Thursday, April 29, 2021

Tarot Booms as Generation Z Sorts Out Spiritual Path


Generation Z has been the driving force behind the renewed popularity and mainstreaming of the age-old esoteric system.

Jenna Cargle was first introduced to tarot by her mother, a Catholic. “She was always talking about herbs, crystals, astrology and tarot,” explained the 18-year-old Atlantan.

Her mother’s mix of beliefs wouldn’t have attracted attention in many households, where tarot is akin to divination fads such as throwing I Ching or playing with a Ouija board. Not in Cargle’s family, some of whom rejected tarot and other practices as evil. Cargle herself was reluctant to embrace the practice.

Then, when she was 16, said Cargle, “I got comfortable with myself, Catholicism and spirituality. … I was no longer afraid to touch a tarot deck.” Cargle, who now identifies as spiritual but not religious, sees tarot as a tool.

“I’m a strong believer that everything happens for a reason and that there is a set path for everyone. But there are different (possible) endings.” The tarot can help predict those endings, she explained.

Cargle is not alone in her spiritual discovery. Generation Z has been the driving force behind the renewed popularity and mainstreaming of the age-old esoteric system. Read More
Esoteric? Occultic would be a more accurate description. My own generation, the Boomers, dabbled in the occult too--astrology, I-Ching, Ouija boards, seances, tarot. This dabbling was in part due to curiosity  and in part due to the influence of New Age thinking.
In a number of  countries around the world, Catholicism has become mixed with occult practices or the practices of indigenous religions. Religious syncretism is not new albeit it may have increased in recent years with the growing privatization of religion. The privatization of religion, however, is also not new. It has a long history going back to ancient times. 

Tarot is a form of divination and all forms of divination  are proscribed in the Bible. Tarot can be a gateway to what may be described as darker and more dangerous occult practices and demonic oppression. Tarot is not a harmless practice. The card readings can increasingly influence the reader's decisions and eventual take control of the reader's life. From a spiritual warfare perspective the reader's fascination with the occult will attract the attention of the spiritual forces opposed to God.  They can manipulate the readings to manipulate the reader and to draw them away from God. In reading the cards, the reader is turning to other powers beside God and giving these spiritual forces a foothold in the reader's life. They will exploit any foothold such as fascination with the occult, unrepented sin, and so forth, which they can gain in an individual's life and will make use of it to do spiritual harm to that individual and to others. 

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