So I have some tarot cards

[robwar]

1. I used to collect tarot cards for the pretty art, and have a bunch of them stored in the garage. I kind of need some cash to pay off some bills - would it be permissible to sell them?

Before you answer “no, I should burn them all, because someone might use them” keep in mind, tarot cards’ original principal purpose was for card games, that was adapted over time into fortune telling. (I collected them primarily for the art/card games)

1. Now change the tarot cards in question #1 into handguns. Now keeping how you answered #1 in mind, is the answer still “no, because someone might murder someone with it” despite having handguns having about as wiggle room for various purposes as tarot cards? (self-defense, sport shooting)

Burn the tarot cards. I am not sure why you used the analogy of hand guns, they have nothing to do with each other. tarot cards a specially used in the occult. A hand gun is a weapon. some police department have programs where you can turn in your hand gun so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

 

[minion]

@usige - well, things don’t have to be the exact original painting to be collectible, ex. magic the gathering cards.

Burn the tarot cards. I am not sure why you used the analogy of hand guns, they have nothing to do with each other. tarot cards a specially used in the occult. A hand gun is a weapon. some police department have programs where you can turn in your hand gun so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

As mentioned earlier, tarot is not exclusive to divination, and can be used for card games. Compared because both tarot cards and handguns could be potentially harmful in the hands of someone else. And in this day and age, police department & wrong hands aren’t exactly mutually exclusive either…

Anyway, while I’m not really surprised at the reaction of BURN THEM here, I am a bit taken aback at the vehemence of it, when there are so many other things that exist that can cause people to be inclined to sin even more easily, such as gratuitous nudity in various movies, music with obscene lyrics or unchristian (the Beatles), video games, revealing clothing, perverted advertisements (commonplace in our culture) and computers (a day rarely goes by when I use the internet and not see a pornographic image), or openly anti-Catholic books like the Left Behind series. Yet, the cry for a burning them is utterly silent for these potentially evil things. Oh no, for these, the slogan is “as long as they don’t cause you to sin.”

Really, even behavior such as bad words and swearing, which Catholics not only tolerated but can be acceptant of. I don’t see any Catholics crying for burning birth control pills or various other contraceptives either, and they are far more prevalent than tarot cards, and have even less wiggle room for immoral usage. Or perhaps, their immorality has been exaggerated, sort of like how suicides used to not be allowed a Christian burial, which the Church flipped on.

 

[robwar]

@usige - well, things don’t have to be the exact original painting to be collectible, ex. magic the gathering cards.

As mentioned earlier, tarot is not exclusive to divination, and can be used for card games. Compared because both tarot cards and handguns could be potentially harmful in the hands of someone else. And in this day and age, police department & wrong hands aren’t exactly mutually exclusive either…

Anyway, while I’m not really surprised at the reaction of BURN THEM here, I am a bit taken aback at the vehemence of it, when there are so many other things that exist that can cause people to be inclined to sin even more easily, such as gratuitous nudity in various movies, music with obscene lyrics or unchristian (the Beatles), video games, revealing clothing, perverted advertisements (commonplace in our culture) and computers (a day rarely goes by when I use the internet and not see a pornographic image), or openly anti-Catholic books like the Left Behind series. Yet, the cry for a burning them is utterly silent for these potentially evil things. Oh no, for these, the slogan is “as long as they don’t cause you to sin.”

Really, even behavior such as bad words and swearing, which Catholics not only tolerated but can be acceptant of. I don’t see any Catholics crying for burning birth control pills or various other contraceptives either, and they are far more prevalent than tarot cards, and have even less wiggle room for immoral usage. Or perhaps, their immorality has been exaggerated, sort of like how suicides used to not be allowed a Christian burial, which the Church flipped on.

the others things you mentioned such as pornography have been suggested to detroy them. Yes there is sin and objects that lead to it. A handgun is not a sinful object but tarto cards are even if supposedly being used in some kind of card game. The occult is a window into the demonic and objects that basically are mainly used in the occult should be destroyed, just like porngraphy should be.

 

[thewanderer]

the others things you mentioned such as pornography have been suggested to detroy them. Yes there is sin and objects that lead to it. A handgun is not a sinful object but tarto cards are even if supposedly being used in some kind of card game. The occult is a window into the demonic and objects that basically are mainly used in the occult should be destroyed, just like porngraphy should be.

