Views of tarot in Austria?

Hello everyone. I live in USA have my whole life but i am moving next year to Austria. I am very much into tarot obviously, he hee. I am curious as to if anyone knows how tarot reading, tarot decks are viewed in Austria? Are the sold in most stores? Or will i have to turn to buying just online? Is tarot reading thought ill of there? If someone came over my place and saw my decks on the shelf or i tell them of my love for tarot will people generally view that in a good or bad way?

I know there are many people from the EU on here so thought i would ask. So if anyone either lives there or has been and could give me some ideas let me know!

I do not read professionally or anything i just am a purveyor of tarot.

Hello Oni!

I can't speak for Austria, but I believe the conditions might be similar to those in Germany. So far, I never had the situation that somebody disapproved of tarot for religious reasons. It is more likely that people simply believe you're being irrational if you say that you use tarot. Depending on your occupation it might be better not to mention tarot on the job because your co-workers might not take you seriously anymore.

In Germany, you can buy tarot decks in larger bookstore chains, but usually there's not that much choice. For example, one of the bookstores here sells like 10 different Doreen Virtue Oracles, about 10 other oracle decks (angels and faeries and dolphins mainly) as well as two Lenormand decks and two or three tarot decks.
Apart from that, you'd probably have to look for smaller shops, e.g. esoteric bookstores or occult shops, or do your deck shopping online. I bought most of my decks online.

Thanks for that info! Especially since i am moving to either Germany or Austria. I know Germany is much bigger and has more shopping so i did not think it would be an issue finding decks there. But like i had to ask about Austria cause i know it is much smaller country and a bit less international.

I like the more racy and spicy decks so i guess i will be do some online shopping! he hee.

Yes well here in USA it is same thing, you can not talk about tarot or the occult at work. I will not be working when i move to Austria/Germany so that will not be an issue but i do know what you mean.

Most Austrians will probably think of Tarot as a 54-card game (Tarock) before thinking of it as a tool for divination. That's not to say you can't use it for esoteric purposes, it just might be a lot different.

Oni said:

Thanks for that info! Especially since i am moving to either Germany or Austria. I know Germany is much bigger and has more shopping so i did not think it would be an issue finding decks there. But like i had to ask about Austria cause i know it is much smaller country and a bit less international.

I like the more racy and spicy decks so i guess i will be do some online shopping! he hee.

Yes well here in USA it is same thing, you can not talk about tarot or the occult at work. I will not be working when i move to Austria/Germany so that will not be an issue but i do know what you mean.

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It's part of the (northern) European Union and habits are barely different from Germany and Switzerland. A few magical orders were founded and still exist in the region. Esotericism is far from unknown. Austria was/is a great cultural centre and Vienna is indeed cosmopolitan if a bit expensive - there should be no trouble practicing tarot there. I can't speak for whether there are many professional readers or their services in demand but they are a lot less new-agey about spiritual practices there. A nice place. Interesting.

Well, sorry, that I have a word of caution here:
Most Austrians are Roman Catholics and my SIL'S personal experiences are, that due to the negative view on divination held by the church there is considderable mistrust and also fear of Tarot being evil.
I am sure, that this is less a problem in the bigger citys, but out in the country side.... it is still quite conservative.....
Best of luck to you!

Mi-Shell said:

Well, sorry, that I have a word of caution here:
Most Austrians are Roman Catholics and my SIL'S personal experiences are, that due to the negative view on divination held by the church there is considderable mistrust and also fear of Tarot being evil.
I am sure, that this is less a problem in the bigger citys, but out in the country side.... it is still quite conservative.....
Best of luck to you!

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In the Austrian countryside they might mistrust you just because you are a foreigner. No need to pull out your tarot deck for that. And at least in Germany catholics are normally easier to deal with than Seventh-day Adventists for example. But even the adventists and similar ideologic groups are quite innocious compared to American conservative Christians I would say.

I am not worried too much about varies religious groups really. And i will not be like pulling out decks in public. Yes like they do sit on my bookshelf next to all my books on various subjects so yes i do wonder the general views as to tarot. Here in USA many people are very close minded who say they are not of faith.

I am a Black woman and here in USA many places i have gone too have been both rude and racist when it come to buying tarot decks, so i doubt anything the Germans or Austrians do will be too alarming for me. I have gone to many different stores over the years and had people refuse to sale me tarot decks and make racial statements.

So i hope at least greed of taking my money would out weigh prejudiced when i go over there! he hee.

But i do not i will have an issue over there. In USA when someone knows i am into tarot i tend to get either a speech on God or if they come over and see them i have had people literally leave.


The 2nd thing i am concerned about is just really how hard it is to buy them over there? I had a friend tell me you can only get them sent from Italy and there are like no shops that sale them. Although he did tell me there were numerous shops that sold Runes.

Austria seems very open minded and Germany has many big cities so i doubt i will have much problems.

I am sorry you are also confronted with racial prejudice. ((((Oni ♥))))
As a person of colour you will not have any more problems buying Tarot decks than anyone else. In the book stores of larger cities you will find the Thoth and a Marseilles deck, a standard RWS and maybe a few Oracle decks, but nothing of the more "special" decks.
To get anything else, go to Amazon.de
http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...s,1162&rh=i:aps,k:tarotkarten&tag=chrome0f-21

Oupssss! what an URL!!!

Oni said:

The 2nd thing i am concerned about is just really how hard it is to buy them over there? I had a friend tell me you can only get them sent from Italy and there are like no shops that sale them.

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I second Mi-Shells post!

One hour away from me is a "spiritual bookstore" that sells tarot cards, oracle decks, crystals and meditation accessories. They have a whole shelf full of tarot decks.

Apart from that, I usually do my deck shopping on "www.amazon.de". They sell basically everything you might want for a reasonable price (14 to 20 Euros for most USG decks for example). Shipping is free on most tarot decks and you get your package within a few days.

Austria seems very open minded and Germany has many big cities so i doubt i will have much problems.

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In the bigger cities you should be fine, yes. In the countryside people are likely to be a lot more conservative (both in Germany and Austria). A friend of my mother lives in a small town in Austria and is married to a Vietnamese man with a US passport. Even after more than 20 years, her husband is still considered "the foreigner" in the town. It makes me sad to see how superficial some people can be, but that's the way things are.