“We’re experiencing a burst in popularity of tarot cards. The New York Times in 2017 celebrated ‘Tarot is Trending.’ The Guardian promoted it as a form of therapy in 2018. One writer said she counted 550 tarot apps in the Apple Store before giving up. An Amazon search of ‘tarot cards’ renders 10,000 results. Before giving my life fully to Christ, I was a tarot card fanboy. I loved having readings. I bought about half a dozen different decks. I had a shelf full of books. I studied tarot cards harder than I’d studied any subject in school. That gets us to tarot’s dirty little secret. First, you learn the basic meaning of each card. Then you learn each card’s alternative meanings. Then you learn that the meaning, positive or negative, depends on whether the card is right side up or upside down. And then you learn that the meaning also depends on its relative position to the cards next to it. In other words, a ‘negative’ card in the past can actually be ‘good’ if the card next to it indicates a change for the better. And vice versa. Wait, there’s more. Then you learn that an isolated part of imagery itself might contain a meaning tucked within it. Take the card commonly called ‘The Chariot.’ See the wheels? In a specific reading, the Chariot itself could have to do with your car. Could have to do with travel. If the card is upside down, it could mean beware the wheels coming off a project or relationship. The black and white sphinx-like creatures? Could refer to an issue that is clear black-and-white. The red symbol between them that looks like a top could mean that even though the choice is black and white, your head is spinning like a top trying to decide the issue. It could also refer to the unity of different things — both sphinxes, just different colors. Even though the decision seems black and white, it really isn’t. Are you getting the idea? If not, let me put it to you very simply. Any card at any time can mean anything. And if something can mean anything, it means nothing. Even if the cards could tell you something about the future, they don’t give you the power to change the future. This is why we must hold to the God who made Himself known. ‘Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths’ (Proverbs 3:5-6).” “Tarot Card Resurgence,” Al Perrotta, The Stream, Oct. 28, 2019 Comments are closed.
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