I’m sorry, but tarot cards are not necessarily connected with the occult. Tarot cards are not inherently sinful. Over here in the states they are mostly used for occult purposes, but that doesn’t mean that that is their only use. They are a piece of paper/cardstock with a picture. They have no intrinsic connection to the occult and are often (mostly in Europe) used for completely benign purposes that have nothing to do with the occult. It is false to say that they are automatically sinful. They are neutral objects which can be used for sinful or moral purposes. When used for occult purposes they can become cursed, yes, but if they are never used for occult purposes they are just cards, nothing immoral about them. Just like guns they have sinful as well as moral purposes. They are not intrinsically evil or sinful and do not always need to be burned.

 

[Bookcat]

Anyway, while I’m not really surprised at the reaction of BURN THEM here, I am a bit taken aback at the vehemence of it, when there are so many other things that exist that can cause people to be inclined to sin even more easily, such as gratuitous nudity in various movies, music with obscene lyrics or unchristian (the Beatles), video games, revealing clothing, perverted advertisements (commonplace in our culture) and computers, or openly anti-Catholic books like the Left Behind series. Yet, the cry for a burning them is utterly silent for these potentially evil things.
.

Actually no…

…burn (destroy) many of those things too…do not sell them to others…

(note that the idea of “burning” them has to do with their being objects that are used now in society (or in the past by other owners) (or future) for the occult) (that is what was done the Acts of the Apostles etc…)

 

[Bookcat]

As mentioned earlier, tarot is not exclusive to divination, and can be used for card games. Compared because both tarot cards and handguns could be potentially harmful in the hands of someone else.

Handguns can be potentially harmful. Sure. But guns are very different. They can and are mostly are owned in the USA in a manner that does not involve crime etc.

Most who would buy Tarot Cards in the USA are going to use them for occult purposes. That is simply what they have become since the 18th century.

That IS their attraction for 99.59%. Not as art but as a means of divination.

And even those who buy them for say a card game - I imagine for many of them that they or their children will at some point say - hey lets …or at least be tempted (or they may pose a source of scandal to others).

 

[White_Peony]

Burn the tarot cards

 

[LeafByNiggle]

…if your cards are secondhand, even if they were originally intended for the card game, there is unfortunately a very real chance that they have been used for occult purposes and so may be dangerous.

To ascribe intrinsic powers, be they good or evil, to objects like tarot cards, is to buy into the very mistake that occultists make. The truth is that evil powers exist in objects only to the extent that we grant them those powers by believing in them. In fact it makes no difference what someone else might have done with those cards. They are not going to hurt you any more than baseball cards - unless you choose to let them hurt you. If you clip them to the frame of your bicycle with a clothes pin so the spokes make a neat engine sound, they are not going to curse your bike or your ride.

 

[Bookcat]

The truth is that evil powers exist in objects only to the extent that we grant them those powers by believing in them.

It is important to note (without discussing particular thing) that evil can be associated with an object -and not only in the sense that having/using occult objects can “open” oneself up to evil spirits (though that is the more usual).

 

[Alindawyl]

As posts from boldlygo, Alindawyl and thewanderer noted,*** I would like to emphasize that Tarot cards were not originally intended for use in fortune telling, but for card games***. So there are purposes for tarot cards beyond what is commonly thought for them in English-speaking countries.

I was responding to a specific post from a specific poster about a specific situation. That situation was a student from France who had a deck of cards for playing a game called Jeu de Tarot, which they played for an evening and did not, in his words, “sprout horns”. I only wanted to point out to him why someone would treat a deck of Tarot cards as a game rather than a tool for divination.

Are the Tarot cards you have designed for gaming? Were they given to you by a Frenchman, or some other continental European, after playing a trick-taking game with them? Do their box and the cards themselves look like this:

Tarot cards for playing Jeu de Tarot

If the cards you have resemble this, then they are designed for playing a game and nothing more. They are clearly similar to a standard deck of 52 cards with some additions. There is an extra face card in each suit (the chevalier) between the jack and queen. What we call the jack they call the valet. There are 21 trump cards and the fool. But the trump are simply numbered. The pictures on the trump of a gaming deck are rather innocuous depictions of ordinary things. The face cards have a face in the similar style of the jack, queen, and king of a standard deck of playing cards. The four suits are the standard French suits that are in use by most of the world (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades). The numbers and letters are in the corners to facilitate easy determination of each card’s value when held fanned in the hand for playing a game.

You may sell such a deck with no worries. No one uses them for divination.

