Tarot prejudice.

MagsStardustBlack

Im basically just venting to get something off of my chest. Something that happened today has made me question what non- tarot people think about Tarot and how much of what they think is through speculation, preconceived negative opinion or genuine understanding and distaste.

I was visiting a really great friend who as far as I know regularly attends a Christian church, thats fine I respect her in her belief sysrem. I offered to paint her daughter for a tarot deck I was wanting to illustrate. From what she has said in the past she likes my painting, however she politely declined as it was tarot and she didn't want to be associated with it. So that was fine, of course she can decline I was fine with that.

But I got thinking about what tarot suggests to some people. Or what religion might regard tarot as. I have never thought of this before. I regard tarot as beautiful as are many other belief systems like Buddhism and tools for self development or divination such as meditation. However the feeling I got was that to my friend any associations with tarot were a big no. It wasnt like I was impressing my views. Just wanted to paint a beautiful girl in magical painting. And I dont think it was the fantasy aspect as she loves mermaids and fairies. It waa because it was with reference to tarot.

Anyway just voicing my thoughts. Its not my friend I am questioning but does tarot have a bad reputation or something?

Magsx
 

EyeAmEye

I don't know how devout your friend is in her faith, but I would venture to say that truly devout Christians believe any form of divination to be "devil's work". The Bible practically says so.
 

tarotbear

Dear Mags,

Christianity and Tarot do NOT mix.

I once had a Born Again co-worker, and when she found out the word Tarot was in one of my email addys SHE REALLY, HONESTLY SAID to me: "Oh, I could NEVER send you an email then because I CANNOT TYPE THAT WORD."

When you cool off, please be sure to paint as many beautiful portraits of others that you can, and be sure to let this person see that they blew their chance to own something beautiful because of their religious prejudices.
 

2dogs

Well, Tarot is providing answers from outside the system of the religion, and is therefore competition.
 

byrgypsy

WOW! Some Christians really do get crazy over a pack of cards, others don't.

I was raised with a strict Southern Baptist grandmother. We couldn't play card games on Sunday. She saw it as a form of gambling. Although, I could sit at her kitchen table and read cards all day. When my younger brother would question it, she would say I was using a gift.

I guess it is different for different sects of the faith and how strong the belief that the cards are from satan.
 

danieljuk

There is a lot of Christians on here who are conflicted about their tarot usage and religion. Many threads about it. It seems really difficult to love tarot and be Christian.

The most awful thing is their loved ones who judge their tarot usage and they have to keep it secret because of faith :(
 

GotH

I don't know how devout your friend is in her faith, but I would venture to say that truly devout Christians believe any form of divination to be "devil's work". The Bible practically says so.

The bible also says one should not do the following either but people are not nearly as condemned:

Taken from a recent Facebook post.....



For those that are pointing at the Bible and quoting Leviticus 18:22 - "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination" - please be sure that you're following the other Leviticus mandates as well:

Round haircuts - Leviticus 19:27 reads "You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard."

Football & Bacon - Leviticus 11:8, which is discussing pigs, reads "You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you."

Polyester, or any other fabric blends - Leviticus 19:19 reads, "You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together."

Shellfish - Leviticus 11:10 reads, "But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you."

In fact, there are 76 things that Leviticus says you can't do. It's quite a list, and while some things would be easy to skip, others I'm guessing have been done on the daily for some people.

Check Yourself:

