Why are people afraid of the Tarot?

[Saturn Celeste]

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=139031

by Samarial

It always is something that's in the back of my mind? I know that most of my husband's family would be against tarot, because they see it as "Evil " or whatever. My mom, on the other hand encourages it lol.

 

I think that its the evil factor. Since people don't know about it, it has that mysterious occult thing to it, and then people assume its evil. I also think that people can be afraid if a reading will come out exactly right and they think that the reader is psychic.(which some people believe doesn't exist and when they're faced with one, they freak out and and question themselves or stubbornly refuse to believe)

I guess its also that stereo-type thing in movies, where a person gets a reading done, and they get the Death card and the reader says they're going to die or something lol.

 

What are everyone else's views on why tarot is assumed to be evil?

[Grizabella]

To put it in a nutshell, I think people who hold high office don't want the "common man" to have any way to communicate with our Higher Power/God/Creator/Whatever without going though them first. If they can convince you that this Creator will only divulge information to them, and then second-hand to you, then that gives them a lot of power over you and over all the rest of the believers who follow them as well.

 

From the time I was a tiny girl, it never made sense to me that only the certain "chosen" few could understand things of a spiritual nature and that we peons would have to sit every week listening to them tell us what the religious books were saying. I started really reading when I was 7 and I could jolly well find answers for myself, thank you. X-D

 

It's the spiritual "elite" who have made sure that things like Tarot were to be feared rather than relied on for oneself. If we rely on something besides them, they lost their power over us.

[Jewel]

In a general sense I believe it boils down to people fearing what they do not know or understand.

[2curious]

Personally, I don't think "they" want to know it, or understand it. They believe in the absolute duality of "good and evil" and, if you are not doing something they believe to be good, then you must, by default, be doing evil.

[DarkElectric]

Aside from the fear of going against the stricter dictates of some organised religions,  there is something which I've heard time and time again from the general public. What do these people tell me?

 

"I don't want a reading because I don't want to know if anything bad is going to happen. I don't want a reading because I don't want to know if somebody I love is going to get sick and die, or if it will be me. I don't want to know about any black aura/evil spirits/extreme negative energy around me....", and so on.

 

The level of fear is astounding,  and that makes me very sad.  But the thing which galls me the most, is the "black aura/evil spirits" business.  In the local or national news, every single thing I've ever seen about anything related to tarot, invariably is NOT something positive. Right across the board, it's  a report of a charlatan scamming a lot of money out of people, beginning with a palm, or Tarot, reading. The fraudsters tell the trusting client that there are evil spirits,  a cloud of negative energy, a black aura, etc, surrounding them, and for $500 (or more in some cases...) the fraudster can help them get rid of it.  And people pay it,  are told it's "stubborn, and needs another treatment..." on and on it goes. Until the person wises up and realises that they're being conned. They go to the police, the fraudster gets busted( if they haven't packed up and left town already) and it  makes news.  This is the press coverage  Tarot gets.

 

I cannot tell you how many times I've comforted a weeping client, who encountered one of those  "black aura" people,  got scared out of their wits, (and their cash,) then discovered me at a festival.  Because they were so freaked out by the last reader, they  wanted me to do a confirmation reading to see if the evil spirits and nasty neggie black aura was gone. Every single time I discovered ordinary life challenges, and gave appropriate counsel. No  evil  spirits, no foul auras.

(I can see auras, and the only time I ever saw anything  genuinely evil, was around a serial killer.  Thankfully, those people are few and far between.) The clients were grateful, and angry. Grateful to learn the truth, and angry that the previous reader had scammed them. After experiences like that, I  ask myself if I'm out there reading cards for people, or doing damage control. Both, it turns out.

 

 

You don't hear about positive, life affirming readings which help people. Nope. It's a bunch of fear mongering, and dissuasion, which  all ties in, of course, with the draconian prohibitions of some conventional religions. People who are actually thinking freely for themselves are less likely to be indoctrinated by any sort of dogma, and the establishment hates competition. 

