A Brief History of ... Tarot Cards and Divination

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I surfed around some TikTok rooms this weekend and discovered several tarot readers, some of whom are quite talented.  I also found a number of people entering the reader's rooms and proceeding to preach about the evils of the cards, how they are either possessed by demons or lead to demonic possession, about the peril of anyone's soul who even comes close to said cards, etc.  One woman said she knew tarot was evil because the Bible says so.

Folks, before you judge others, you might want to get your facts straight.  

Let's start with this: Tarot cards are not mentioned in the Bible.  The first mention of them anywhere comes to us in the mid-15th century from Italy, and it introduces tarot as a card game, nothing more.  In fact, tarot is still played in parts of Europe today.  The first mention of using tarot for occult purposes doesn't come for 300 years, in the mid-18th century.  It is simply a card game that is also used for other purposes.

It's true that Deuteronomy 18:10 does say "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination..."  However, we know, from the Bible, that the Levites, or the priestly tribe of Israel, used various forms of animal sacrifice to divine the guilt or innocence of subjects in law cases, while Joseph used a silver chalice for scrying, another form of divination.  Why does the Bible appear to contradict itself?  Does it mean that no one may practice divination or was that charge directed at specific people?

The tenth chapter of Deuteronomy is actually part of a sermon that Moses, a prophet (one who reveals God's will and/or foretells future events), delivered to the Israelites shortly before they entered the Promised Land, their restored homeland.  It is only a piece of the series of charges, regulations, and laws that Moses said the Israelites were required to follow and obey in order to not lose their homeland again.  Among the laws are:

  • the instructions for genocide
  • the institution of slavery
  • the procedure for required animal sacrifice
  • a list of forbidden foods (including pork and shellfish)
  • don't wear clothing made of mixed fabrics
  • seeds can't be mingled (which means modern gardens are against Biblical code)
  • all roofs required some type of fence or battlement
  • going to church within 66 days of giving birth to a girl (or 33 days for a boy)
  • not paying your employees every day (no wages should ever be held overnight)
  • trimming your beard
  • not standing in the presence of the elderly
  • and many, many more...

All of these laws and regulations were given to a specific set of people during a specific period of time about a specific issue.  We should not and cannot pick and choose which ones we want to follow today in order to further any particular agenda.  To do so makes a mockery of the book that many claim to religiously follow.  

Also, if you are going to damn a set of cards because they're used for divination then you must also damn the following list of items that have been used to divine the future.

  • Playing cards: cartomancy
  • Dust: abacomancy
  • Needles: acultomancy
  • Weather: aeromancy
  • Flour: aleuromancy
  • Sounds: alveromancy
  • Walking: ambulomancy
  • Flowers: anthomancy
  • Beans: favomancy
  • Coffee / Tea / Wine: tasseomancy
  • Color: coloromancy
  • Bones: osteomancy
  • Old Shoes: scarpomancy
  • Fashion: stolisomancy
  • the Dictionary: dictiomancy
  • the Bible: bibliomancy
  • and a thousand more...
One reader was told that just touching tarot cards meant she was going to hell.  I wonder if the person who said that has any dust in their house??



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