Had a moment of doubt

seedcake

The God I know is so much more powerful than any demonic forces that I never give any thought to it. He/She is on my side and if I ever have an issue, He/She will take care of it. People who believe there' a demon around every corner are giving power to those negative powers that they really don't have. I prefer to trust that I'm protected (because I know I am) and not waste my time tilting at windmills and living in fear. Those are my sincere beliefs. Evil does exist, of course, but I won't give it power over me more than it deserves.

Great words! I believe many of people who have such thoughts, like you King Arthur, should keep them in mind. I keep such words in my head too :)

I'll be a bit rambly I guess. Reading Tarot is not an easy experience. It's sometimes very hard work which take out our energy because we think, use our intuition etc. At some point, it gives a lot of strength but in the same time, make us very vulnerable. I believe in so-called "demons", it doesn't matter if I call them "djinns" or any other way. They exist on many levels and we can choose which vision is the closest to us. I'll be honest - I believe in djinns as separate entities, in Christian cultures they're called "demons" or just "devil" or "satan" ("sheytan" if we want to stay with Arabic names). I don't want to make contact with them just as much they don't want to have it with me. They don't make me scared and I don't see them as pure evil (some are but it's just like with humans, good and bad are everywhere). The problem is that in Christian culture (and unfortunately it's going to be the same with Islamic thought) core is to deny existing such powers - they're described as evil and doing many harm. All we can do, is to protect ourselves from them. It's really sad 'cause easier is to accept that there's something beyond us and go on further. When you have knowledge, it's not going to do any harm to you. To be honest, you can consider yourself protected.

I'm really surprised that you mentioned it in the context of some buddhist shop. You felt there is something wrong? The awesome thing about Buddhism is acceptence of any of your believes - you believe in the only one God? Fine. You pray for many deities? Sure, do if you like it.

And another thing, the most important which was "opened" to me thanks to my dear friend who's a shaman. Doing such things like Tarot reading is opening us spiritually. I feel it this way. So we should be ready to find many other things, especially meeting other spirits. When you do Tarot reading or even reading spiritual book, you give different energy which is really interesting for "djinns" for example. I'm not sure if it makes any sense now. Anyway, in such moments you shouldn't be scared, it's something natural, it happens this way. Don't let Christian thinking to ruin this 'cause when you stick with it, it's going to do a lot of harm. In Poland you can find a lot of stories (I believe in US or UK too) dozens of stories how people were harmed by Tarot or runes or whatever you want (Far Eastern religions etc. too) and Church saved them. Sorry, in my opinion Church haven't saved anyone, it just took all this negative energy and directed a bit differently. But all the pain and fear stayed inside these people.
 

Starshower

What completely different experiences we seem to have had! I have attended Christian churches throughout my childhood (protestant) and then Anglican & Roman Catholic weekly, for decades, in adulthood, and have never once come across one single mention of tarot or divination or condemnation of it ever, in hundreds (prob. thousands) of churchy experiences. But I have heard LOTS of condemnation of porn, and use of (non-medical) drugs and excessive alcohol (or even ANY alcohol from my Methodist tea-totaller teachers!) and also much condemnation & forbidding of gambling! Not even raffle tickets were allowed in Methodist circles!
How different American & English / British cultures can be in places! I have never, ever heard or seen warnings against tarot anywhere - only much interest, including from various clergy, who saw it as a fascinating system / tool for understanding human dynamics (one vicar said it seemed at least as good as academic psychology, in which he had no faith at all.)
Thanks for teaching me how extremely different attitudes are over there.

Tarot, I find, does open up & enhance one's sensitivity to all kinds of subtleties ... in the facial expressions, body-language and behaviours of others, and also seems to enhance empathy and communication skills. I don't 'get' how or why anyone or any religious group thinks that using tarot can be harmful. Superstitions and beliefs in 'demons' & 'evil spirits' abound everywhere, and some personality types are more prone than others to externalising things they see as 'evil' too. This is a difficult topic to analyse, and I'm trying to be more open-minded to the possibility that 'bad entities' just might exist (though that's a step too far for me atm.)
Best wishes on your exciting tarot journey of adventure. :)