1. Burning any yeast or honey in offerings to God (2:11)

2. Failing to include salt in offerings to God (2:13)

3. Eating fat (3:17)

4. Eating blood (3:17)

5. Failing to testify against any wrongdoing you’ve witnessed (5:1)

6. Failing to testify against any wrongdoing you’ve been told about (5:1)

7. Touching an unclean animal (5:2)

8. Carelessly making an oath (5:4)

9. Deceiving a neighbour about something trusted to them (6:2)

10. Finding lost property and lying about it (6:3)

11. Bringing unauthorised fire before God (10:1)

12. Letting your hair become unkempt (10:6)

13. Tearing your clothes (10:6)

14. Drinking alcohol in holy places (10:9)

15. Eating an animal which doesn’t both chew cud and has a divided hoof (11:4-7)

16. Touching the carcass of any of the above (11:8)

17. Eating – or touching the carcass of – any seafood without fins or scales (11:10-12)

18. Eating – or touching the carcass of – eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat. (11:13-19)

19. Eating – or touching the carcass of – flying insects with four legs, unless those legs are jointed (11:20-22)

20. Eating any animal which walks on all four and has paws (11:27)

21. Eating – or touching the carcass of – the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon (11:29)

22. Eating – or touching the carcass of – any creature which crawls on many legs, or its belly (11:41-42)

23. Going to church within 33 days after giving birth to a boy (12:4)

24. Going to church within 66 days after giving birth to a girl (12:5)

25. Having sex with your mother (18:7)

26. Having sex with your father’s wife (18:8)

27. Having sex with your sister (18:9)

28. Having sex with your granddaughter (18:10)

29. Having sex with your half-sister (18:11)

30. Having sex with your biological aunt (18:12-13)

31. Having sex with your uncle’s wife (18:14)

32. Having sex with your daughter-in-law (18:15)

33. Having sex with your sister-in-law (18:16)

34. Having sex with a woman and also having sex with her daughter or granddaughter (18:17)

35. Marrying your wife’s sister while your wife still lives (18:18)

36. Having sex with a woman during her period (18:19)

37. Having sex with your neighbour’s wife (18:20)

38. Giving your children to be sacrificed to Molek (18:21)

39. Having sex with a man “as one does with a woman” (18:22)

40. Having sex with an animal (18:23)

41. Making idols or “metal gods” (19:4)

42. Reaping to the very edges of a field (19:9)

43. Picking up grapes that have fallen in your vineyard (19:10)

44. Stealing (19:11)

45. Lying (19:11)

46. Swearing falsely on God’s name (19:12)

47. Defrauding your neighbour (19:13)

48. Holding back the wages of an employee overnight (19:13)

49. Cursing the deaf or abusing the blind (19:14)

50. Perverting justice, showing partiality to either the poor or the rich (19:15)

51. Spreading slander (19:16)

52. Doing anything to endanger a neighbour’s life (19:16)

53. Seeking revenge or bearing a grudge (19:18)

54. Mixing fabrics in clothing (19:19)

55. Cross-breeding animals (19:19)

56. Planting different seeds in the same field (19:19)

57. Sleeping with another man’s slave (19:20)

58. Eating fruit from a tree within four years of planting it (19:23)

59. Practising divination or seeking omens (tut, tut astrology) (19:26)

60. Trimming your beard (19:27)

61. Cutting your hair at the sides (19:27)

62. Getting tattoos (19:28)

63. Making your daughter prostitute herself (19:29)

64. Turning to mediums or spiritualists (19:31)

65. Not standing in the presence of the elderly (19:32)

66. Mistreating foreigners – “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (19:33-34)

67. Using dishonest weights and scales (19:35-36)

68. Cursing your father or mother (punishable by death) (20:9)

69. Marrying a prostitute, divorcee or widow if you are a priest (21:7,13)

70. Entering a place where there’s a dead body as a priest (21:11)

71. Slaughtering a cow/sheep and its young on the same day (22:28)

72. Working on the Sabbath (23:3)

73. Blasphemy (punishable by stoning to death) (24:14)

74. Inflicting an injury; killing someone else’s animal; killing a person must be punished in kind (24:17-22)

75. Selling land permanently (25:23)

76. Selling an Israelite as a slave (25:42)
 

VGimlet

That Leviticus...I get stuck on that book every time I've ever tried to read the Bible. :p (not being Christian, I am reading it as literature...) I find the prohibitions fascinating.

The only person who has ever said anything to me about tarot (when I did my display at the library where I work) was a crazy local access TV channel preacher, who advocated mail order brides as they were more likely to be accepting of man's will (Yes, really) and one of my co-workers who was an evangelical christian.

Devout evangelical christians, and probably some others (Baptists? I don't know enough about Christian religions to know) view it as divination which is strictly forbidden. However, most of the Catholic folk I know, even DH's extremely devout Catholic cousin, have had me read their cards without a qualm.

I know other christian folks, but none of them have ever said anything negative to me. BUT we live in a pretty liberal and accepting area.

I don't see tarot as having anything to do with religion at all (some do) but I try and be respectful of others.
 

merissa_88

So sorry. Maybe when she sees the beautiful paintings you are doing for this deck she will change her mind.

Religion can be crazy. So glad I'm not a Christian.
 

GotH

There is a lot of Christians on here who are conflicted about their tarot usage and religion. Many threads about it. It seems really difficult to love tarot and be Christian.

The most awful thing is their loved ones who judge their tarot usage and they have to keep it secret because of faith :(


I am Christian but where I am different is, the above post is taken from the Old Testament which geared mostly to Jewish law if I understand that correctly. Christ cancelled a lot of it out and put into simpler terms. Love God with all your heart and soul and love your neighbor as you do yourself. I like to feel that I help people with tarot. Growing up Catholic I can see where I've become confused along the way. ;) I think I'm better now.