“How would you feel if we burned a cross on your lawn?” the voice challenged on the phone.
“Go ahead and try it! I will let everyone know that some religious zealot…who will remain nameless, whose religion preaches tolerance, came against me.” E.B slammed the phone back on the cradle waiting for the backlash which never came. E.B proudly displayed her wooden sign “Stellar Thoughts” out on her front lawn inviting people into her place of business and home for tarot readings, homemade goods, and massages. The threat never came to fruition even though there has been backlash; it has been mostly in the background.
In a city flush with LDS individuals, there is a real prejudice against those who believe differently. E.B. opened “Stellar Thoughts” as a way to combine her psychic nature and her love of counseling. There have been some confrontations with citizens in the community but overall they have kept to themselves, albeit with a few eye rolls here and there and the random verbal threat.
Outside of Southeast Idaho, there is a better connection with the different psychic arts. Florida and New York have spiritualist communities where one can receive card readings, psychics, crystals, energy healing and to be a part of it one must follow the rules and must pass qualification tests to become part of the community. This is a positive thing because patrons know if they go into the community they will get a good reading for a baseline price. In other areas, there is no regulation to pricing or ethics when it comes to psychic or tarot readings.
E.B. has heard readers in Idaho Falls discuss openly clients or readings performed. There is a need of an ethical background for readers of the tarot. They are personal to the one being read and should not be shared with others.
Tarot reading is a world that is outside of religion. Many religions feel that one can define oneself through study and having a relationship with God or higher power. Tarot goes hand in hand with this idea. People have found the guiding influence in their life by little lessons learned from having their cards read. Some readers are intuitive and use different decks, but the stories seem to resonate with those who are having their cards read.
Tarot reading is becoming more salient in our culture right now because a lot of people are looking for guidance within their lives. It is not taking the place of religion but it helps one find guidance from external forces that they might not have recognized before. It adds a sense of perspective. Tarot reading is not speaking with the dead, reading people’s minds, or telling the future. It is about helping a person tune in to their own intuition and finds a path to take them from where they are now. It is nothing more than guidance.
Many religions place Tarot in the same realm as Ouija boards, fortune-telling, and occultism. The main problem with this idea is a lack of understanding of its history and what the cards are used for. “The Court De Gebelin, who was an 18th-century clergyman wrote about tarot having mystic possibilities,” Paul Ratner, a writer on the Big Think website, states, “yet this mystical link to the tarot has persisted, even though there’s no real evidence for it.” This unholy connection still persists within religions across the country.
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E.B. has been reading cards, metaphysical counseling, intuitive readings, and crystals, along with performing massages like chakra cleansing, for over 25 years. She considers herself a psychic intuitive whose feelings guide her readings. She is a down-to-earth teacher whose genuine nature puts one instantly at ease. Her cats insist on making themselves known but are easy to ignore when the cards are being dealt. The walls are filled with books and crystals of all shapes and sizes as well as beautifully colored tapestries covering two Futon couches.
E.B. has had many struggles opening a metaphysical store in a city with a large population of LDS. She initially started doing readings part-time on the side but an underlying distrust, from employers, of her choice in life has propelled her to do it full time. The Idaho State Fair is a fun time for her, she sets up a booth and sells mystical items, homemade wall hangings, as well as readings. When she first set up the booth there was some backlash with her job in the school district. Parents began complaining and didn’t want a ‘witch’ being anywhere near their children. E.B. finished out the school year and started looking for another job.
With her counseling degree, she looked to the private sector. To streamline the troublesome questions she said, “I am a psychic and read cards on the weekend, do not hire me if you have issues with this.” Even with this warning to her boss, she was hired. Over time, they started having prayers at meetings and using religion in discussions. There was an uneasiness from everyone who talked to her in the office. After her ‘mediated’ prayer in a meeting, “they stopped prayers altogether. I didn’t even use any religious terms which would hurt them.” She laughed, “I guess they couldn’t handle my weirdness.”
E.B.
made it through three years before she threw up her hands, quit, and worked “Stellar Thoughts” full time. Her job has allowed her time to travel across the country to different fairs, where she makes the majority of her money as a metaphysical counselor and tarot reader. She loves meeting new people and feels more at peace in this world.
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Historically, the tarot was considered a playful game of divination and had nothing to do with the occult. In the 1500s, “Tarrocchi Appropriati” was part of the Italian aristocracy’s world. Random cards were dealt and the associations with the card design were put into poetic verse. Imagine the kids game ‘MASH’ with cards. It made a connection in the cards with destiny and the future.
Wealthy families had their own cards commissioned. The designs were marked with suits and cups, swords, and coins. These suit cards were very similar to what many people today believe to be tarot. The most widely used design today harkens back to Rider Waite in 1909. William Rider, a publisher, worked with a popular mystic of the time A.E. Waite, and created tarot cards strictly for divination and mystical readers. “Gone were the games,” Gia Bathory says, “Tarot became a strong signifier of a metaphysical reader. One has to be intuitive to read the cards.”
Though the beginning of the Tarot isn’t specifically known. It doesn’t really matter because it is claimed across cultures creeds and continents. Bakara Wintner, author of WTF is TAROT said “The tarot is becoming more popular because of its resonation with existence. Everyone has a collective history and with the guiding aspect of the Tarot people can be led.”
