our time runs out!!

I mean, at the end of the day, whatever we choose to do with our bodies, whether we sell them for money, we expose them as art, we flirt with them as part of our marketing strategy, we show them off in a confidence of our inner power, that choice remains ours. Ours and ours alone!

Finally, to bring these musings to a close, what finer thing is there than playing a game that’s geeky and nerdy and old, alone or with others, whilst enjoying the beauty of the female form whilst you’re at it!! I mean, come on!!!

Btw, I’m still seeking the perfect pack of erotic playing cards. Just sayin’! 😉

The Power Keys is my new program that helps you to find this place of no more waiting. Of belief. Of being ready and willing to turn towards tending to what’s important, what’s vital. It’s about how to turn away from the outside chatter and to turn towards the heat of your own heart. Ultimately, it’s about intimacy. And that’s a whole lot of wonderment to live by!

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