The Credible Tarot

There are people who believe that the Tarot is a frivolous pastime at best, an evil pursuit or fraudulent practice at worst. Unless you live in an exceptional and somewhat isolated community, we Tarotists are occasionally confronted by people that steadfastly (and loudly!) hold to these beliefs. It’s important for our own sanity and ongoing effectiveness as a reader to diffuse the negative energy these prejudices and accusations generate with facts that point to the contrary.

Depending on who has levied them, most of the time these accusations are harmless. Occasionally however, these disparaging comments can negatively impact on the growth of our practice as a Tarot reader and generally affect the public’s regard of the Tarot. So they demand to be dealt with forthwith!

I’ve discovered in my own practice that a two-pronged response is the most effective counter to a negativity that’s rooted in ignorance. The first prong is what I’ve named, the “Skeptic’s Tarot”. The second is a discussion about the Tarot’s correspondences with other traditional mystical traditions. The operative word here is “briefly”. Any one of these mystical correspondences could comprise a volume series of work and in many cases already have.

The Skeptic’s Tarot

The Tarot is ideally suited for skeptics! Skepticism leads to a thorough investigation of the truth as long as it’s accompanied with an open mind. Skeptics are motivated to delve beneath the surface of an issue to penetrate and expose the truth. They work to cut through superficial, designed-to-deceive masks.

The Tarot addresses the deeper sources of meaning which permeate our profoundest layers of consciousness. These deeper layers of consciousness house universal energy complexes, which have been named “archetypes”. Archetypal psychology is a well-respected approach to understanding the human psyche by social scientists, such as, anthropologists, social workers, and educators. Joseph Campbell’s phenomenal life-time work was a cross-cultural exploration through the archetypes and their impact on the psyche, society, culture, and evolution.

The Major Arcana depicts a vast array of archetypes, and interpreters of the Tarot reveal how these Tarot archetypes teach lessons about human growth and development from a psychological/spiritual/physical perspective. When a skeptic challenges my choice of profession as being one of “simple fortune-telling”, I point to the “Fool’s Journey to Wholeness”, as the archetypal story revealing an ageless truth regarding the human experience. This is how the Tarot stands apart from the plethora of new cards published in the last 10 years; such as those depicting angels, slogans, and the like.

I Am Not a Fortune-Teller

I’m not a fortune-teller, I am a reader of an ancient, wise oracle that is designed to answer serious questions pertaining to love, health, and enterprise. When I’m asked if it actually works, I always confidently answer, “Yes it does! How could a system of divination survive all through the ages, if it didn’t’ work?”
A “Devil’s Pack of Cards”

When confronted with a charge that the Tarot is the work of the devil, (a rare phenomenon since most people who believe this rarely say it directly to me), I point to the Tarot’s correspondences to many other traditional mystical traditions and the fact that many Taroists remain strong adherents of Christianity, Judaism, Mohammadism, Buddhism among many others.

Mark Patrick Hederman, in his book, Tarot Talisman or Taboo?, Currach Press, 2003 is a monk and philosopher who has written a fascinating treatise on the relationship of Christianity to the Tarot. Drawing upon Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism (Element Classic Editions and Sally Nichols book, Jung and the Tarot, he presents an interesting interpretation of the Major Arcana which combines Christian hermeticism with Jungian psychology. This book will be undoubtedly a great delight and relief for modern budding Christian Taroists. Hederman however, does irrevocably denounce using the cards for divination and uses the word “occult” disparagingly! He deeply respects the Tarot for its esoteric wisdom and for use as a meditation tool,

“For three centuries it (the Tarot) has been hijacked by occultists and cartomancers, to the extent that it has got a bad name. People flee from it. I have heard it called ‘the devil’s pack’. It has become something of a scapegoat. And yet, before this happened, it was used in a perfectly harmless context and developed within a tradition of Christian symbolism. This it is monopolized by profiteers and fortune tellers, barred by scaremongerers and alarmists, forbidden by authorities in both state and church is understandable. The cards can be a source of individual integration and autonomy unwelcome to those who seek control over others.” P. 98

Hederman has succinctly conveyed a number of profound Christian perspectives in this statement. He’s “scooped” the profound nature of the Tarot for Christianity (to re-initiate an interest by Christians into the Tarot), denounced divination (as an effective self-protection technique) AND scaremongering, and pointed precisely to why the Tarot is denounced by traditional religion. Hederman represents the radical edge of Christian theology with respect to the Tarot. Ironically, in the final chapter of his book he does a reading with a small group of people following the bombing of the twin towers, which reads suspiciously like faith in the Tarot’s power to divine!

“Card number one ( in the layout this was revealed as the Magician), as in the first year of a new century, represents cleverness, skill, self-confidence, the capacity to create your own life, your own destiny. Such fluency is based upon harmonious interchange and balanced equilibrium between consciousness and unconscious. Those who have learned the wisdom that the tarot can teach are more likely to be able to show us the way forward.” (p. 222)

The regrettable truth is that we will not likely be able to convince those who consider it the work of the devil otherwise. This prejudice has deep and pervasive roots. The word “Devil” has roots in “Devi” another word for Goddess, and “Deva” which is an Indo-Asian deity. Goddesses and Gods who are worshipped by a society that an oppressing group wishes to repress, are demonized.

Many Church Going Students Keep Their Interest in the Tarot Secret

Most of my students who are members of traditional religious congregations refrain from mentioning their interest in the Tarot to their church groups for fear of reprisals and rejection. One of my most dedicated students is also a church elder and deeply fears her church associates will discover her passion for the teachings of the Tarot. Essentially she lives a “double” life which is sad and frustrating for her. She is compelled to follow her intuition which is guiding her in this instance to remain secretive.

How unfortunate that the Tarot has been considered “sacrilegious” thereby parceling it off to the ranks of the taboo! This student of the Tarot would love to share with her friends the Tarot’s extraordinary insight into the challenges of being human, especially as she rejoices in these teachings in her crone stage of life. She would love nothing better than to point to how the Tarot brings powerful messages that are transformative, on both a collective and individual bases especially to her social group who are actively pursuing spiritual insight and guidance.

Like this student, many Tarotists will have to be the wise judge of this potentially awkward duality in their own lives, deciding how much to share, and with whom they can safely share their passion for the Tarot.

These same religious denouncers of the Tarot will also say that its connection to the devil is evidenced by the fact that the Tarot is an occult science. Students of the occult are not devil worshippers! Occult simply means something that’s “hidden”, but the word has been imbued with negative and threatening associations. How interesting that western culture has interpreted something that’s hidden as something that is evil, frightening and taboo. The Tarot does reveal what is hidden, indeed making it unapologetically a part of the occult tradition.

Esoteric Societies Have Put Tarot in Central Position of Their Practice

Studying the Tarot becomes a lifetime pursuit for many because its lessons are vast. Historically, it was brilliant women and men throughout the ages who were drawn to study the Tarot. The wisdom, knowledge and excitement of the Tarot have gripped many famous, brilliant, insightful and creative people. Esoteric societies such as the Freemasons, Rosicrucians, and the Order of the Golden Dawn put the Tarot in a central position within their order of spiritual studies and practices. Today, alternative healers, psychotherapists, alchemists, philosophers, religious studies scholars and spiritualists are prominent within the mixed group of students of the Tarot.