I have been very interested in tarot for a while. It's mystique has always fascinated me. I have been thinking of purchasing/making a set.

I spoke to my father about this (he is very spiritual and in touch with other planes) but a sense of negative energy filled the room. He told me stories of people who used it and had similar effects of an aftershock to using a ouija board. (Hauntings, negative energies, etc.)

Is this true or something that happens often? Can the tarot turn bad if one is not experienced enough? It doesn't seem possible since (from my limited knowledge) the ouija is more about grasping things from intuition and the minds eye rather than spirits and other entities unkown.

Is there anything I need to be wary of when studying or doing actual readings?

I'm sorry if there is already a thread about this, I had a quick squiz (and even used the search function (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush2.gif) ) but I didn't see anything.

This post has been edited by Whisperling: Feb 28 2010, 10:28 PM

I've never heard of anything like that. I think that the Tarot is a way for you to access your own intuition/subconscious, not something that would contact spirits or raise negative energies.

i've never heard of this either - unless the person picking up the tarot cards is whacked or something already, how could dealing out a handful of cards and looking for personal meaning in what comes up where cause this?

you turn over the cards, you read them, and you control your future

the cards, like cracks forming in a heated turtle shell, or how sticks or bones pile up when thrown, indicate a possibility, not a certainty, and it is up to you whether something happens or not, and interpretation and what assignments are made to each thing are really everything

you can do the same idea with a deck of regular everyday playing cards - a friend uses these all time instead of tarot cards, they just assign values to the cards and deal them out in a big circle then look for meanings in which card is where, past, future, now, and then - same process essentially as tarot reading, and supposedly just as effective, at least for them

A tarot deck in itself is one of the safest magical devices available since it relies on finding guidance from within not without. Though the cards themselves do have the ability after prolonged use to open gateways into the astral, then it should be more that you fear other planes than you fear the gates that might take you across them. A real danger of Tarot I think is when you get a deck that doesn't mesh well with you, this can lead to many bad things, the rider-waite is a good deck to start with if you're unsure whether you want to make a commitment to tarot. If you really know tarot is for you you'll have to truly and deeply think about get the right deck and even then you'll probably end up with two or three favorites after having purchased twenty or even thirty different decks. Also, your affinity for a deck may change over time...

Objects hold absolute no spiritual power on this plane of reality. They do, in a sense hold power, but just not in a tangible plane: A vajra does not have more potential energy than a speeding bullet et cetera. But, they do contain spiritual power; except for the fact, that the physical manifestation of these objects happen to be vessels. So, its not the object itself that poessess power, it is the spiritual aspect of this.

The cards are merely pretty pieces of paper. I use tarot, and I could easily say, if you burned my deck, I'll be upset from the sentimental loss, but another deck is just as powerful; it is the ideological aspects of it that make them so powerful. Sometimes, a deck itself can be powerful, simply because of the idea of it, and the energy invested in the idea of 'your' deck may make 'your' (the idea of your deck) more powerful. And in a sense, it does. But at the same time, the objects themselves literally hold no more power than their physical manifestations.

The devastating negative energy you mention can come from a few perspectives. Many people approach the Houses and the Arcana with a fatalistic eye, and end up cursing themselves. Cancer patients who generally wish to live, tend to live, those who are resigned to death, die. That said, another part of this is that the Tarot does not hessitate, and it is often merciless with what it presents to the eyes of the beholder: its a simple machine, taking events, and using a spread to iron a sense of time into them. Because of this, they don't consider emotional triggers, hidden fears, unhealed wounds. Most people have gigantic pockets of filthy, dark energy inside them; we all do. The tarot may easily just unearth them, and bring the darkenss of their minds to the forefront, basically 'painting' the subject in more or less a sticky honey of dark energy that many other constructs draw to.

I've used the Arcana for a few not-so pleasant forms of probability alteration, but I highly doubt most people would go out of their way and evoke fairly two dimensional entities to enslave and chain others. So, it should be fine.

Otherwise, the only really dangerous thing when working with Tarot is ignorance: its a lethal bliss.

I would say no because the tarot is just using your energy through your subconcuisse (sorry for that spelling cant ever get it right). So i don't really see how that could cause terrible things unless you did a reading and somehow severely changed the outcome to were it could cause you harm but thats the only way i could think of.

advanced: whitley strieber, while studying at the gurdjieff foundation, developed a unique method of using tarot spreads as a magickal device - he wrote a book on it called 'the path', available at unknowncoutry.com, amazon

This post has been edited by esoterica: Apr 21 2010, 10:12 AM

There are different ways you can use the Tarot, you could use them for readings or you could use them for path working, you can perform magick with them... perhaps your dad has had a personal experience with them that has set his opinion against them? Strange that someone would be against using them.

Another good book on the tarot is David Allen Hulse, ''The new dimensions of the cube of space''.

So, as usual, I am replying to a very old (and somewhat dead) topic. It already has a ton of answers, but the more the merrier.

In my experience, no tool is truly dangerous if you take proper precautions and know what you are doing. Many forms of divination require no experience, including tarot. They are tools that are used to heighten our intuition and psychic powers (although I don't really like the term). Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing a cleansing ritual, protection ritual or even the LBRP if you want to. I often do one before all my readings just because it gets rid of negative energies and keeps any from coming in, as well as gives me a clearer and more accurate reading.