But I doubt that’s the kind of deck you have, as they are extremely rare in English-speaking countries. This is probably the general style of what the Tarot cards you own, and are most likely to see in English-speaking countries, look like:

Tarot cards for divination

These cards are quite clearly different. Each card, from the trump down to the most basic suit card, has been given a very specific occult meaning. The trump are all named rather than simply being numbered, and usually they aren’t even numbered any longer. All cards have pictures on them. The trump are no longer called trump but “major arcana”. The suits are not the French suits, but are either an exact transfer of the suits originally used in Italy (cups, coins, clubs, swords), or more frequently some variation of those suits. The most common variation is to replace clubs with wands, because wands are associated with magic and clubs are not. The cards are not designed to be held fanned in the hand, so have no letter/number in the corner.

The occult connotations of everything about such a deck are blindingly obvious. Just as no one uses the former deck for divination, no one uses the latter deck for gaming. Looking at them side by side, you can understand the reaction of my French Exchange partner when I asked him if anyone used the gaming deck for fortune telling. The idea was as preposterous to him as the family gathering for dinner, sitting on the table, and putting their plates on their chairs. I mean, you COULD do that if you really want to. But who would unless they were being deliberately contrary or were insane?

All of that aside, you should never treat anything related to the occult as being of no consequence. It’s best to destroy them. Not out of fear, but out of practicality. You don’t want to keep those kind of Tarot cards for yourself, and you certainly don’t want to possibly participate in the sins of others by selling or even giving away an item designed specifically for occult purposes. Destroying them is the most practical way of disposing of them.

 

[silver2soul]

Unlike handguns, keeping occult items in one’s possession is spiritually hazardous, even if you don’t use them. Exchange handguns for “radioactive material” and you might have a better analogy.

Agreed:thumbsup:

Another way to put it is…

If you sell those corruptive items you become the corruptor, just like a user of narcotics that starts selling them becomes not only the dependent, but now the dealer and cause not only self affliction, but the affliction of others and this is the seeds that we must adamantly resist, repel and fight against.

“We are to love our neighbor as our selves…how is it by selling **that **witchcraft to others representing love?”

“The burden to carry an addiction or vice is heavy enough upon ourselves, shall we trodden that upon another so they too will have to carry that burden as well?” NO, we are to love, not to hate, afflict, devour or destroy!

As faithful believers in JESUS CHRIST we are to live wisely, not unwisely.

Praise be to GOD the heavenly father and his son lord JESUS CHRIST forever>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[minion]

Do their box and the cards themselves look like this:

Tarot cards for playing Jeu de Tarot

uh, no.

All of that aside, you should never treat anything related to the occult as being of no consequence. It’s best to destroy them. Not out of fear, but out of practicality. You don’t want to keep those kind of Tarot cards for yourself, and you certainly don’t want to possibly participate in the sins of others by selling or even giving away an item designed specifically for occult purposes. Destroying them is the most practical way of disposing of them.

…fine.

$200 down the drain. life sucks

 

[thewanderer]

To ascribe intrinsic powers, be they good or evil, to objects like tarot cards, is to buy into the very mistake that occultists make. The truth is that evil powers exist in objects only to the extent that we grant them those powers by believing in them. In fact it makes no difference what someone else might have done with those cards. They are not going to hurt you any more than baseball cards - unless you choose to let them hurt you. If you clip them to the frame of your bicycle with a clothes pin so the spokes make a neat engine sound, they are not going to curse your bike or your ride.

I am not ascribing intrinsic powers. I have made it very clear that Tarot cards, unless cursed, will have no harmful effect by sitting in your house or being used for Jeu de Tarot. My one concern was that they might have been cursed if they are secondhand. In which case my advice is to speak to an exorcist about what he thinks is the best way to handle it as he will have much more knowledge and expertise on the subject than you and I. Perhaps nothing will need to be done, or perhaps they will only need to be sprinkled with holy water, I do not know the answer, but an exorcist would.

 

[thewanderer]

It is important to note (without discussing particular thing) that evil can be associated with an object -and not only in the sense that having/using occult objects can “open” oneself up to evil spirits (though that is the more usual).

Yes, and this possibility is what I was referring to.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

uh, no.

…fine.

$200 down the drain. life sucks

How is it “down the drain”?

IF you need money there are other ways of getting it rather than potentially putting someone at risk. Your bookstore analogy was way off. In a bookstore that sells magazines, you do not own the magazines. The store does. This is something you own. But more and more it looks like it is owning you. There is a sense of gollum in the way you have defended them and made a sensible issue into something it is not.

Life does not suck. Life is precious. The cards are worthless in comparison to a soul.

