Should Tarot be Mainstream?

Should tarot be mainstream?

Actually, I don't understand the word, "SHOULD tarot be mainstream?"

Tarot will be what it will be.

It's come out of the closet, out of the shadows into which the Church tossed it all those centuries ago. As people get used to it, and understand its power, it will creep out farther and farther into the light.

Which Church sent it into shadows centuries ago???

Certainly not the Roman Catholic Church, nor the Eastern Orthodox.

Yeah...............the modern day fundamentalists don't like it and haven't. But I really don't see its history as particularly full of persecution. It's just been something on the fringe. And it probably will be as long as people (readers and non-readers) associate it purely with gypsy-type things instead of the mainstream, modern life.

Maybe someone can tell us just when the Catholic Church started being against divination of any kind ? And when divination became associated with the arts of witchcraft ? And when people who were using methods of divination were politely discouraged from doing so by the church and its' representatives ? Or was it all just a bad dream ? A fabrication ? A mistake ? A delusion?

And since the Catholic Church isn't against tarot , I once again encourage everyone to take their decks to church on Sunday and spread the love to one and all . I'm sure they will be appreciative and understanding , as well as grateful to be enlightened .

~

Miren said:

Yeah...............the modern day fundamentalists don't like it and haven't.

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~Evangelicals~Christian Fundamentalists~....most don't like Tarot because they misunderstand and misapply the scriptures regarding Divination; along with other topics they get wrong...but still insist on their correctness.

As for Tarot being mainstream, I think it can be a benefit to many people. However, I don't believe it will ever truly be de-mystified because of the spiritual and Divinatory elements. I mean afterall what is Divination if not seeking answers from the Divine? What is more mysterious than the Creator?

~Peace~

There is a difference betweenIn terms of the Roman Catholic Church only, it makes no statements against Tarot.

What it does say, in specific regard to divination, is cautionary, and covered by reading the Catechism 2115-2117 (inclusive). Basically, it states that God can reveal the future to his prophets and other saints, and then cautions against 'unhealthy curiosity' following this on by a proscription against divination, the reason for this being that this 'conceals a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings'.

Of course I disagree with this last.

Nonetheless, the Roman Catholic Church does not speak against Tarot, but does against divination. The two are not necessarily overlapping, and allows for OTHER uses of tarot by its members, including prayer, meditation, study, inspiration, story-telling, brain-storming, and myriad other uses.

If nothing else, the books by Hederman and by Tomberg should show that tarot has appropriate uses within the Catholic church.

I think someone should finally get the Vatican to make a definitive statement about it one way or another , and put all speculation to an end . One can find opinions about it from church people that come out very much against tarot in any form , and people who don't want to hear that will just decide on their own for themselves something in direct contrast .

Then again , even if the Vatican did make a final statement it wouldn't make any difference, would it ? People would just decide they were ignorant , in error , and had no business making statements about it .

I don't really understand what you are suggesting, Dark Inquisitor?

The Vatican has made some pretty strong statements, that have to be couched in a way that still allows for revelations to saints (both past and future), whilst at the same time warning against divination as action that it sees as something that seeks to control either events or other people.

It cannot, nor need to, make a statement about tarot per se - why would it!? Tarot has many different uses, many of which are totally consistent with the Catholic Church. Also, in countries where tarot is far more integrated and part of the very cultural inheritance of its population, how would a statement about tarot in general be understood?

Either there is a presumption that Tarot only has one use (ie, divination), or that tarot is somehow idolatrous (which it isn't), or ...what?

The catechism covers already more than some Catholics are happy with. Why force a definitive statement about an ambiguous question that has, in any case, already been covered by the Catechism as it stands?

For those who wish to read the relevent sections of the Catechism, they are under the subtitle 'Divination and Magic', scroll down to sections 2115-2117.

stella01904 said:

I think what we call "mainstream" here kills culture. It makes all the cities too alike for comfort.

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Yes, blatant cynical commercialism is destroying culture.

jmd said:

Nonetheless, the Roman Catholic Church does not speak against Tarot, but does against divination. The two are not necessarily overlapping, and allows for OTHER uses of tarot by its members, including prayer, meditation, study, inspiration, story-telling, brain-storming, and myriad other uses.

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This is exactly how I understand the RCC's take on Tarot vs. Divination...against divination...fortune telling. Never heard anything about the Tarot in all my years.

And didn't the last Pope have a copy of Meditations on the Tarot on his desk?

I talk Tarot with many Catholic friends....I don't go to church regularly but was raised in RCC, went to all Catholic schools till I was 21, all-girls schools (Catholic from 9th grade through graduation from college. I even read handwritings while I was there...not as a divinatory tool, but as a method that reveals something about the person.

terri