Throughout our course readings I was very interested to learn more about Tarot cards and their origins and purposes. I have had increasing familiarity with tarot cards and readings over the course of quarantine and the pandemic, as these readings and videos pertaining to tarot card divination grew in popularity on tik-tok over the course of this period. Creators perform readings for their viewers, shuffling the cards and pulling them out- each one revealing a different aspect or prediction for the viewer’s life. This was always interesting to me because these videos reach such a wide audience, with some posts garnering more than 1 million views. Yet, thousands of people in the comments resonate with the message and predictions for their future.
One post by the user kyra.moon (Link) claims to predict the future of her viewers with her tarot card deck. She asks her viewers earnestly why they are searching for fulfillment outside of themselves. The cards reveal that this belief comes from their childhood. The ten of pentacles card urges her to remind the viewers that they are worthy of love and that they are very close to fulfilling their dreams. Users comment things like “I claim this positive energy” and “I needed to hear this message.” The video has 171.9K likes. I can’t help but wonder how the ancient tarot deck has been translated into this modern-day tool for inspirational content creation.
The tarot deck originated in the early 15th century as a card game for entertainment purposes. It was not until the 1800s that Jean-Baptiste Alliette wrote a book about how to use the cards for divination purposes. He assigned each card a meaning based on the symbols used in the initiation tests for the Magi under the Great Pyramids of Giza. Depending on the order and position of the cards pulled during a reading, important information regarding the past, present, and future may be revealed by the cards.
Today, there are many different iterations of decks and meanings attached to the different symbols in the Major Arcana. Tarot readings are still widely popular among people who want to learn more about themselves and peek their future. I cannot help but wonder, however, if the newest tik-tok iteration of tarot readings represent the completion of a cycle and a return to their original purpose – entertainment. After all, how can we really know if that reading was meant specifically for us or for one of the other 1.7 million viewers? Does the future have the same thing in store for all of us? Regardless, a renewed interest in tarot readings and divination demonstrate the popularity of modern witchcraft and the young generation’s desire to get involved. Whether or not these readings hold true, tarot cards have proven to be an effective tool for promoting hope for the future and positive entertainment during a time in the pandemic that felt hopeless and distressing for many.
Citation: The History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult
Thanks for posting about tarot and Tik Tok. I am not a Tick Tokker, so I am always amazed how popular it has become. Nearly 200K people watching a reading on Tick Tok? That's remarkable. Thanks for reaching back to the text and the history of tarot cards, which were actually a fairly recent invention. But cards have been used for divination from the first time people used cards. Today we still have the cliche, "It's not in the cards." I am not sure what to make of tarot, but what I am sure of is the power of belief and the power of suggestion. As we see around us today, what people believe becomes real to them, regardless of whether or not their belief is grounded in what we call objective reality. What I do know about tarot is that it is up the person involved to interpret the cards. I think a lot of the time people see what they either want to see or fear seeing.
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