A simple consideration of this alternative approach to getting guidance in life

1. Tarot Readings

1.1 What are Tarot Cards?

Tarot cards are a special deck of 78 cards used for divination or fortune telling.

For some people Tarot cards are just a bit of party fun, but mostly they are recognised as a means of telling a person's fortune.

A large variety of Tarot decks exists, many developed within specific religious or occult traditions, e.g. Egyptian, wiccan, magical, Mayan, Gypsy etc. and have existed for many centuries of history.

Originally believed to have been designed for theological or philosophical teaching they have become a major occult tool for telling a person's fortune.

1.2 Serious Tarot Readers

As we've indicated above, Tarot readings may be something done in a thoughtless manner at a party “for a bit of fun”.

However there are Tarot readers who are very much more serious about them: “Some individuals have an innate psychic sensitivity to the cards, which also underscores their occult potential”.

One expert observed that “a gifted reader builds up a kind of rapport with the energies of his or her Tarot set". It is not unusual for tarot card readers to speak of having “conversations” with the cards, just as if a second party were present.

Theologian Dr. John Warwick Montgomery recalls, in his analysis of the occult, ‘It is most interesting to observe the reactions of a sensitive person when he first examines these cards. Instead of the indifference which accompanies contact with ordinary playing cards… there is generally a deep absorption and hushed interest. The cards seem to ‘grab' their user' “

(Encyclopaedia of New Age Beliefs by Ankerberg & Weldon)

2. What is happening?

2.1 Possibilities?

The Tarot set comprises a variety of cards with different and specific meanings. When the cards are “read”, the reader interprets the cards before him for the person in question and, according to the specific cards laid out, makes a declaration about that person's life.

Now there are three things to be noted here:

1. Pure Chance

If it is pure chance that the cards come in a particular order, then they have NO meaning whatsoever! They could be relaid a number of times and a variety of possibilities produced. If the reading was repeated on different days then different readings might be obtained.

2. Interpretation

The reader applies a meaning to the cards laid out and if the same cards were laid out before a number of readers, we might expect a variety of different meanings to ensue. Why should the 'reader' be able to say anything meaningful about teh person consulting them? One has to suggest it is either 'cold reading' (using techniques of reading the person - their body language, speech, age, clothing etc. etc.) or indeed they are in touch with some 'power' who conveys hidden knowledge.

3. Guided by a Power

If the cards were to come up the same again and again, or if different readers brought the same interpretation to the same cards, then one would have to conclude that there was a force or a power behind the reading that directed it. This of course is what serious Tarot readers will maintain, even after only one reading.

2.2 To reiterate - Two Possibilities

When we think about these things, we must arrive at one of ONLY two possibilities:

•  The “reading” is pure chance and is simply the imagination of the so called “reader”.

•  There is actually some force at work which brings comment on the life of that person.

2.3 What is the Power at Work?

Let's assume the second possibility for the moment. What force can there be there that directs the order of the cards and imparts a meaning?

Séances and other forms of “interactive” guidance clearly indicate a personality that seeks to communicate. With Tarot readings we are on the same grounds (see the earlier quote under “Serious Tarot Readers”). We must conclude we have a spiritual force at work here.

What spiritual forces are there? For the Christian the Bible is the text book of the truth, the only such book that stands under scrutiny.

The Bible declares that there is first of all God, who works for good, and good angels who work under His direction. Then there are fallen or rebellious angels, otherwise called evil spirits or demons, the chief of which we call Satan or the devil. These are the ONLY forces at work in the spiritual realm.

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3. What does the Bible say?

If you look at the page in this series on “Mediums and Séances” you will see a number of verses from the Bible that show that God is strictly against seeking out the future through mediums or divination (which is what this form of fortune telling is), so whatever happens in a Tarot reading it will NOT be God directing it.

According to the Bible this only leaves what are referred to as “powers of darkness”, demonic powers that are under the control of Satan, powers that are deceptive and destructive. To check this further we need to observe the results in people who resort to reading the cards.

4. The Fruits of Occult Guidance

People who have turned to occult forms of guidance frequently find it incredibly difficult to understand spiritual realities in respect of God, Jesus Christ and salvation. 

Very often people involved recognise that there are “other powers” at work but refuse to see them as anything but benign. There is frequently a blindness to the power that holds such people or the fear that so often under girds their lives.

Jesus said that the devil was both a liar and a murderer (John 8:44). Those who look for help, encouragement and security through the means of Tarot readings end up enmeshed in a web of fear, that some would say is superstition but others know has its origins in real evil.

The Bible also describes Satan as “an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), one who seeks to make himself look good and his works harmless. Many have found that that is pure camouflage and the result of his works is deception and destruction.

Tarot reading is not harmless. It leads people into a reliance upon half truths or lies and takes them away from God or confirms them in their godlessness.

Very often such people find themselves locked into the words that have been spoken about them at such a reading, locked into a destiny decreed by evil powers. Such a person needs to acknowledge the truth of their situation and turn to God for forgiveness and deliverance.

Tarot Reading can leave us with a legacy of fear and even a dependency on occult guidance. Often it leads us into more things that, deep within us, we know are not good. It's best to steer clear.