I do a little tarot card reading, for fun. As part of planning for a small get-together, I asked one close friend of mine if she’d let me do a reading for her. I knew she might think it was too weird. So I wasn’t surprised when she said no. But her reason for declining shocked me.

“No. That is too satanic for me.”

What??

TAROT – There are many different types of tarot decks these days. I have the traditional Rider-Waite cards and a deck called “Vision Quest.” I sometimes bring them out for small parties. It’s fun.
All images by Agatha Devere.

Remaining calm

When my friend proclaimed my tarot card reading to be satanic, I was pretty “taken aback.” I had always known her to be an pretty open-minded person. We have never gotten entangled in any religious stuff. She votes blue. I vote blue. All is well.

But her telling me my planned party fun was satanic upset me. I wanted to text her back immediately and say “Are you nuts”? Satanic? Where the hell did you get such a ridiculous idea?”

I took a deep breath instead. I centered my chakras, grabbed a calming crystal and unplugged my chi. I then simply asked her to explain what she meant.

She said perhaps she should have said “occult” instead of “satanic.”

Damn. I was hoping she was going to say, “I’m just kidding!”

She told me what the Bible says about the occult, which apparently includes fortune telling.

“It is my understanding that Tarot is fortune telling. If that is correct, then that falls under the occult. The Bible is very clear about fortune telling and I don’t want anything to do with it. I didn’t know you spent any sort of time doing Tarot, but it appears you do.”

She also said what I do with my time is up to me, etc. She is still my friend and values our relationship.

THE BIBLE = This book, Guided Tarot, is a bestseller and is considered the “Bible” when it comes to tarot card readings.

My frustration

Well. Now what do I do?

I did not realize this dear friend of mine interprets the Bible literally. (Let’s call her Sue for the sake of giving her a name.)

Sue has every right to her beliefs, and I will respect them. We just have a difference of opinion on a religious issue. No big deal. That happens all the time, right? If I just ignore the whole thing, it will eventually blow over. I value Sue’s friendship far too highly to risk it over something like this.

But, Sue didn’t check the facts. She didn’t Google “what is tarot card reading?” and read several different websites to get a reasonable feel for the truth. She obviously didn’t ask me what it was. She just went by the teachings of the religion she most closely adheres to.

So? Lots of people don’t fact check. It’s not a crime.

But Sue has a Facebook filled with proclamations like: “FAKE NEWS!! – Check the facts you big ugly orange imbecile!” She hates most Republicans, but if one ever gets caught spewing fake news, she would be on their ass big time.

That’s hypocrisy. Hypocrisy gets me riled up. So what do I do? Tell her her hypocrisy is showing? or shut up?

Following His advice

I am going to do what Christ asked his followers to do. I am going to treat Sue as I would like to be treated. While I will briefly point out some facts about Tarot, and encourage her to read more about it, I will keep it short. I will be polite and respectful.

However, as I am no where near as humble as He was, I will click “publish” on this commentary. It will go out on the internet. Maybe, when someone else decides to check some facts on Tarot, this will come up.

My opinion

It is my opinion that one of the biggest reasons the US is in the shits right now is there are too many people afraid to challenge the everyday people behind the very scary assaults currently going on against one of our country’s core democratic values – the separation of church and state. Some people believe one particular religion (theirs) is the only right one.

This is known as religious exclusivity. Do we tolerate racial exclusivity or gender exclusivity? Hell no. Most people by now have embraced that. But what is going on with religion right now is the same thing. We have a lot of religions claiming to be the only correct one – the best one – better than any other one.

That’s wrong. When it comes to legislation here in the United States, it becomes a violation of Article 6 of our Constitution: the Separation of Church and State.

I don’t care if you are blue or red or purple. You have got to recognize that your religion is not the only one on the planet. Everyone has the right to practice their faith. But they don’t have a right to tell followers of other religions they are wrong.

What many of us often forget is that the vast majority of people with exclusionary religious views are perfectly nice people. They are your neighbors, friends and maybe even members of your family.

So the people they may well respect the most (us) may never point out their mistakes. We respect them as people. We even love them. We don’t want to upset them. So all -to-often we keep quiet to keep the peace.

It all comes down to a difficult, personal decision. In the case of Sue, I will attempt to keep the peace. But I am cheating (because I wrote this).

Facts about Tarot

What Is It?

Obviously, I couldn’t possible give a good analysis of what Tarot is in this space. It has been around so long and used by so many different people and cultures, it is many things. On Page 10 of the Guided Tarot it states “think of [Tarot] as a communication device that connects you to the divine.”

The practice of “reading” the cards can vary from casual party fun to serious attempts to communicate with the dead. The cards can be thought of as a tool. The practice of reading them can be like a ritual or meditative practice. Some people channel psychic energy through readings. Others simply use them as a way to get in touch with their feelings, motivations and purpose. (That sounds an awful lot like therapy to me. Or meditation. Or prayer.

What it isn’t

The Guided Tarot points out on page 10 that the “one thing tarot does not do is predict, or tell, the future.” For a long time, it was thought of as fortune telling. But the current thinking is that it taps into a person’s energy and intuition to reveal information they may already know on a subconscious level. Do some people use tarot cards to tell the future? Yes, they most likely do. But that is not what they are designed for.

ARCHETYPES – The original tarot deck, known as the Rider-Waite deck, was produced in 1909. But there are now well over 150 different decks available. Cards in every deck show images or symbols, that represent “universal archetypes.” They are based on both oral and written stories about humankind since before the written word. The Hanged Man comes from the Rider-Waite deck and the Mother of Fire comes a deck called Vision Quest.

The Occult

The original Rider-Waite tarot deck (1909) was created by two members of a secret society known as the Golden Dawn. The society studied and practiced the occult, metaphysics and paranormal activities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As to whether current tarot practices fall under “the occult” is open to interpretation. A great deal depends on who is doing the tarot card reading.

Is tarot card reading satanic?

No. There is nothing in the general practice of tarot card reading that in any way invokes “Satan” (or devils or evil of any kind). However, if a person who worships Satan does a tarot card reading, then, yeah, that reading could be satanic.