Is Tarot 'Demonic?'

Or even offensive?

Last week, in my Masonic Lodge, I participated in a quasi-masonic ritual that included Tarot. I wrote a little elsewhere about the ritual, its purpose, and its elements.

From that, I got a bit of pushback.

Someone pointing out to me that Tarot cards are considered, by some, to to be ‘offensive’ and ‘demonic.’

Photo by Tech Nick on Unsplash

‘Offensive’ (Webster says: Causing displeasure or resentment.)

OK, ‘offensive’ is easy enough to deal with. Our world is absolutely filled with things that we might find offensive, and filled with people who do things that we might find offensive.

The quick, and correct answer is: So what. Grow up. Deal with it.

We all have feelings, and our feelings are hurt from time to time. We are exposed to things that cause us to have negative emotional reactions. We get offended. That’s just the nature of life.

But here’s the thing. Our feelings are just that. Our feelings.

They are ours to deal with. Ours alone to deal with. Not for the rest of the world to dance around.

Tarot cards offend you?

Cool. Don’t look at them. Problem solved.

Don’t be a jerk and try to imply (or outright claim) that they should not exist in a space you frequent because they are offensive to you. That is dumping your feelings on everyone else, including lots of people who don’t share your feelings.

‘Demonic’ (Webster says: Relating to, or suggestive of a demon. - Well, that isn’t helpful, gotta dig deeper.)

‘Demon’ (Webster says: —In the context in which it was used in the objection I received — A - An evil spirit; B - A source or agent of evil, harm, distress, or ruin. Now we’re cooking.)

Are Tarot cards demonic? In the sense defined above?

Well, I know that lots of people do believe this, so I think that it is worth writing a bit about.

To be completely honest, right from the start, I am going to admit that there is a Tarot deck or two out there that I find unsettling. I don’t believe them to be in any way demonic, or a tool of demons, or somehow possessed, but I do have a visceral, emotional reaction to them that is to me, unsettling.

I don’t use those particular decks for that reason.

Perhaps others who explore a lot of decks have a deck or two like this that inspires similar feelings, I don’t know.

Nor do I know where these negative feelings about particular decks might come from. My hunch is that somehow, in some way, the imagery of the decks must tickle a long buried negative memory, something deep in my past that disturbed me but was long forgotten. Who knows? It’s a theory.

I was raised to be pretty darn religious as a child. Church on Sunday (and often Saturday,) Confession, Catholic School, spending time with Priests, and Nuns, the whole nine yards.

From that experience, I think that prayer generally takes a couple of primary forms.

The first of these, and I would argue the largest of these from a Roman Catholic perspective, is that of meditation. For example praying something like the Rosary is a form of meditation that many practitioners find quite powerful. Reciting those same few prayers, over and over again allows one to step outside of ordinary consciousness.

The second of these is to commune, to talk with, to communicate with God. (However one might define deity.) I know that for many deeply religious people this is not viewed as a one way conversation. Guidance is sought, and guidance can be received.

In my view, Tarot is much the same.

Tarot can be an exceptional meditation device. We can direct our mind into the card, focusing and breaking ourselves outside of ordinary consciousness.

It can also be a way to commune with the divine. Maybe we see the divine as a God outside of ourselves. Maybe as our own higher consciousness, perhaps as a collective consciousness, really the way that this is understood will be as unique as we are all unique as individuals. But however we see that, Tarot is a form of communication. It causes us to see things from a perspective we would not have otherwise considered, or in a new way.

I know that many Tarotists look at it from a secular perspective, and that’s certainly fine and good. But for me, I look at it from a spiritual perspective, and I do see it as a way of communing and communicating with the divine. Much like a devout Christian might see prayer. (But, perhaps, to my mind, a lot more interesting and fun.)

So, the quick answer is no. I find absolutely nothing in the Tarot to be demonic.

It does need to be said that the word ‘demonic’ when used as it was when directed at me, was used in a dogmatic sense. A sense that the person who used it believes his own view of God to be the only acceptable view of God, and therefore everything outside of that view to have been spawned from an evil realm.

And how much evil has been done through the long march of history by those who believe that their own view of God is the only acceptable view of God, and that all else must be stamped out?

That’s what it comes down to in my view.

Good and Evil.

Good and Evil as demonstrated by action. Actual action, right here on earth.

As Jesus taught, we can judge a tree by its fruit¹.

What do I find to be demonic?

Well, maybe we can start with the Inquisition that tortured and murdered countless people for disagreeing with some bit of Church dogma or another. What about all those Catholic and Protestant true believers who fought and murdered each other over doctrine? How about the burnings of so many for the ‘crime’ of witchcraft?

Were human screams of terror and pain pleasing to the divine? Did God look with joy on the flowing rivers of blood from those deemed heretics? Was the stench of burning human flesh proper incense with which to honor the creator?

Closer to our time, what about the child sex abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church, or the blatant financial scams that are today’s megachurches?

These are all actions. And if anything can be said to be demonic, they are demonic, for they are all evil actions carried out by people claiming to be the elect of God.

When was the last time the person down at the neighborhood metaphysical shop reading Tarot cards killed someone for not believing in Tarot cards?

Never?

Perhaps we can, as Jesus taught, judge a tree by its fruit.

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The Keystone is written by a real, genuine human.

It seems odd that we have to say that today, but alas with the rise of AI, and LLMs it seems we do.

There is absolutely no AI used here, if you would like to know more, I’ve written an AI Statement.

1. Matthew 7:15-20