[Jewel]

DarkElectric, I am not a professional reader, but I can totally see what you are saying.  I had to laugh about what you said about the news, because if we are honest they sensationalize everything in this day in age, if it is not bad, bold or dramatic it is not news.  And verifying information or learning about it is not a strong suit of the media either, if they did then their story would simply be about fraud and not about something intriguing like Tarot.  Sad but true.  And yes, organized religion also plays a part and has since the beginning of its existence in its effort to covert people and eradicate earth based (pagan) spirituality.

[River]

My boyfriend is afraid of tarot and anything he considers as "witchy" because he thinks it may invite evil entities or something. He is especially afraid of the suit of pentacles even though I have explained to him that pentacles are not always about Satan. He is much more comfortable with decks that don't have traditional or "old-looking" images and have replaced the pentacles with coins, disks, stones or anything else. :biggrin:

[EmpressAdora]

To put it in a nutshell, I think people who hold high office don't want the "common man" to have any way to communicate with our Higher Power/God/Creator/Whatever without going though them first. If they can convince you that this Creator will only divulge information to them, and then second-hand to you, then that gives them a lot of power over you and over all the rest of the believers who follow them as well.

 

From the time I was a tiny girl, it never made sense to me that only the certain "chosen" few could understand things of a spiritual nature and that we peons would have to sit every week listening to them tell us what the religious books were saying. I started really reading when I was 7 and I could jolly well find answers for myself, thank you. X-D

 

It's the spiritual "elite" who have made sure that things like Tarot were to be feared rather than relied on for oneself. If we rely on something besides them, they lost their power over us.

 

 

This is a really interesting thought that never occurred to me. It makes a lot of sense though.

[Guest D76]

In a general sense I believe it boils down to people fearing what they do not know or understand.

 

:thumbsup:

[DownUnderNZer]

 

Because of what could come up for the future, especially bad things.

 

When cards like Death and Devil rear their vulgar faces - it is the stuff in which a person's worst nightmare is made of quite literally.

 

Hanged Man might be another if ones imagination gets the better of her or him.

 

It might not always be about what a person understands or not, but rather the images themselves.

 

DND X/

[Guest D76]

 

 

 

When cards like Death and Devil rear their vulgar faces....

 

They don't understand (exactly) what these cards mean ( Devil or Death...etc....). They do not like tarologists because there (in this community) -- too many charlatans. And this is justifie. Largely. This is truth. People are skeptical about this....

 

 

[Wanderer]

All of the above! (Especially DarkElectric[/member] 's answer, I think.)  :)

 

There's one other category I've encountered, who just live down-to-earth lives, and aren't interested in knowing the future or investigating whether there are external forces they have no understanding of. They take pride in their ability to just deal with whatever life throws at them, within their own bubbles, and are afraid that having insight from 'the beyond' will shake the foundations of how they live. Comfort in familiarity, that sort of thing.

[gregory]

Because they don't understand it - fear of the unknown - and more, because they cannot control it. MANY people these days are desperately afraid of losing control.

[Thoughtful]

Upbringing may have instilled a fear due to family being anti tarot.  Perhaps religious  beliefs played a part as well.

A former bad reading by an unscrupulous reader may have damaged their trust and put fear in them.

There are numerous reasons why some people could fear the tarot.  But l feel in todays climate people are much more open to tarot and less fearful.

[Sparklehorse]

On 2/15/2019 at 3:32 PM, DownUnderNZer said:

 

Because of what could come up for the future, especially bad things.

 

I agree. It is possible to predict negative events and some people might prefer not to know and just let life unfold.

[Nemia]

People also fear that you'll uncover all their daaaark secrets once you hold a deck of cards in your hand 😉 or that somehow, the card give you power over them. 

 

It's all superstition. The Christian establishment didn't want to share its authority over spiritual matters with anyone... like many organized religions. 

 

Tarot is a tool You can use any tool for good or bad purposes. You can use a hammer to build a table or to hurt someone., but the hammer was not invented as weapon. The same is true for the tarot.  You can use it to scam people, frighten or manipulate them, but the real purpose of tarot is not for hurting others. 

