Cards, coffee, two lasso: how did tarot divination become the main trend of recent years?

“The ace of the pentacle has fallen, which means there is little time left for the dream to come true,” said my tarologist, who, being educated and quite sane, I sometimes believe more than myself. Over the past year, he predicted for me a stormy romance, career growth, and even a purulent sore throat. By the way, all this happened, and even in the same order.

A few years ago, it was not customary in a “decent” society to talk about Tarot cards and other esoteric things. And “hands”, “lasso” and other terms sounded like most of the typical vocabulary of gypsies, who, along with the “card of the day,” could pull a wallet out of a purse. And although a person has always been interested in the secret world, not everyone can decide to look into the future and, most importantly, talk about it publicly.

In the last three years, tarot cards have become an absolute trend. In 2022, the frequency of search queries for “tarot cards” and “tarot expansions” broke all records, according to Google Trends analysts. Never before has the subject of esotericism interested people so much in a period of uncertainty. “Every self-respecting person should have their own tarot reader, but you can’t share it, because this is no less intimate moment than a visit to a gynecologist,” says a close friend of mine, who used the cards long before they went mainstream. . And to be honest, I have no reason not to believe her, since it was she who found out about her husband’s mistress and even calculated her address with the help of schemes.

“Whatever beverage you choose today, your wish will come true,” said a friendly barista at the Magic Coffee cafe. Services offered include “Fast Money”, “New Love”, “Healing” and even “Sex Today”. The second, by the way, was chosen by me. However, everything works according to the principle: you drink a drink hidden under “desire” (for example, I drank a latte) and launch your goal into space, and it will certainly come true. Checked by the editors.

At the same time, you are offered to draw a card for advice from the Tarot. “If sex isn’t a reason to date yet, then a cup of coffee is a convenient excuse to immerse yourself in esotericism,” says Ekaterina Larina, the founder of the coffee shop. “It is not the spectators who come to us, not those who look at the fortune-tellers, but those who have not seen the tarot in their eyes.” First of all, visitors will come there to have a cup of coffee, and fortune-telling on cards is a nice bonus, which is already included as a gift.

An eco-friendly approach is the main rule of magicians (yes, that’s how they are called) who make tarot schemes for visitors. Among the most popular queries are love, health and finance. They’re not going to tell you that you’re going to get hit by a car tomorrow or that you won’t be able to improve your finances for the rest of your life. “We don’t hire prophets. Why do we need a person who truly sees what will happen tomorrow? We transfer an adult position to clients, which means that only one person decides what their future will be like. We only interpret symbols and tarot cards. These are different things.”

Magic outside of Hogwarts: How everyone learned to read Tarot

In general, tarologists should be divided into good and bad, if not at least competent and not. For example, if you want to know the answer to your own question, you should forget about the online layouts on the first tabs of the site or on the TikTok or Instagram* feed. Tarot master and founder of the Esoteric School, Alexei Grishin, explains in our interview that absolutely anyone can learn to tell fortunes on cards. To the question: “To interpret the cards, two hemispheres are needed in the brain box, not a mystical gift given by a fortune-teller grandmother with an apple in her bony hand,” answers the question succinctly and clearly: “And if you can’t guess?”

Surprisingly, people don’t always engage in esotericism to make money. It’s really easy to do though. Beginning tarologists can earn up to 5 thousand rubles in simple schemes, after which the price tag rises to 30 thousand. What can we say about top specialists, whose consultation costs an average of 100 thousand rubles? “There are people who want to study using tarot cards as a means of self-knowledge. But there are also such random characters who subscribe to it to transfer responsibility from themselves to cards, ”says Alexey.

Is it possible to miscalculate fate and scare luck: answers to the most popular Tarot myths

As a person whose life is closely connected with religion, it has been clearly shown to me since childhood that all this is “from the devil”. And this interpretation is connected with a person looking into his own future, violating the rules and laws of faith. However, any tarot reader who uses the deck as a psychological method of communicating with the subconscious will say that it does not contradict any religion.

Among the most common myths about fortune-telling, Tarot expert Tata Kalnitskaya highlighted other points.

Some fear that you may miscalculate fate. However, this is really some kind of fantasy. It is absolutely impossible to predict fate, as the Tarot only suggests how best to behave and how to find a way out of certain situations. Others try not to guess what they like – but this is also nonsense. Many resort to cards to find out what will happen to their loved ones. The only thing is that when you are guessing for yourself or your loved ones, you are very involved in the process and can affect emotional harmony and that is not always good. Therefore, some people ask others to guess for them, but it is not a paradigm.

Another says demons are coming. But on this subject, I can say that when the person is ***** (bad), the demons come. note. ed.) and has nothing to do with maps. If a person acts disgusting, demons will come and this has nothing to do with the cards.

And you will be healed: why do people believe in Tarot expansions? psychologist’s opinion

Agree that in the era of digitization, when a person’s entire life is focused on phones and computers, it is foolish to believe in 78 paper maps. Yet the majority continue to do so, shifting responsibility for their lives to “magic” cards. Ekaterina Bychkova, integrative psychologist at the online psychotherapy service Zigmund.Online, explains why each of us wants to know what awaits her in the future.

The need to relieve anxiety about the future, fear of uncertainty

Predictions predict the future. Divination can be a form of behavior that alleviates or alleviates anxiety. In this case, the Tarot cards become part of the neurosis. And neurosis is a stable pattern of behavior that doesn’t really help deal with anxiety, but masks it and only calms it until next time.

need for control

The need for higher powers and the need to use something magical in the form of a card arises when a person cannot directly influence the situation, for example, when he falls in love with someone else. And so it turns out to look into the future, to find hidden desires and stories from the past and present – all this creates a feeling of control and situational control.

childhood

In the unwillingness to take responsibility for the future and shifting decision-making to assistants in the form of cards, infantilism can be noticed – where the child does not need to decide anything, and you can rely on omnipotent parents. After a person grows up, his parents turn into ordinary people who are just as vulnerable to him as he is. However, the need for an object of absolute security and omnipotence remains. Then the tarot cards can take their place, these cards will take the responsibility of making decisions and tell you what to do, just like a loving, magical friend in a fairy tale.

In general, the Tarot has always been read. This is confirmed by both experts of our material and other tarologists, who, as they honestly say, are already tired of the question about the popularity of cards. Spirituality fashion is the main reason why divination is really popular. Everyone wants to be in harmony, flow, and source, but for that you need to work on your own life. And this, as you know, consumes much more energy than dealing with cards.

And although all trends sooner or later disappear, in Tarot this is unlikely to happen. As long as each of us has the opportunity to shift the responsibility of decision to 78 paper cards, we will use it with pleasure.

* Considered extremist and blocked on the territory of the Russian Federation.