Tarot and Sex: What the Goddess of Love Tarot Deck Reveals About Sovereignty, Desire, and Sacred Energy
If you’ve ever wondered if tarot and sex connect, the answer is more layered than a simple yes or no. In this episode-inspired deep dive, I explore how sexuality shows up in tarot through history, symbolism, and spiritual practice - from Virgo’s roots and the idea of virginity, to the sovereign power of self-devotion, to sex magic as energy work.
This isn’t about being provocative for the sake of it, although I am a sex therapist, so don’t tempt me. It’s about understanding how tarot can help you think differently about desire, autonomy, pleasure, and sacred embodiment.
Whether you’re new to tarot or already reading for yourself, this guide will give you a richer way to interpret the cards and your own energy.
How Tarot and Sex Have Always Been Connected
When people think about tarot and sex, they often picture modern decks that lean into sensual imagery. But the connection goes much deeper than aesthetics. Tarot has long been shaped by religious symbolism, goddess traditions, fertility imagery, and ideas about the body as a site of spiritual power.
One of the clearest examples is the way Virgo and virginity have been historically misunderstood. In modern language, virginity usually refers to sexual inexperience. But historically, the word had more to do with sovereignty, dedication, and being unmarried than with physical purity. In this episode I point out that the ancient idea of a “holy virgin” often referred to priestesses who were devoted to a deity or temple, not necessarily to celibacy in the modern sense.
That matters because tarot often carries forward these older symbolic meanings. Instead of reading cards only through a moral or literal lens, you can read them as reflections of power, commitment, and energetic alignment.
This is one reason tarot remains such a flexible spiritual language. It absorbs myth, religion, psychology, and personal meaning all at once.
The deeper history behind “virgin”The transcript highlights a key historical thread: “virgin” originally signaled a woman who was not owned by a husband. In some traditions, holy women were called virgins because they belonged to the goddess, the temple, or the divine rather than to a man.
That’s a radically different framework from the way many people think about sexuality today.
It shifts the focus from “Have you had sex?” to “What do you belong to? What do you devote yourself to? Who defines your power?”
That same question shows up in tarot all the time. Many cards ask you whether you are acting from self-knowledge or from outside expectation. In that sense, tarot and sex both become questions of agency.
Why this matters for modern readers
If you’ve ever felt boxed in by rigid ideas about purity, morality, or what “counts” as sexuality, tarot can offer a corrective. It can remind you that desire is not automatically shameful, and that devotion doesn’t have to mean self-erasure.
Instead, tarot can help you ask:
What energy am I giving away?
What energy am I reclaiming?
Where is my power actually rooted?
That’s the kind of inquiry that makes tarot useful beyond prediction.
The Sovereign: Tarot’s Model for Erotic Autonomy
One of the strongest themes this episode comes from the Goddess of Love Tarot deck, where the Emperor is reimagined as the Sovereign. That shift is important. Instead of representing authority as domination or control, the Sovereign represents self-command, devotion, and internal power.
This is one of the most useful ways to understand the link between tarot and sex. Erotic energy does not have to mean performance or a relationship with someone else. It can mean an embodied relationship with yourself.
The Sovereign is someone who “internalizes her power and devotes it to something higher.”
That means sexuality is not being rejected - it is being reclaimed.
Desire becomes something you direct intentionally, not something that controls you.
Close-up visual of a tarot card labeled “The Sovereign” with regal, flame-like imagery
This is a powerful alternative to the usual cultural script, where sexuality is either policed or marketed.
Tarot offers a third path: conscious embodiment.
What sovereignty looks like in practice
The Sovereign card suggests that your erotic energy belongs to you first. That can look like:
Choosing when and how to share intimacy
Honoring your boundaries without guilt
Treating pleasure as a source of wisdom
Reclaiming your body as a place of meaning, not shame
In the deck’s language, the message is clear: “I am sovereign over my sexuality. I reclaim my erotic energy.” That’s not just a sexy affirmation - it’s a spiritual framework.
A useful question to ask yourself.
If you pulled a card like the Sovereign, you might ask:
Where am I acting from my own authority?
Where am I giving my power away?
What does devotion to myself actually look like?
This is where tarot becomes practical. It doesn’t just describe an archetype - it helps you notice where you are living it.
Magic Is About Energy, Intention, and Embodiment
This episode also opens up a broader question: what is sex magic, really? At its core, sex magic is the idea that sexual energy can be used intentionally to raise power, focus intention, or deepen connection with the self or the divine.