[SpiralFall]

On 2/14/2019 at 11:32 PM, DownUnderNZer said:

 

Because of what could come up for the future, especially bad things.

 

When cards like Death and Devil rear their vulgar faces - it is the stuff in which a person's worst nightmare is made of quite literally.

 

Hanged Man might be another if ones imagination gets the better of her or him.

 

It might not always be about what a person understands or not, but rather the images themselves.

 

DND X/

Agreed. As a person who comes from a religious family and was frightened by tarot, I think the devil card inclusion alone is an immediate nope for most people regardless of any meaning. It was a hard stop. Devil Card = Devil = Hell = Nope lol Then you include in the Tower, Death, and Judgment card, and it took me a minute to build up the courage to buy a deck. Luckily the gorgeous art won out 😏 

[TarotSparks]

I think it has a lot to do with the teachings of the Church. In general, the Orthodox and Catholic churches don't support Tarot .... In their eyes Tarot has "unhealthy curiosity" about the future and only God knows what the future holds. Who are we to question? We need to sit still and follow the rules. 

This comes from my personal experience I had with my (sometimes quite religious) family - that the Tarot is Devil's work. I just cannot perceive it that way.     

[Misterei]

19 hours ago, TanjaTheWitch said:

I think it has a lot to do with the teachings of the Church....churches don't support Tarot .... In their eyes Tarot has "unhealthy curiosity" about the future and only God knows what the future holds. Who are we to question? We need to sit still and follow the rules ...  

It's not only from churches. I'm amazed that many people who espouse the new "psychological" approach to tarot have a similar sense of fear and shame about exploring the future. Some of these folks lean toward atheist, even. Still we hear "Tarot is only for psychological reflection and should never never never be used to explore the future."

 

And let's face it. Some of the cards ARE scary and dark. Tarot arose in a time and place where the Black Plague was happening. And Inquisitions. To me the real question is: Why should Tarot NOT be scary?  I like that it's a bit scary. So is life.

Yet, as a reader, its important to learn to pull cards like Tower and Death without automatically freaking-out.

Edited February 21, 2023 by Misterei

[BradGad]

On 12/21/2018 at 11:58 AM, Jewel said:

In a general sense I believe it boils down to people fearing what they do not know or understand.

 

We can unpack and discuss at length (nothing wrong with that! that’s what forums are for!), but I’d say this is it in a nutshell. 

 

But how about this for a twist? People are scared of it because they sense it is powerful, and they’re right! 

 

(Seventy eight piece of cardboard aren’t powerful, but something that helps people identify, and break down, and choose from among, and reconfigure their inherited (or perhaps imposed) patterns of thoughts and feelings certainly is.)

 

[TarotSparks]

3 hours ago, Misterei said:

It's not only from churches. I'm amazed that many people who espouse the new "psychological" approach to tarot have a similar sense of fear and shame about exploring the future. Some of these folks lean toward atheist, even. Still we hear "Tarot is only for psychological reflection and should never never never be used to explore the future."

 

And let's face it. Some of the cards ARE scary and dark. Tarot arose in a time and place where the Black Plague was happening. And Inquisitions. To me the real question is: Why should Tarot NOT be scary?  I like that it's a bit scary. So is life.

Yet, as a reader, its important to learn to pull cards like Tower and Death without automatically freaking-out.

I am not talking only about religious people, even atheists are born in a society with Christian roots...  The idea of not exploring the future is planted in the majority of people, I think.  

 

Excellent point! Why shouldn't Tarot be scary? That's life. 

[BradGad]

On 12/11/2022 at 4:57 AM, Nemia said:

People also fear that you'll uncover all their daaaark secrets once you hold a deck of cards in your hand 😉 or that somehow, the card give you power over them. 

 

It's all superstition. The Christian establishment didn't want to share its authority over spiritual matters with anyone... like many organized religions. 

 

Tarot is a tool You can use any tool for good or bad purposes. You can use a hammer to build a table or to hurt someone., but the hammer was not invented as weapon. The same is true for the tarot.  You can use it to scam people, frighten or manipulate them, but the real purpose of tarot is not for hurting others. 

