You’re a wonderful bunch, you know that?

I’ve put aside this week to go through your survey answers and put together a real solid plan for the coming year – my aim is to ensure that Little Red Tarot brings you the things you’re asking for!

That’s gonna take me a while, of course.

In the meantime, here’s a quick peek at just a few of the quantifiable things you told me…

Identities

When I put together a short list of ‘labels’ or identities that you may or may not identify with, I was well aware that it wasn’t comprehensive and more than a few of you asked for an ‘other’ box where you could explain the unique ways you identify. I will definitely include this next year! My intention here was to get some actual numbers behind the marginal identities I see most commonly used around here.

A huge 63% of you say that you struggle with your mental health. This feels like such an important thing to know. 20% of you have a chronic illness and 12% have a disability.

More than half (55%) of you identify as queer, with 39% bisexual and 22% lesbian/gay.

17% identify as non-binary and 9% as trans.

13% of you define define yourself as a person of colour (3% as Black).

What is the use of this information? For starters it makes me, as the facilitator of this website, more accountable to all of you. It keeps my assumptions (the kind where you forget that people are different to yourself and have different experiences and perspectives) in check, it encourages me to check my privilege and my language, and to keep on seeking out writers who inhabit other margins, who have other perspectives.

When I first started Little Red Tarot, it was a personal blog. I was writing away to no-one in particular, reflecting on cards through the filter of a queer, cis, white, able-bodied person. As it’s grown, it has become so clear that community spaces that welcome and speak to other marginalised folks are wanted and needed. Getting this info as quantifiable data only tells a tiny part of the story, but it’s an important tiny part to know.

You + tarot

Here’s what you said about how you use your cards:

This is more or less what I was expecting but again, it’s useful to know. For example, nearly a third of you have just started learning tarot! Woohoo! That tells me I need to make sure that there are plenty of ‘beginner’ kind of resources on the blog. By the same token, I now know that 71% of you aren’t beginners (and 21% are old hands at this tarot thing) reaffirming the importance of writing that pushes boundaries and brings new perspectives to cards we may feel we know well.

I love it that 26% of us (yeah, I did the survey too!) use tarot to connect with our friends. I’d love to see more tips and ideas and stories of tarot friendships (and fallouts, if I ever find the nerve to share my own story…) – shout if you’d like to contribute in this field!

9% of you make some or all of your living through tarot – and from another question I know that a third of you are interested in the topic of ‘professional tarot’. I am too. I’m super interested in exploring alternative approaches to business – my own journey has been so different to the ‘solopreneur’ blogs I’m almost tired of devouring – and am considering a series and/or a service that helps others find their own ways of working.

45% of you ‘wished you knew more about reading your cards’. To those people (and again, I include myself) I dedicate this whole blog. I want to make this the most enjoyable, safe, welcoming, diverse, boundary-pushing, experimental and right-on space for all of us to learn together. It’s the number 1 thing I want Little Red Tarot to be.

(Want to help make that happen? Stay tuned. I’ll be putting out a call for submissions before the end of this year, seeking new contributors to cover the topics I know readers want to read about.)

Metaphorical picture illustrating how building a house is pretty much the same as building an online haven for rad tarot folks (erm, almost).

What you want to see on the blog

Until I go through all of the written comments, I can’t tell you what folks really want to hear about, but a quick look at the ‘likes’ for the topics I suggested tells us that far and away the favourite blog subject was explorations of individual cards. That’s so awesome and helpful and useful to know! (Of course, you told me this same thing last year and I promised a weekly card post…then life went awry and I lost my grip – oops!) But yes – one thing you can expect to see much more of on Little Red Tarot will be in-depth explorations of tarot cards. Tarot blogging at its simplest and most useful – and of course my favourite topic.

Other favourite blog topics included personal posts (70% want to see more of this) and perspectives and approaches beyond white/western (70% again). Rituals, spells and magic also scored high, at 67%. Watch this space, folks!

Meanwhile, a whopping 88% of you are happy with the decision to bring Andi and Siobhan on board as guest columnists – phew! Opening up this blog beyond the one-off guest writers earlier this year felt like a huge decision, but it’s one I’ve felt more and more confident in as time has gone on. Andi and Siobhan bring so much to this blog – as does Tango, who is editing and curating and doing all kinds of things behind the scenes – and I’m excited about opening things up still further in 2017.

The most important question of all: Do you have a cat?

The nos have it – at 51%. But I reckon for every ten people who answered no, one added a comment letting me know about their allergies, their landlord, or their other reasons they can’t have a cat even though they would dearly love one.

In conclusion: expect more cat pictures.

Starting now! This is Gus:

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