Superstition and spirituality are frequently mistaken as the same thing to capitalize on our fears.
Popular culture has a way of emphasizing what we fear and what we revere as a society. I do my best to keep up with the latest trends and shifts as illustrated in our movies, music, and social media. Yet, I also know how to stay in my lane as far as sharing my opinions on popular topics goes. I pay attention to it but do not comment. My expertise is in the spiritual world.
Pop culture has come into my lane, so I will share my take.
I just saw that there is a movie out called “Tarot” I didn’t have to look at the description to know it was a horror movie. Why wouldn’t it be? Hollywood loves making spiritual practices not only weird but dangerous and even deadly.
It is a way to take advantage of superstitions and fears surrounding occult practices. I don’t blame the movie makers for showing how our lack of spiritual awareness causes us to fear the healing practices of spiritual people. It is par for the course. But it seems it is time to change the course.
Note that I am only going to comment here on the premise of the movie “Tarot.” On Rotten Tomatoes the premise states, “When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings — never use someone else’s deck — they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.”
Let’s first talk about the use of tarot as a spiritual practice. Tarot is a guidance system that helps us navigate our lives. Most often, people use Tarot as a predictor to gain insight into where they are headed. I think of it as high-beam headlights. It allows us to look a little further down the road so we can navigate our lives better by telling us if there will be obstacles ahead. That is all. It is not strange.
Humanity has been using oracles of this nature since prehistory. Such as getting a reading on the energy patterns by throwing the bones, using runes, the yarrow stalks of I Ching, gazing at tea leaves, and such. These methods use random patterns or symbols to see what is to come. The difference with Tarot is that it is a modern oracle, fairly new on the scene of oracle history. But it follows the basic principles. The tarot itself is simply a deck of cards. No one has foreboding feelings about tea because tea leaves can be used as an oracle. Just as a deck of cards is just a deck of cards. I’m pretty sure you can’t trap evil in a deck of cards.
Let us get into the “sacred rule of Tarot readings — never use someone else’s deck…” This foreboding statement is a corruption of the common practice of respecting the spiritual tools of others by not touching them without permission.
Every spiritual practitioner, of every spiritual tradition I know of, has sacred tools. From altars and chalices to stones and cards. The rosary and the jewelry of the ordained. The power tools of the medicine healer such as pipes and drums as used in ceremonies. People treat these objects with respect and acknowledge that only the owner of the objects should touch them. It is a show of respect that they are not touched unless permitted by the owner, carrier, and keeper of them. These are sacred objects because they are objects that bridge the worlds of heaven and earth. It is customary practice to show reverence even if it is not your belief they are sacred. Just like it is customary not to wear someone else’s clothes without their permission. If you were to do it, it would not harm you, but it would be disrespectful.
Tarot decks are sacred objects for the serious spiritual practitioner, so no, you should not use them without the permission of the owner. But if you did, no harm would come to you other than the potential ire of the owner.
Let’s move on to predicting death using tarot. Typically, people do not use Tarot as an efficient method to predict death. But even if it predicted a death, a prediction is not a fact. One reason is that the future has not happened yet. (Theoretically, but let’s not get quantum.)
Correctly interpreting an oracle allows for the shifting, changing, and altering of anything it shows based on the actions that follow the prediction. When using tarot, anytime you get a prediction that is not pleasing, you can also ask tarot what you need to do to avoid that outcome. Back to the headlight analogy. Using the high beams helps avoid obstacles. You don’t see a pothole and think, “Oh well, I guess my tires are goners.” Knowing there is a pothole coming allows you to move out of the way. You can use tarot in the same way. Tarot doesn’t predict your fate; it predicts what lies ahead so you can change what is coming based on your desires. This makes using oracles empowering and even healing for the user.
Superstition is fear-based. Spirituality is faith-based.
Unfortunately, many link the two forms of belief, not seeing that superstition has nothing to do with spirituality. And spirituality is not superstitious.
Storytellers and even religions love to keep us confused on the matter because fear makes money. Fear is big business and keeps us in our smallness. There is a great deal of money being made from fear. Think about what you give your money, time, and attention to, and seek an understanding of why it is important to you.
The greatest step forward to empowerment is self-awareness. Get an understanding of what you fear and why. Do some soul-searching. Ask yourself why you feel the way you do. Ask yourself if it is reasonable or true for you to believe what you believe. Do this with everything you believe as it comes up, focusing on what makes you uncomfortable and dive deep into it.
Once you have a greater understanding of your fears, no one, not any one person in this world, can manipulate you.
Shedding your fears means you will be free to discover your true potential through any means, practice, or belief without censoring who you are.
Imagine a world in which our movies reflected the consciousness of wholeness and not fear. What if our popular culture’s media showed spiritual practices leading us out of our fears and into the most authentic version of ourselves? Instead of raising ghouls from the underworld, what if movies showed rituals that brought healing? What if there was a plot with an oracle reading that guides someone towards their most empowering experience? What if we see spiritual practices as taking us out of the darkest fears and into the Truth?
Those movies would be something worth seeing.
Janet Kadow is a spiritual teacher, writer, and professional psychic dedicated to teaching all who wish to know how to walk a spiritual path with integrity using the gifts we are born with.
You can contact Janet at 619.866.4405, janet@janetkadow.com, www.janetkadow.com
Social Media Handle @janetkadow
Janet Kadow 