Cards showing Occult Practices

Hi there everyone,

There are a couple of threads trending on the forum at the moment about occult practices. Reading the posts made me wonder which cards would indicate occult practices and which don't. Also, which would indicate dark occult practices (like black magic and the like).

Here's what I think:

The Major Aracana that indicate occult practices are:

The Magician
The High Priestess (maybe)
The heirophant (perhaps, but not dark occult)
The Hermit
The Devil (dark occult)
The Moon

Minor Arcana Cards indicating occult practices, i think, would have to be from the cups suit, and some of the wands, like the Ace (magic wand) and maybe the court cards because they are all carrying the 'magic wand' there.

But I really don't see the Pents or Swords indicating any occult practices. Earth and Air don't go with occult in my head.

Why do you guys think?

For me I would only associate the devil card to occult practices and would use the cards surrounding it to indicate if it was dark or light intentions.

Interesting. In context I can see these cards associated with occult practices, except for the Devil. It just seems like there has to be a measure of spirituality for this and the Devil doesn't have that. On the major arcana, I would add Temperance and Justice, for similar reasons. Temperance for mingling the spiritual and the concrete world, and Justice for keeping the two worlds in balance. I can imagine if someone was reaching for spiritual influences to make a difference in their concrete lives, these cards might indicate the connection. I also think the Star could be associated with spiritual healing which can be considered an occult practice.

The wands could be too. Not all of my court cards are carrying wands, but the idea of wielding fire could be related to the occult for me.
The cups not so much. Though I imagine the court cards may have a strong spirituality, I wouldn't be inclined to interpret that as occult unless the surrounding cards really indicated so.

I agree that pentacles and swords are out.

Tigerangel said:

For me I would only associate the devil card to occult practices and would use the cards surrounding it to indicate if it was dark or light intentions.

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For me, it would be as with Tigerangel--the Devil with surrounding cards indicating occult practices in some way. The word "occult" just means unknown or hidden, I think, and that could be just about anything using magick or ritual.

I also think it would make a difference which deck you're using. Thoth is a deck that I perceive as being heavily occult and magickal, along with the Tarot of Ceremonial Magick. I was made a gift of the latter one and bought the book used on Amazon. It's pretty heavy with symbolism and ritual but I'm intrigued with learning it as best I can.

The Devil may deal with the idea of physicality, but many spiritual practices do require a certain interface, depending on your point of view. A ritual is translating physical actions into spiritual experiences. Tarot itself is quite a "devilish" construct as it is wholly physical but can have a spiritual result.

I'm curious as to why people perceive the Devil as signifying occult practices. Is it because he is "evil?"

For me the Hierophant is one that stands out in that light. He is the teacher, the initiator, the one who has the wisdom of the "beyond." The Moon is all about "black magic;" that is, affecting reality in ways contrary to one's path, "unnaturally," enforcing the ego outwards. The Thoth Five of Discs also suggests this. It shows the discs as cogs in a machine that is splintering apart and symbolizes spiritual means put to the grinding work of physical aims.

closrapexa said:

The Devil may deal with the idea of physicality, but many spiritual practices do require a certain interface, depending on your point of view. A ritual is translating physical actions into spiritual experiences. Tarot itself is quite a "devilish" construct as it is wholly physical but can have a spiritual result.

I'm curious as to why people perceive the Devil as signifying occult practices. Is it because he is "evil?"

For me the Hierophant is one that stands out in that light. He is the teacher, the initiator, the one who has the wisdom of the "beyond." The Moon is all about "black magic;" that is, affecting reality in ways contrary to one's path, "unnaturally," enforcing the ego outwards. The Thoth Five of Discs also suggests this. It shows the discs as cogs in a machine that is splintering apart and symbolizes spiritual means put to the grinding work of physical aims.

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I don't even necessarily believe there really is a devil but I go by the intent of the creator of the deck and what their idea of a devil is. Rider Waite uses connections with Christian ideas for the notion of what a devil is, so that's what I'm talking about when I see the devil as being into occult practices.

It's interesting that you connect the Hierophant with the occult and I think you're right about him and the Moon. I'll remember that.

Thank you all for your input. It's all quite interesting.

About the devil, it's just that there is a lot of "darkness" around the card that makes it very occult-y. I don't think of it as evil necessarily, just as low vibration so to speak.

summeryjoy said:

Thank you all for your input. It's all quite interesting.

About the devil, it's just that there is a lot of "darkness" around the card that makes it very occult-y. I don't think of it as evil necessarily, just as low vibration so to speak.

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Hello summerjoy, in my readings regarding "occult practices" as you call them, Devil shows up very often paired with the moon, the star or the high priestess as well but that is not all, Here in Mexico "occult practices" are very common, so people ask about this topic very often.

It is also true that there are lots of types of "magic" for example:

Devil paired with the lovers, might indicate "sexual bonds" or "sexual magic"
High priestess, Devil, Hierophant, Magician paired with the moon or the star might be talking about "occult practices" literally.

I have seen some cards from the suit of swords especially court cards refering to occult practices as witchcraft, the queen of swords as the "witch".

The FOOL and the Tower dont show "occult practices" by themselves but the effects of those practices.


Hope this helps, greetings from Mexico.

Black magic or satanic ritual etc I was thinking perhaps a combination of cards like the devil, magician, 10 of swords or 3 of swords ???

summeryjoy said:

Hi there everyone,

There are a couple of threads trending on the forum at the moment about occult practices. Reading the posts made me wonder which cards would indicate occult practices and which don't. Also, which would indicate dark occult practices (like black magic and the like).

Here's what I think:

The Major Aracana that indicate occult practices are:

The Magician
The High Priestess (maybe)
The heirophant (perhaps, but not dark occult)
The Hermit
The Devil (dark occult)
The Moon

Minor Arcana Cards indicating occult practices, i think, would have to be from the cups suit, and some of the wands, like the Ace (magic wand) and maybe the court cards because they are all carrying the 'magic wand' there.

But I really don't see the Pents or Swords indicating any occult practices. Earth and Air don't go with occult in my head.

Why do you guys think?

Click to expand...

Hi,

Why The Hermit? I did not know ... Could anyone tell me what does the hermit and told about the occult practices? Yesterday he appeared to me many times asking about a topic related to this...