On the other side of the world in New Zealand, “I sometimes receive visions of a person’s past and invite them to a reading,” Rebecca May O’Sullivan says, “I like to use this intuition to guide the reading more than the cards. They are a means to deciphering what the world wants this person to know.” Every reader finds their own niche within the world of the tarot and uses it to their advantage.
The tarot has gone through cycles of popularity and attrition. “We are beginning to see a drive to know oneself better because the media,” Bresnahan states, “although great, has disadvantages of intuition. This is where face-to-face readings come in handy.”
Intuitive readings are different than cold readings when it comes to the cards. The directions of reading tarot are rather intense and are left to interpretation. Most readers learn the deck for themselves but then lets intuition guide them.
The Raider Waite deck is the most common deck used in Tarot readings today. There are thousands of designs of tarot decks, depending on what an artist feels should be portrayed, and yet their basic tautology is the same. Split into two distinctive sections, The Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. The Arcana follow an overall narrative which helps reveal things about our life.
The Major Arcana is made up of 22 cards and is based on the major mysteries of existence including landmark lessons, the moral of a particular story, or the moments when we are at a pivotal point in our lives revealing some larger energies at play. The storyline follows with the idea ‘The Fool-0’ moves towards ‘The Chariot-7’. These cards are there to reconcile society. As one continues through the Major Arcana one meets ‘Strength-8’ through ‘Temperance-14’ which reconciles personal difficulties and issues. The final seven are ‘The Devil-15’ through ‘The World-21’ which reconcile spirituality and purpose. One can get into deep discussion just focusing on the Major Arcana.
The story arc can be looked at in this way: We are growing up and getting ready to leave our home and safety net and claim our place in the world, it is our first glimpse at interdependence (the first 7 cards). We are continuing on and find our place in life and we have cemented our place in the world. We have gone through many issues, yet have made it through, and now face ‘Death’ (cards 8-14). Finally, we have reached our happy ending. We reflect on what we have accomplished, feeling whole. A long journey and we are arriving home. Yet we want to continue on a new adventure which leads us back to the Fool, and a new journey a little wiser than we have been before (cards 15-21). The Major Arcana is cyclical and teaches us when we are at a pivotal point in life, helps us find the moral to troubles we are experiencing, and helps us find the energies that affect us day today.
The Minor Arcana has four suits, Ace through Ten and the Court Cards. The Cups suit follows the elements of water and usually deals with emotions, feelings, and creativity. The Swords suit harkens to the element of Air with power, rationality, and intellect. Pentacles follow the element of Earth which deals with money, material possessions, and the physical realms. Finally, the Wands suit deals with the element of Fire which usually deals with inspiration, spirituality, and energy.
Reading the Tarot seems like a lot of memorization but follows a simplistic narrative arc and to understand what is involved means working the cards personally. It also means getting your cards to read from other practitioners. Doing so can help one gain a clearer understanding of the cards as well as learning to use one's intuition. Memorization is only a fraction of learning the cards.
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The Catholic Church does not support people who are finding connections in the tarot. “The reading of cards is considered a form of divination,” Father Julio Vicente says, “it is a way to trust your life and future to superstition or power other than God.” Recently, the Catholic Church has recalled some of its higher priests to Vatican City to be trained in exorcisms due to a recurrence of people interested in the occult practices. Even though there is a larger call for exorcisms, the church is placing more credence on teaching priests how to discern between mental illness and the need to exorcise a demonic entity, which is rare. “People who are dealing with emotional distress should not find peace with the occult,” says Father Henry Carmona, “The Bible and religious leaders are trained to help with this trouble.” The Catechism gives guidance on tarot and divination,
“Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, ex. When one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition” (Mt 23:16-22).
However, the Catholic Church does not throw out the history of the Tarot. As it was originally a game in Italy, the church has no issues using the tarot being used as a game. “I believe Catholics should take care not to cause scandal,” Father Carmona continues, “many people would be shocked to see a Catholic playing game with a tarot deck.” Many theologians feel that engaging in anything “offensive to pious ears” or giving the appearance of going against the church, no matter the innocence of fact, should be avoided at all costs.
Many churches hold to the idea of avoiding the appearance of guilt. If a religion believes alcohol or gambling is a sin, going into a liquor store or bar will give the appearance that they are sinning. Going into a purveyor of “divination” can be considered the appearance of sinning. Religion is a boon to many people when finding peace within the books of scripture and guidance from their leaders. When looking at the issue of the appearance of sin, one cannot help but think of this scripture, “Those of you who are without sin, cast the first stone.” Judging others for one's beliefs is not something that should be taken lightly.
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Tarot reading will probably never be free of controversy but to the thousands of people who believe in its voracity, it doesn’t really matter. In a world that is continuously online and filled with problems, people are having trouble finding personal connections or guidance in their life. Tarot is more of a guiding hand than something that can give you specifics. One has to act to make it come to fruition, and sometimes the outcome is different than expected
Many people have found peace unplugging from their online world and focusing on themselves through personal readings. Though there is a large following of people who read cards online using Skype or Facetime. However, there is something visceral that draws people to the tangible handheld tarot cards. The profusion of tarot readers across the globe shows its ability to persist through persecution.
The popularity of the tarot and its history of being claimed by many cultures and creeds shows there is something that can be gained for many people. Tarot will continue to fascinate many people and there is a place for those who need guidance. If one can find peace and happiness in the guiding hand of the tarot, who are we to judge? As one affirmation read with ‘The World’ tarot card it states, “I am awareness, I recognize and accept all aspects of myself.”