If you need 200 dollars to make this even out. PM me. But destroy, stop defending, the cards. It is getting rather obvious that you feel some attachment to them and cannot destroy them.

Walk into mordor, and throw them into Mt. Doom. If they are innocent and powerless like you claim this should be no problem.

IF it really is about the 200 dollars and that is what makes your life suck. Then it isn’t the cards that you are worshiping it is money. Either way.

Remember.
“I am the Lord your God, You shall have no other gods before me.”

The first, most important and most straightforward of all the commands.

 

[LeafByNiggle]

It is important to note (without discussing particular thing) that evil can be associated with an object -and not only in the sense that having/using occult objects can “open” oneself up to evil spirits (though that is the more usual).

Anything “can” happen, but the things that guide our day-to-day lives and decision-making are things we “know” will happen with greater probability. It is possible that an axe murder may be waiting for me just inside the church doors, but that does not make me reluctant to go to church - unless I heard on the news that an axe murder was hiding out in local churches. We can’t live our lives in fear of this or that object being cursed. Even if I saw someone curse an object, I would not fear to pick it up and use it for some other purpose. Evil may happen outside of my control. But the fear of that possibility should not dictate how I live my life. The Church teaches what is truly evil - sin, for example. And that I should avoid. But being overly concerned about and object that someone cursed borders on belief in the occult on my part, and could be more dangerous to my spiritual life than the “cursed” object.

OK, with tarot cards there is no great loss to burn them or throw them away. But what if someone says he performed a satanic ritual last night and cursed to hell the next person to drive my new car. Should I be reluctant to drive it now? (Unless I also saw him last night crawling around under my car with a wrench…) Or should I just laugh it off? Or should I burn it too, just to be sure?

@minion: Just sell the cards and don’t worry about it!

 

[Alindawyl]

$200 down the drain. life sucks

As I was finally breaking my porn addiction and destroying the last of the porn that I owned, I didn’t want to let it all go. I actually considered selling the final couple of DVDs rather than destroying them. I too thought, while eventually disposing of them, “Money down the drain”.

I’m not saying that you’re in any way addicted to fortune telling. But what I am saying is that there’s something incredibly liberating about the finality of destroying a thing that tempts us. It doesn’t matter if that temptation is to do evil directly ourselves, or just to facilitate the evil acts of others. That sense of accomplishment that we feel in overcoming temptation can become a great grace that, if we allow it to be efficacious, will help us remain steadfast in the future if we are presented with such temptations again. God is always looking out for us.

God’s grace is worth far more than any paltry sum of cash.

 

[LeafByNiggle]

As I was finally breaking my porn addiction and destroying the last of the porn that I owned, I didn’t want to let it all go. I actually considered selling the final couple of DVDs rather than destroying them. I too thought, while eventually disposing of them, “Money down the drain”.

I’m not saying that you’re in any way addicted to fortune telling. But what I am saying is that there’s something incredibly liberating about the finality of destroying a thing that tempts us. It doesn’t matter if that temptation is to do evil directly ourselves, or just to facilitate the evil acts of others. That sense of accomplishment that we feel in overcoming temptation can become a great grace that, if we allow it to be efficacious, will help us remain steadfast in the future if we are presented with such temptations again. God is always looking out for us.

God’s grace is worth far more than any paltry sum of cash.

minion never said he was tempted to misuse the tarot cards. It is not at all like porn, which is intrinsically tempting to a great degree for almost anyone, and has no alternate purpose. He said he collected them for the art. It is reasonable to assume that there are others that may also appreciate them for the same innocent reason. But if you look on eBay you will see that most offers of tarot cards go unsold. I doubt if minion is going to get his $200 even if he does try to sell them.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

minion never said he was tempted to misuse the tarot cards.

But what if he did misuse them. How do we know he didn’t?

 

[Alindawyl]

minion never said he was tempted to misuse the tarot cards. It is not at all like porn, which is intrinsically tempting to a great degree for almost anyone, and has no alternate purpose. He said he collected them for the art. It is reasonable to assume that there are others that may also appreciate them for the same innocent reason. But if you look on eBay you will see that most offers of tarot cards go unsold. I doubt if minion is going to get his $200 even if he does try to sell them.

Tarot cards such as the ones he owns have no alternative purpose. They were created as a tool for the occult, not as a delivery mechanism for artwork. Buying them “for the art” is about as much of an excuse as buying Playboy “for the articles”.

Heck, it’s even less of an excuse. If you buy Tarot cards for the art, but the art is based on the occult, then it logically follows that you are buying Tarot cards because you like the occult.