This deck talks frankly about sex and desire. It is written for adults.
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56 cards for the willing heart
The Rites of Desire
A Lovers’ Oracle of Spells & Castings
Twelve Mysteries drawn from the sex magic traditions, twenty Spells to cast or read aloud, and four suits for lust, intimacy, mind and body. Choose your cards and read what they say about what you want.
Hold it in mind while you choose your cards.
How to read the deck
Five short steps. Tap one to open it. Start at the top if you are new.
All 56 cards
Tap a card to read its meaning, its shadow and its rite. Every Spell card has a short verse to read aloud. Each suit has three quick spells of its own.
Where the deck comes from
Sex magic is the idea that arousal and climax are a kind of power, and that the power can be aimed at something. The deck borrows its Mysteries from six traditions. These are spiritual beliefs. Nothing here is proven to work, and the readings are for reflection and fun.
Paschal Beverly Randolph
An American occultist (1825 to 1875) who called himself a Rosicrucian and wrote openly about sex and spirit at a time when almost nobody did. He believed sex practiced with intention could bring health, love and more power for women, and he passed his methods around in private manuscripts such as The Mysteries of Eulis. The Spark, The Peak and The Afterglow come from him.
The Ordo Templi Orientis is a German-founded order whose innermost degrees teach sex magic. Aleister Crowley joined in 1912 and made it the center of his work for the rest of his life. His goddess Babalon, the Scarlet Woman, stands for desire with no shame attached. The Scarlet Woman and The Veil come from here.
Classical tantra is a complete spiritual system, and ritual sex (maithuna) is a small part of it that only some lineages practice, usually after years of preparation. The image of energy rising up the spine like a snake gives the deck The Serpent.
Chinese Taoists described three treasures: jing (essence), qi (energy) and shen (spirit). Sex done slowly and without rushing to finish was said to refine one into the next. Some of the old manuals treat a partner as fuel to draw from. This deck keeps the slowness and drops that part. The Three Treasures comes from here.
A London artist who published The Book of Pleasure in 1913. His method: write what you want, reduce the letters to one abstract symbol, charge it in a moment when the mind goes blank (orgasm is one such moment), then forget it. Chaos magicians still use it. The Sigil is his card.
In Wicca the union of Goddess and God is usually acted out with tools: a ritual blade lowered into a cup of wine. It echoes the hieros gamos, the sacred marriage of ancient Sumer and Greece. The Great Rite and The Sacred Marriage come from here.
Flames are fire and lust. Cups are water and intimacy. Blades are air: words, fantasy and limits. Roses are earth and the body. Each suit runs from I to VI, from the first stirring to the full expression. There are twenty Spells. Eight are full workings: a candle, a few words, and desire raised on purpose and pointed at a wish. Twelve are quick spells, three for each suit, that you read aloud when you want help with lust, closeness, words or your body. I wrote the verses for this deck. They are not taken from any old grimoire. They work on you and on what you both agree to. None of them is meant to bend someone else's will. A card that lands upside down is read in its shadow.
The deck in your hands
The printed edition: painted jumbo cards, a guidebook and a keepsake box. Drag the box to turn it.
Inside the box
56 painted cards, jumbo size, 3.5 × 5.5 in
12 Mysteries, 20 Spells, 24 suit cards
40-page guidebook with every meaning, shadow, rite and spell verse
3 reference cards: the spreads, the suit key, and how to read a whole spread
Why hold the cards
Shuffle them yourself and let one fall upside down.
Lay a spread on the bed, not on a screen.
Read the verses aloud by candlelight.
For adults 18 and over.
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