ALL ABOUT TAROT CARDS
We’ve all heard of Tarot cards, but what are they really? Some Christians say they are a form of witchcraft, others use them for family games.
Tarot cards began as just another kind of playing card. Encyclopedia Britannia contributor Dave Bartlett reports that tarot cards were invented in Italy during the fifteenth century. Known as trionfi cards, they were designed as a fifth suit alongside the four suits we know today (aces, diamonds, spades, and clubs). Early trionfi designs featured allegorical pictures referencing religious or cultural ideas, which became an important feature of all tarot card artwork. The design for tarot cards and how many cards were in the deck evolved over centuries. A key shift came in the eighteenth century, when people began using them for fortune-telling and magic. They soon became a key part of Western ceremonial magic.
The Bible clearly and repeatedly warns against anything having to do with invoking spirits (demons) for advice about the future (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). Putting faith in what a card says is actually putting faith in the demons behind them (1 Corinthians 10:20). So, using tarot cards to ask spirits about the future is clearly wrong. Whatever names the tarot card reader uses for the spiritual guides, it is ultimately demons they are contacting.
There is no power in the paper and ink which make up the cards. They are inanimate objects with no inherent strength. The Bible speaks many times about the foolishness of treating material objects as gods. For example, Isaiah 44 mocks people who take a block of wood, use part of it for fire to cook their meal, and then use the rest to carve an idol to worship. So, the fact that someone has made a tarot deck may make the cards distasteful if we dislike their association, but it doesn’t inherently give the cards evil powers. However, it’s worth noting that many occultists who manufactured tarot cards believed that every tarot card reading invokes spiritual beings or elemental forces that the cards represent. When they are dedicated to Satanic purposes and use, then demons claim authority to work through them to influence whoever uses them, much the same as a Ouija Board. We aren’t to fear the cards, but we aren’t to take them lightly either.
Some tarot card readers claim to tap into inner spiritual energy—not reaching out to spirits, but reaching inside. This implies they are not seeking demon aid but looking inside to find the truth. The problem with this argument is twofold. First, we have to return to the point that demons are liars (John 8:44). They pose as something helpful when they are only after our destruction. Second, drawing on inner spiritual guidance or energy assumes we have inner spiritual energy or guides that provide all the answers. The Bible says that we have inside us is a sin nature, the flesh, which is opposed to all God wants for us. We don’t find ultimate truth inside us, but outside, in God and His Word. Putting faith in a tarot card, with its close connection and openness to the occult, is certainly something Jesus would not want us to do.
Still, tarot cards have a strong appeal because people want answers about their present and future. Instead of trusting those things to God and relying on the Bible, they turn to a demonic counterfeit to find quick answers. The results are disastrous. Demons lie so they can’t be trusted. Even worse, opening yourself to them allows them to come work in you in many and various ways. Don’t do it. Stay far from them. They are not innocent fun; they are soul-destroying tools of the Devil.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8–9
If you have ever been involved using tarot cards, a Ouija board, palm reading or anything similar, please confess it as sin now. In Jesus’ name take back any access you have given any demons and ask God to cleanse you and fill you with His Spirit instead. Destroy any of these items you may have in your possession.
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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