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Does Tarot Bring Bad Luck?

    does tarot bring bad luck

    Tarot cards have been around for centuries.

    And almost since the very beginning, they have been surrounded by mystery and confusion.

    This might be because of many reasons, but the fact still remains: people have all sorts of misconceptions about the practice of tarot.

    Take, for example, the idea that tarot brings bad luck.

    For centuries, countless people have believed that tarot may bring bad luck to you if you start practicing it. In fact, some people even believe that it will bring bad luck to you if you go to a reader for a tarot reading.

    So, is it true? Does tarot bring bad luck?

    The short answer is no. Tarot doesn’t bring bad luck to you. This belief is a superstition that probably spread because people fear what they don’t understand. And when they fear things, they come up with all sorts of theories for them as you will see below.

    In reality, though, tarot is a spiritual practice like any other. It is used for clarity, guidance, support, self-discovery, and so on.

    Now that I’ve answered the question, let’s try to understand why some people link tarot with bad luck and why it’s wrong of them to do that.

    1) Negative Predictions

    negative tarot prediction

    Okay, so let’s start with the most obvious reason why people think that tarot may bring bad luck to them.

    It is not a secret that some tarot cards hint towards something bad happening in the future.

    The most common example of this is the Tower card.

    Typically, it represents danger, crisis, destruction, sudden change, and things of that nature.

    Now, when someone gets this card in their reading, it is only understandable that they will be filled with worry and stress.

    After all, nobody likes to face difficult times and they certainly don’t want to go through major changes in life. It’s just how we are as human beings.

    So, in cases like these, people often associate tarot cards with bad luck. They think that it is the cards themselves that have brought danger upon them.

    If you think about it, this is completely wrong.

    Tarot cards, by themselves, cannot cause events to happen.They merely connect with your subconscious mind and reveal to you what you may not know consciously.

    In fact, people should be thankful for the tarot cards as they can reveal bad things in advance.

    At least, this gives them time to prepare. Without the readings, any crisis would land on their hands suddenly, and they wouldn’t have the faintest clue of how to respond.

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    2) Connection With Spirits

    spiritual guide in the sky

    This is probably the second-most common reason for the association of tarot cards with bad luck.

    You see, many people believe that tarot cards are used as a way to open the gates or doors between dimensions.

    To be more precise, they believe that these cards can allow you to interact with the spirit world.

    Obviously, this can be scary for most people.

    Even a skeptical person would want to stay away from anything that “potentially” deals with spirits.

    But here’s the thing. Tarot cards, by themselves, cannot connect with any spirit or higher dimension per se. They are merely tools that are used by a tarot reader to answer a querent’s questions.

    However, it is true that some psychics have the ability to invoke some spiritual guides to help them answer the queries at hand.

    But without these psychics, such direct connections aren’t really possible. And even with psychics, there has to be a clear intention of wanting to connect with the spirits. Without this intention, such direct communications are more difficult.

    Plus I truly believe that as long as you have good intentions, you can stay in the ” good” side and avoid negative spirits… and attract only good guides 🙂

    Also, it is important to remember that whether you like it or not, beings from the spirit plane can already interact with our own.

    In fact, this is how angel numbers work!

    Your guardians send you hints and messages from time to time in the form of repetitive numbers that you will see everywhere you go. That’s just how it is!

    3) Fear of The Unknown

    dark tunnel

    So, here’s the thing.

    There are many aspects of our lives that we do not want to face.

    We all have fears, insecurities, and doubts that we do not want to confront head-on. As such, we like to avoid these issues for as long as possible. I know this is not healthy, but it happens more often than not.

    Now, a tarot reading can reveal everything about you by connecting with your subconscious mind.

    Obviously, this includes the good, the bad, and the ugly.

    Yes, this includes even the fears and insecurities that you badly want hidden from yourself and the rest of the world.

    So, imagine this happening to a person.

    Imagine the tarot cards revealing their deepest darkest fears and secrets.

    How do you think they will react?

    They might think that the tarot cards have opened a floodgate of things they don’t want to deal with and that doing so will attract negative energy or bad luck into their lives. They might get overwhelmed and might blame the cards for it.

    In reality, though, the cards merely reflect what you have in your mind. They respond to the energies you carry around you.

    As such, the cards have no option but to be impartial.

    They are like a mirror to the soul. And there is no use blaming a mirror if you don’t like what you see.

    4) Cultural Beliefs

    man from asian culture

    Different cultures might perceive the same thing in different ways.

    For instance, death is a morbid concept for most cultures in the world. However, there are places where it is not seen as a bad thing.