Ouija boards are much different from using tarot for MANY reasons, one being that you are contacting a spirit directly, and you don't know who that spirit is, no matter what they say. Some also believe it is a form of voluntary possession.. So you be the judge. I personally do not use Ouija boards, partially because I am a medium and empath, as well as the dangers that come with them.


Hope my lecture helped you or whoever else who reads this,
AmongtheHidden.

Magical tools are tools. It depends on how you use them. Also tools with priors owners can cause trouble. If you are inheriting a tarot deck it is very important to cleanse it before using it. Otherwise whatever energies or spirits or open gateways are attached to the cards, you inherit. It seems to me though, that Ouija boards are far worse than tarot for one main reason. One is like a dating site, the other a therapy session. The board is an oracle of the dead, or any spirit that happens to be passing. You are basically taking your picture and private information and putting it on a newspaper add. Of course predators are interested. You're advertising your ignorance. On the other hand, Tarot decks are used for a specific purpose and you are not just asking anyone and everyone. You are sending your intent to learn and grow through the cards and receiving lessons from a credible source; be it your god, or the source, your guide or other qualified higher powers. That doesn't mean that something or someone unqualified couldn't intervene. But its not as easy to manipulate someone in the physical that way. You also have a very focused purpose, so you are subject to less offers of help or attention by RANDOM energies/spirits. If you use tarot cards to talk to random spirits, which is not what they are for, then essentially you are putting yourself in danger....but no one uses a hammer for a stapler nor a stapler for a hammer. So yes and no, tarot decks could lead to you hurting yourself...but if you use them properly? Not likely.

Very good idea. The Builders of Adytum (BOTA) offer a series of lessons (and a nice self-initiation) on the Tarot. They also have a paint-it-yourself tarot kit you might find enjoyable.



I will tell you of an experience I had early on when reading for others.

There was one lady, a mother of a friend, who insisted I read Tarot for her on a regular basis. Now this lady had lots of problems: many of her adult children had disowned her, she had been divorced many times, she was working as an apartment manager and was stealing money from her clients, etc. She was, in short, a fairly miserable woman.

As my reading for her progressed, I became aware that I was picking up very clear signals from the cards. There's a point when a card ceases to be a picture and becomes a scene or vignette of the person's life. At this point, strong intuition can become apparent and you begin to pick up names, places, events in a very spectacular way. Normally in any reading, two or three cards (of 10 to 12 in a spread) will speak to me like this but for this woman almost every card was alive, screaming information at me.

In time, we would begin our readings and I would come to the verge of passing out or slipping into a deep trance. Every reading I did for this woman left me exhausted while she seemed to grow happier, livelier, more energetic with each reading.

One day I went to grab my cards and, as soon as I touched them, I felt drained. I decided that I needed to cleanse the deck. I took my cards into my temple, donned my robe, and proceeded to banish, purify, and consecrate my circle. I took up my banishing dagger and addressed the deck and placed the flat of the blade against the back of the deck.....

What I can only describe as the ghosts of the cards flew from the deck. Each "ghost" was a black, flapping shadow that flew out of the deck, away from my banishing blade. I nearly dropped the cards, the knife, and my bowels I was so shocked! I remembered my training and went back to the exorcism.

When I was done, I took my cards to the woman's home to read for her. Nothing happened. The cards only spoke gibberish.

I never read for that woman again. I am now convinced that she was (dare I say it?) a psychic vampire. She was using the psychic connection formed between us as I read to draw energy from me to her.

The Tarot is a tool and a very powerful one, at that. It is capable of great, mystical insight. It can also be abused.

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Oh right....I forgot about that!! Yeah I guess often the danger is only perceived as being astral, but there ARE predators in real life. So, yeah, I'd agree with that; we pick and choose who we read for....I've always let my tarot choose the people though. I don't indiscriminately read for just anyone, and also I don't usually do multiple readings for people. My reasoning is, it no longer becomes focused if it becomes a casual thing....but perhaps this is a good reason too!

You certainly hit the nail on the head with your reply to the question. Any tool can be abused.

I have some experience in sleight of hand and we have a rule: Never repeat the same trick twice. The same could and probably should be said of reading Tarot.

I've had a bunch of drunk people go through my tarot an then had a bunch of really bad chaotic stuff happen to me..

An i once got really frustrated about lack of phone signal an cast my runes with intent.. to have it spring into being once again.

I've over used them aswell with some nasty results..

It would be easy to see how a casting from a person with a dodgy attitude or some spiritual imbalances could be harmful to anyone concerned,
you do have to believe in an oricles power for them to scatter in the right way, humans being as we are we make mistakes and that makes the possibility for some serious twists to fate.

It could be said that beliefs in horoscopes an dodgy predictions the world over could be responsible for a lot of hardship unknown in the world, who could tell?

Sometimes i think the athiest movement was primarily to rid the world of a saturation of negative superstitions, it seems to me like a culture could strangle itself with them unwittingly.

I always considered tarot cards a means to an end. If you're like me, and see the world's progress as a river flowing in one main direction and many little ones, perhaps you may find reading cards restorative to your morale. Im not inclined to call it fate persay...because there are options....but there is also cause and effect. Those who fight the law of cause and effect are naturally going to feel whip lash from it. But those who embrace their options within the realm of cause and effect and the law of cycles and rhythms will surely feel better even when negative circumstances occur. I consider it a lesson plan outlining the nature of Motion and Balance. Not an avenue for destruction or imbalance.

Why did you leave your cards out for drunk people to touch?? yuck. I would be so mad.