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 PrintableVersion Beyond Prediction: The Tarot and your SpiritualityIllegitimate evangelism?BEYOND PREDICTION: The purpose of this book was not immediately clear, so I consulted Lion's website and another site mentioned in the book, and there I found the book's real purpose. For example, Philip Johnson wrote: 'It has been written to explain the Christian message to people who are accustomed to using the tarot cards for guidance, and offers Christians a tool for presenting the gospel.' (FAQs about Tarot Cards and Christianity, on http://members.ozemail.com.au/~ptcsyd/Johnson Page/tarot.html - p.1). Michael Green endorses this perspective in his review: 'Written for the secular market to show the covert Christian symbolism behind tarot cards, this book is a subtle piece of pre-evangelism to the large occult and New Age market seeking meaning for life.' (http://www.lion-publishing.co.uk). How could this work?Modern Tarot card packs consist of 78 cards divided into two parts: the Major Arcana (22 cards) and the Minor Arcana (56 cards). The Major Arcana cards all display pictures of various characters or events in human history. Many Tarotists regard these as the most potent universal symbols about the process of life and death and spiritual transformation. The Minor Arcana, like standard playing cards, are divided into four suits. Unlike modern playing-cards, the respective suits are Cups, Wands, Swords and Pentacles, each suit consisting of 14 cards. Tarotists tend to regard these as dealing with mundane routines of daily living. Drane et al's book's main thrust is to focus the reader on the Tarot card known as 'The Fool': 'There is a person who makes sense of the whole story in the Major Arcana. At the heart of this is the Fool' (p.92). 'This is the most powerful card in the entire deck ... The world is alive with his presence and he carries the most powerful spiritual symbols of all' (p.93). For our authors, 'The Fool' represents none other than the 'Jesus of Nazareth' (p.94). They give sample Tarot-readings at the end of their book. In one of these, they start off with the Magician card, whom they interpret as the Creator: 'In the Magician's up-raised hand is the wand of grace. Grace is an unmerited gift. The Magician offers us this grace. With the other hand the Magician points towards the earth, indicating that grace must come into our world and our lives. ... If we are going to find this gift, someone must bring it into our realm. This is found in the next card' (p.113). This naturally leads on to the Fool: 'The Fool comes into our world and brings the gift to us. Notice the Fool holds the white rose of true spirituality. He holds this because the Grim Reaper is not entitled to it. Over his shoulder is the shepherd's staff, which the Hermit used for spiritual direction in life. He appears to some as 'foolish', but really the Fool is our guide and the pinnacle of all wisdom. As he steps towards the precipice, the Fool will lose his life on behalf of others.' 'This connects us to the Hanged Man card where we see one who dies on a living tree. The Hanged Man card brings us to the identity of the Fool. The Fool represents Jesus of Nazareth, who came into our world as one of us and gave up his life on a cross. Jesus did this to tackle the darkness that is portrayed on the Judgment and nine of Swords cards. He bore the burden for us. In the Fool card we find we are released from the negative power of our own failure, the Devil and Death cards. Jesus did this on behalf of the whole world' (p.113). These quotes give a flavour of their evangelistic Tarot-readings. However, while The Hanged Man card in the Rider-Waite Tarot pack, favoured by Drane et al because of its quasi-Christian symbolism, is indeed supposed to represent Christ, The Fool actually represents the pilgrim who does everything Christ tells him. Significantly in other pack designs, The Fool is rather pushed around and given a hard time. Valid evangelism?To determine the validity of Tarot evangelism as recommended by the authors, a number of factors need to be taken into account. First, contrary to popular opinion, Tarot cards were originally an expanded version of standard playing packs first designed for a complex card game devised by the northern Italian aristocracy in 1430-40. There were many varieties of these, but none were designed with cartomancy (divination by cards) in mind. Secondly, the Tarot pack was adapted in stages for cartomancy by French occultists in 1781, 1863, and 1888. The finishing touches were made by Samuel Liddell Mathers (1854-1918), the youngest of the three founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (HOGD). This was an occultist brotherhood, founded in 1888, through