 

I realize this is a problematic statement, and I note that @Nemia qualified her statement about the Christian establishment with "like many organized religions"... But I can't keep silent: I think Christianity's intolerance of and animosity towards non-Christian things is also important. Here in the US, Christianity holds great sway, and has great influence over people's thinking. And Christianity has a piss-poor track record of understanding and respect for non-Christian things, especially things that like tarot reek of the pagan.

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by BradGad

[DanielJUK]

One of the problems I think historically is that major religions don't like competition. Often tarot and divination was forbidden and made fearful by various religions because it could end up as an alternative rival spirituality. Instead of people going to that place of worship, they might put their faith in divining and so they made it a sin or evil, people must not do that! I am not sure they feared it, just didn't want people spending more time with it than their places of worship. Historically any religious or spiritual competition must be crushed!

 

The fascinating thing though is that every major religion has divination associated it in history in some way. People had faith in that religion but also were into divination and often they did it secretly. We know about it today and it has shaped our divination. There is a lot of Christian religion in our decks today, from Catholic countries where cartomancy grew. There were people who were strongly Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist who were into divination and formed divination systems. We have had people post in this community who have strong faith but not fearful of the cards and divination is as important to them as their faith. So for some people it's possible to not fear or be suspicious of tarot. So why do some people feel safe to use them and others that it's cursed or the work of the Devil or whatever negative concept? Maybe they have got over superstition and it has an importance in their life? Maybe they had an astonishing reading or something. It's the reputation that makes it scary I think and all the superstitious tales about it 🙂

[Misterei]

On 2/20/2023 at 8:44 PM, BradGad said:

...I think Christianity's intolerance of and animosity towards non-Christian things is also important. Here in the US, Christianity holds great sway, and has great influence over people's thinking. And Christianity has a piss-poor track record of understanding and respect for non-Christian things, especially things that like tarot reek of the pagan.

Actually Tarot / Tarocchi are TOTALLY 100% CHRISTIAN. Tarocchi arose in Catholic Italy and was first mass-porduced in Catholic France. NOTHING about Taort is pagan. Until you get into 1990s - 2000s and decks like Druidcraft, Pagan Otherworlds, etc.

I think ppl are collapsing together two different concepts.

1. Fear and shaming people for attempts to explore the future. It's god's will. So we shouldn't bother trying to predict it.
2. Tarot cards themselves which are completely Christian and arose in a Christian milieux. Even prior to Tarot, we owe our court cards to Christian cardmakers. Christian Europe got playing cards from the Moslem mamluks, then proceeded to draw human figures on mamluk-style decks to "stick it" to the Moslems. It's the same reason many Spanish and Greek dishes are sometimes made with pork even though this wasn't the traditional recipe. They wanted to bother the moslems. Human-looking Court cards were a bit of "pork" added to the playing card recipe.

On 2/21/2023 at 2:16 AM, DanielJUK said:

One of the problems I think historically is that major religions don't like competition. Often tarot and divination was forbidden and made fearful by various religions because it could end up as an alternative rival spirituality. Instead of people going to that place of worship, they might put their faith in divining and so they made it a sin or evil, people must not do that

Yep. This is the heart of the matter. Follow the money, as they say. Can't have any of that collection plate money going to a fortune teller!

Edited February 22, 2023 by Misterei

[akiva]

1 hour ago, Misterei said:

Actually Tarot / Tarocchi are TOTALLY 100% CHRISTIAN. Tarocchi arose in Catholic Italy and was first mass-porduced in Catholic France. NOTHING about Taort is pagan. Until you get into 1990s - 2000s and decks like Druidcraft, Pagan Otherworlds, etc.

 

In Sicily they removed all Christian iconography from the tarocco siciliano during 1700s (if I remember correctly). They made it very hellenistic/roman pagan in nature (I'm not sure which tbh).

There's no devil, it has Jupiter/Zeus as judgement, Romulus and Remus as the sun card. Also Atlas as the world card, Selene and Athena also make an appearance!

I know it's unique to the island, but I thought I'd put it out there 😁