My niece posted on Facebook tonight about a tarot card application (game) that she played on Facebook. She said the prediction was “freakily accurate”. I posted that she should stay away from tarot cards, as they can open doors we don’t want opened. Then one of her friends posted that it’s “just a computer script made to randomize pixels that correspond to image codes.” Another friend posted that “it’s just a game” and if you look for Satan, you’ll find Satan, and if you look for Christ you’ll find Christ. What do I say in response (if at all?) I don’t care if it is a randomized computer game–I wouldn’t play it b/c of the association of the real cards (although they were quick to point out that tarot cards actually started out as regular playing cards and only later were they used for divination practices). Am I overreacting? I am scrupulous at times, but my instincts tell me to stay away from things like this.
Tarot cards, among other things, are considered a form of divination - a violation of the First Commandment.
Some people view a game like this as harmless, however it’s not. Who knows, maybe this is a “gateway” to actually sparking curiosity, and making one go out to get a real tarot reading. The mind can be tricked in ways we don’t even think of. The devil will do whatever he can to fool you even through non-obvious or harmless-looking ways, and remember, not believing in him will not protect you from him. You are not overreacting. Tell her to play a different game.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
2138 Superstition is a departure from the worship that we give to the true God. It is manifested in idolatry, as well as in various forms of divination and magic.
2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.