which the ideas of contemporary English and European occultists were disseminated in Britain. In his 1888 work The Tarot: Its occult significance, use in fortune telling, and method of play, he changed The Bateleur (= Juggler, Card 1) to The Magician, simplified The Chief Hierophant (originally The Pope, Card 5) to The Hierophant, changed the suit name Batons or Sceptres to Wands and the suit name Coins to Pentacles. Thirdly, the Rider-Waite pack was produced at the instigation of Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) in 1909. Soon after his birth in Brooklyn, NY, Waite's English mother returned to her native land where she converted to Roman Catholicism. Even after becoming involved in the occult, Waite continued under the influence of High Church ceremonial all his life, his major preoccupation always being 'esoteric' Christian mysticism. He joined the HOGD in the 1890s and in 1903, after a period of squabbles within the Order, he set about 'Christianising' the rituals of his London branch. Waite also superimposed 'Christian' symbolism on to the Major Arcana of the Tarot and, in 1909, he encouraged Pamela Colman Smith to produce a Tarot deck reflecting this approach which would appeal to the art world and also point to a significance behind the obvious symbolism. In this way, he felt his pack would become more important even than Tarot packs previously used for centuries. This revised pack was published in 1910 accompanied by a book called The Key to the Tarot, which he described as 'fragments of a secret tradition under the veil of divination.' However, whatever Christian symbolism is found in this pack, it owes nothing to an established Tarot mythology, but rather to Coleman Smith's interpretation of the imagery proposed by Waite. Further, it should be noted that despite Waite's apparently sceptical stance, his pack was also utilised for cartomancy, Christian symbols being no hindrance to divination. After all, Christian Spiritualists pray to 'Jesus' before commencing their practices, believing that this will protect them from evil spirits. Beyond predictionThe Rider-Waite cards are not based on any traditional truth system, but may at best present mere flashes of human insight. It is just possible that Beyond Prediction could exceptionally be used by a skilful Christian to help someone already into Tarot-reading to see possible pale shadows of biblical truth within the symbolism of some of the Rider-Waite cards. But the evangelist's aim should be to steer people away from these fleeting fragments to the coherent, solid, reliable and objectively true Word of God, as the apostle Paul did on Mars Hill. While a good principle in evangelism is always to start where people are, the starting-point must be shared truth. Unfortunately, the Rider-Waite Tarot pack mixes truth with serious error. Indeed, there is no agreed canon by which Tarot symbols can be interpreted. Therefore, there can be no shared truth in this Tarot evangelism. For this reason, also, it would be necessary to limit any form of Tarot evangelism to people already heavily involved in Tarot reading. Introducing anyone, including Christians, to something as spiritually confusing as the Tarot should be avoided. The Word of God interpreted to us by the Holy Spirit will supply all people need for spiritual growth. In general our message to those interested in the occult is that, while it is valid to want knowledge and power, the only legitimate path to this is through the restoration of a person's relationship with God their Creator. He will provide them with all the knowledge and power they need. God's sovereigntyFinally, it is not unknown for God to break into a drug-trip or ouija-session to reveal himself. But if a person truly comes to God as a result, he will not persist in such activities. On the contrary, he will give them up and concentrate on God's appointed means of seeking him: prayer and the written Word of God. There are many illegitimate routes into unseen dimensions, and for our safety God tells us to seek him through his appointed means. God commonly reveals himself through dreams and visions, but we are not told to ask God to reveal himself even by these means. God is allowed to choose how to reveal himself to us! But he tells us to seek him through his appointed means. A warningThere is a very real danger of present-day Christians being ensnared into occult practice because the boundaries are frequently drawn in the wrong places. In such a context, this book could actually be used as a tool to do this very thing. I would, therefore, most certainly not consider this book as suitable for display in Christian bookshops. Mike Taylor© Evangelicals Now - November 2001 |
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