    For example, in Ghana, they have a tradition to build fantasy coffins that represent the profession that the deceased people held during their lifetime. Also, their funerals often involve music, dancing, and dining.

    So, why am I giving you all of this information?

    Well, it’s to illustrate that cultural beliefs have had a huge influence on how people have viewed tarot over the ages. In some traditions, they have been heavily associated with things like death, evil, witchcraft, and even black magic.

    Often, these beliefs pass on to people from other cultures and it takes the form of misconceptions over a period.

    But you have to understand that just because a particular culture believes something doesn’t make that an objective reality.

    Sure, the cultures have a right to believe whatever they want, but it doesn’t have to be necessarily true.

    What you need to do instead is use your own logic and experience. You can do more research and try to challenge your beliefs. Only that can lead you somehow to the truth.

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    5) Misinterpretations of The Cards

    tarot cards on a table

    This is another common reason why some people become inclined to believe that tarot brings bad luck.

    When someone does a reading by themselves or goes to a tarot reader for a reading, they might misinterpret or misunderstand the messages of the cards. This can obviously lead to fear and stress.

    We all know how quick some people are at coming to conclusions. There are many people who don’t want to look at objective reality. Instead, they simply go by how their minds perceive a given situation. The same might apply to tarot as well.

    For example, if someone receives the “Death” card, they might think that it represents impending doom.

    Even though the tarot reader might explain to them that death might represent a change in one or more aspects of life (and not death), the person might not be ready to hear it.

    The symbols on the card might make them convinced that it means literal death and that the cards themselves are responsible for it.

    Typically, this happens during people’s first encounter with tarot cards.

    As they say, the first impression is the last impression. And if their first experience is a “scary” one in their eyes, they carry it with them forever!

    6) Confirmation Bias

    person feeling depressed

    Confirmation bias happens with all sorts of theories and concepts, and it certainly happens with tarot cards as well.

    If it’s the first time you’re hearing this word, let me explain what it means.

    Confirmation bias is when a person has a theory and tries to prove it using whatever little piece of subjective evidence that supports their theory.

    For example, if you believe that your neighbor is a bad person, their slightest bit of anger will make you go, “Aha! I knew he was a bad person!” Since you started with a bias, you will only see those things in your neighbor that will support your bias.

    Similarly, if people start with the belief that tarot cards are evil, they will use whatever little subjective experience to justify their theory.

    For example, if they receive a negative prediction, and it comes out to be true after some time, they will say that it is the cards that attracted the negative outcome. And so, they will conclude that the cards bring bad luck.

    However, it is important to understand that the tarot cards merely connect with the energies you are exuding in the present moment.

    And based on that, they might tell you what you can expect in the future (good or bad).

    In fact, knowing a bad event in advance can help you change the outcome. So, if anything, tarot cards are a force for good that can help you in your life.

    7) Lack of Understanding

    ritual with sage

    The final and most logical reason why some people believe that tarot cards bring bad luck is because of a lack of understanding.

    They simply don’t know how tarot cards work and how tarot readers decipher meanings from the cards that are picked.

    The thing is, it is okay not to know stuff.

    But many people simply assume things and come to conclusions without doing even a little bit of research.

    Unfortunately, though, this is what most people do. They think that tarot readers are wizards or witches who derive knowledge from tarot cards using black magic, which brings bad luck…

    In reality, we all know that tarot readers are intuitive people who simply extract messages from tarot cards based on the symbolism and also their experiences.

    During a reading, it is the querent’s own energies that influence which cards will turn up; not the other way around.

    So, tarot cards are definitely not evil and they definitely don’t invite bad luck into your life.

    Does Tarot Hold Negative Energy?

    forest with thick fog

    Before concluding this article, I would like to discuss one important aspect of tarot cards and tarot reading that might cause people to create misconceptions.

    As I said above, the cards themselves cannot cause events to happen. They also cannot directly connect with any spirit or higher dimension. However, they can hold onto people’s energies.

    So, if a querent is anxious while the reading is going on, the cards might hold on to that energy of anxiety.

    If the querent is angry, again, the cards will hold on to that.

    And it is not just tarot cards that this happens to.

    If you didn’t already know, we leave energy imprints on everything and everyone we come into contact with. So, you’re already surrounded by objects and people that hold your energy in one way or another.

    Tarot readers are all aware of this and so, they frequently cleanse their tarot cards.

    In fact, they do this after and before every reading. You can read this article I wrote previously on how you can cleanse your cards HERE. There are many techniques you can use and all of them are aimed at removing any residual energies from the cards.

    Anyway, my point was that even though cards can store negative energies, they cannot generate energies on their own. And this doesn’t make them evil or cause them to attract bad luck in any way.

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