That doesn’t have to mean partnered sex. It can include solo practice, ritual, breath, touch, visualization, or any experience that builds energy and directs it purposefully. I emphasize that in Gabriela Herstik’s approach, sex magic can be deeply self-contained - a practice of becoming your own lover and honoring your own erotic current.
That’s a useful reframe if you’ve ever felt that spirituality and sexuality were supposed to be kept apart. In this episode, tarot, ritual, candles, elemental symbolism, and sexual energy all live in the same symbolic ecosystem. They’re different ways of working with force, attention, and meaning.
![Tarot ritual setup with cards, candle, journal, and symbolic objects for self-devotion]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c9bcdc86b5b378866710dd/63c4162d-65c5-415f-b1e4-7e0e3d73829d/222A3716.jpg)
Ritual areas can include tarot cards, journal, and symbolic heart or rose imagery
What magic means in everyday language
You do not need a dramatic ritual to work with this idea. In everyday terms, sex magic can mean:
Setting an intention during a moment of heightened energy
Using pleasure as a gateway into presence
Treating desire as information
Working with your body instead of against it
That’s why this topic fits so naturally into tarot. Both practices ask you to pay attention to energy: where it goes, how it moves, and what it reveals.
Why consent and self-knowledge matter
Any conversation about tarot and sex should also include boundaries. Not every form of spiritual work is right for every person, and that’s okay.
The healthiest approach is always one rooted in consent, clarity, and self-awareness.
If you’re exploring sex magic or erotic spirituality, ask yourself:
Is this aligned with my values?
Do I understand what I’m doing?
Am I honoring my own limits?
Am I using this practice to connect more deeply, not less?
That kind of reflection keeps the work grounded. It also helps tarot remain a tool for insight rather than pressure.
A Self-Love Tarot Spread for Love, Compassion, and Magic
This four-card self-love spread is inspired by Gabriela Herstik’s work. It’s a simple but rich way to explore how tarot can support love and sexuality without making everything about another person.
The spread asks:
Where can I welcome more love into my life?
How can I be more compassionate to myself?
How can I embrace my erotic nature and sexuality more?
How can I further embrace my magic?
This is a great example of how tarot and sex can meet in a way that is reflective rather than performative. The spread doesn’t ask who wants you. It asks how you want to meet yourself.
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Why this spread works
Each card speaks to a different layer of embodiment:
Love
connects you to openness and curiosity
Compassion
helps you soften toward yourself
Erotic nature
invites you to trust desire and instinct
Magic
reminds you that transformation is ongoing
That structure makes the spread useful whether you’re exploring romance, healing, creativity, or spiritual growth. It also keeps the focus on you - your energy, your patterns, your relationship to pleasure and power.
The takeaway from the card pull:
The cards I pull- the Maiden of Wands, Two of Cups, Moon reversed, and World - all point toward a process of awakening. There is curiosity, softness, shadow work, and completion. Together, they suggest that intimacy with yourself is a cycle, not a fixed state.
That’s a helpful reminder for anyone who feels stuck.
You don’t need to “solve” your sexuality or spirituality overnight.
You just need to keep showing up for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does tarot have to do with sex?
Tarot and sex both deal with energy, embodiment, desire, and power. Tarot gives you symbolic language for exploring those themes with more awareness and intention.
Can sex magic be practiced alone?
Yes. Sex magic is described as something that can happen through solo practice, intention-setting, and self-devotion. It does not have to involve a partner.
What is the Sovereign card in the Goddess of Love Tarot?
The Sovereign is the deck’s reinterpretation of the Emperor. It represents erotic autonomy, self-rule, and devotion to your own power rather than domination over others.
Why is virginity discussed in relation to tarot?
Because historically, virginity often meant dedication or sovereignty, not just sexual inexperience. That older meaning helps explain why tarot and goddess symbolism often overlap with themes of autonomy and sacred devotion.
How do I use tarot for self-love?
You can use a simple spread that asks where you need more love, compassion, erotic energy, and magic. The key is to focus less on prediction and more on honest reflection.
Check out the spread I use here.
One-Sentence Summary: Tarot and sex intersect through sovereignty, symbolism, and sacred energy - and the cards can help you reclaim pleasure, self-trust, and embodied power.
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References:
Check out last week’s episode all about Virgo Season and Tarot
Self Love Tarot Spread: https://camille-a-saunders.kit.com/selflovespread
Books:
Decks
Deck- Sex Fortunes: Sex Positions Tarot Cards for Lovers deck
Deck- The Goddess of Love Tarot Deck
Changes The Emperor card to she, The Sovereign
I also pulled all the tarot spread cards from this deck today as well