Monday, January 18, 2016

For Those of You Who Have Been Told Tarot Cards are Evil or From the Devil, This is For YOU!

I was brought up in a very strict fundamentalist Christian home. When I was little apparently my parents or anyone who wanted to be a member of the particular "denomination" or church had to sign an agreement that they would not own a television. (television was thought to be a tool of the devil). Also many did not believe that women could wear pants or cut their hair, and they certainly could not preach, teach, or hold any type of leadership position in the church.

We were not allowed to go to the fair. The carnival was okay as long as it was the fireman's carnival and not any other of those "evil" societies  who put on carnivals. Disney movies were definitely a "NO NO". I went to my first movie when I was sixteen and even then I was hoping the rapture did not happen while I was there or maybe I might get "left behind."

For those of you who have never heard of "the rapture" it was, and still is the belief that at some point Jesus is coming back to earth to take all of those to heaven who have accepted him as savior and leave everyone else here to be eventually taken to hell after seven years of tribulation. We won't go into that in this blog.


The common theme in all of the aforementioned rules is the theme of "fear". We were afraid of the power of the devil. We were afraid of God sending us to hell. Apparently it is still a common theme in some churches. I do not lump all sects of Christianity together just as you should not lump everyone together who believe in any specific religion. There are as many ways to interpret the Bible and other Sacred texts as there are fish in the sea. The point I am making here is that if your Higher Power makes you afraid, maybe you should change your viewpoint. I now believe that LOVE is the supreme attribute of my Higher Power, and I do not have a label for this FORCE which would put me into any particular category.

But back to the fear of tarot cards.

Tarot cards in some sects of various faiths are thought to be a tool of the devil, along with anything that does not appear in the Bible as "okay."



I don't specifically remember any mention of the tarot the many times that I read the Bible, but I guess it was lumped into a category of those things that weren't specifically inspired by God. However, in my experience with the tarot, I cannot say that they are not inspired by "God" when some of the messages I receive when reading them are nothing less than inspirational! I know that the information is coming from a Force higher than me as I could not possibly imagine the stuff that is revealed to me in a reading.



I began receiving messages from the Holy Spirit when I began attending a church that believed in prophecy. I may have heard messages before this, but I was extremely shy and was not someone who would have shared anything I received so I never really acknowledged the gift before then.

Fast forward many years later. Now I hear messages from the same Voice who was talking to me then. Some would argue that since I don't label myself a Christian anymore or call the Voice the Holy Spirit or Jesus that I am really hearing messages from the devil. At this point in my spiritual journey, I tend to dislike labels. I still talk to Jesus. And He is okay with what I do. However, in my spiritual journeys, I also have run into other Higher Powers that are not necessarily connected to Jesus. I have not felt fear in their presence, but only LOVE.

In my estimation the "devil" could be classified as an entity or thought form whose prime goal is to make our lives miserable. He would be the antithesis of anything that connected us with our Higher Power, God, Love or Enlightenment. In the tarot the card of the devil represents anything that holds you captive. That could be anything. Now I believe that anything that keeps us from walking the highest path is not going to send us to damnation eternally. Just like if I had a child who misbehaved I would not sentence him or her to death. Most of the time I believe we create our own experience of the devil. Like attracts like. If I am walking my path with love, I will not run into the opposite that often.

The tarot in itself has no power. The cards of the tarot consist of 78 cards with various pictures on them which as a whole represent the various qualities of human experience. When the cards originally appeared in history, it is thought that they were nothing more than playing cards. Oh, but, I forgot. Playing cards when I was a child were evil too.

When I was a child one of the games we were allowed to play was dominoes. Did you know that originally dominoes were used as a tool of divination? This is a little known fact.

When I connect with the cards of the tarot, I am connecting with my Higher Self, the Higher Self of the seeker, and the Highest Beings of Love and Light (I call them this just to allow for whatever people may call their Higher Power, since I believe that LOVE is the only rule as to Who is a Higher Power and Who is not).

If a card reading brings someone comfort, relief, information that makes their life better, happier, or leads them to a higher path, how can it be that the reading is orchestrated by any entity called the devil?

As I have evolved in my own personal belief system, I am of the belief that LOVE is from GOD, GODDESS, OR SOURCE,  and FEAR is from the opposite of that. If you want to call the opposite of LOVE the devil, that is up to you.

I believe that I am connected to the Source of Love, as you are. We are all connected. We are also connected to the plants, the animals, and everything that comes into our experience. Does that mean we are also connected to the devil? Perhaps.

If I believe that everything comes into my experience for a reason, that I can learn from every experience, then I guess the answer is yes. I can learn from my challenges. I don't blame them on an entity that is out for my distruction. As a matter of fact, since I stopped being afraid of him, I haven't run into him lately. Other than the occasional difficult day, life is pretty pleasant and enjoyable.

I can get a message from a cloud, from a rock, from a series of numbers that appear to me repetitively, from a song on the radio, from a movie, from a stranger talking in another aisle in the grocery store, from a random synchronicity. I don't NEED the cards of the tarot to deliver messages. But people like them. Photos say in an instant what might take me several minutes to express verbally.

I could say, hmm, did you have a difficult year last year? Or I could show them this picture:

Bottom line is, Spirit wants to communicate with us. They want to give us help and advice for our lives. Symbols are the easiest way for them to come through. It is a lot easier for Spirit to send me a picture of something than to say.. Joy, tell them that they are going to learn a difficult truth which is going to upset their world, but in the end the truth will set them free ( the basic meaning of the tower card.)

I guess what I want to say to you is this. If the cards of the tarot invoke fear in you, then stay away from them. Connect to your Higher Power in a way that makes you feel LOVE and JOY.  But don't judge others who may be able to connect to their Higher Power or Higher Wisdom through the cards.

LOVE is the only rule.

HERE is a Bible verse to back me up:

1 Corinthians 13New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecyand can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Just in case the images I have posted here are your only exposure to the tarot, you may feel like the images on the cards have a tendency to invoke fear. Not so. Even my least favorite card, the tower, has a positive application. Truth. Sometimes when we learn the truth it can be difficult or life changing. However, if we apply the truth to improving our lives, then the final outcome can be positive. Like this card:


This is the card of happy endings! To all of you I wish for you a happy ending! And remember, there is really no such thing as an ending. Every ending has within it a new beginning!

Just for today, expand your viewpoint. Know that there is more than one way to look at everything. Look at all of your beliefs from another perspective. Life is more than you think.

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