Tarot and Oracle Cards: Woowoo, Witchery, or Wisdom?

I’ve become so used to pulling tarot and oracle cards for people…

… gleaning advice from different combinations of decks and drawings, and getting pretty decent feedback from clients, that I haven’t really paused to think about the “validity” of this thing I’ve become so comfortable doing.

I started thinking about this because I’ve recently gone on a #chirotok rabbit hole. If you’ve ever explored Tiktok, there’s a teeny chance you’ve come across videos of chiropractors doing some ASMR back-cracking on the app (niche? yes. satisfying? very). While obsessively scrolling through #chirotok, I found this one chiropractor whose clickbait-y videos were all about disproving viral, cracky-backy Tiktok chiros because what they do “doesn’t work.” As a trained chiropractor himself, he says he knows that what people in his profession does is basically BS and that there’s no scientific evidence or studies that prove any of this stuff actually works.

JSYK: Pre-covid, I would go to Karada monthly upon my GP’s advice (I miss it so much). Placebo or not, getting myself adjusted regularly provided me with immense relief and alongside exercise and training, helped me allay migraines.

Back to tarot~

This got me thinking… There’s clearly no “scientific evidence” that tarot or oracle cards have any “substance.” Everything is anecdotal by virtue of the practice itself. Does that make tarot unimportant and ineffective?

Telling meaningful stories through tarot and oracle cards has become second nature to us card readers, tarot enthusiasts, and #practicalmagical folks. If we’ve been extra lucky, we’ve had the pleasure of surrounding ourselves with people who “get” what we do—no questions asked. If I go by Tiktok Bro’s argument, then it’s possible that all of us in the tarot world are just drinking each other’s Kool-Aid, getting dopamine hits with every tarot or oracle card we draw for each other (just like the viral Tiktok “doctors” and their fans).

There’s a fine line between getting caught up in a witchy echo chamber and actually having a supportive circle to help you bring your magical musings into a practical, real world context.

Finding “your people” is so important in connecting to your magic in a way that’s beneficial. The themes of camaraderie and friendship is defined in the Quiet Mystic’s Mutual Mystic Assembly Card, the PM Starter Deck’s and the PM Pinoy Tarot Deck’s 3 of Cups cards. I’ve found my crafty coven among my Mystic Matter cohorts!

Here’s what I’ve come up with (clearly, I’ve had a lot of time during lockdown)…

While seeking scientific “evidence” that a certain woowoo practice works or not may be well-intentioned—for example, you just want to make sure you’re not inflicting harm on a client and damaging their bodies (or their lives)—it’s also a very Western way of looking at things.

As someone born in Asia and living here, I’ve grown up knowing, intrinsically, that there is value in looking outside standard-sized boxes, categories, and stringent systems, too. Yoga in its non-commercial, non-Western, non-Lululemon form has been around for centuries and has worked for people. So has meditation—scientists are just now putting into more scientific terms what goes on in our brains when we meditate and what its effects are on our overall well-being and health. Despite this, practitioners have been sitting and breathing on their cushions for ages. Even without the data and “evidence,” they’ve known it’s worked.

Who else has taken their grandma’s cure-alls and found themselves feeling better (Pito-pito is our Mystic Matter power remedy!)? Felt cleansed after a Marie Kondo clear-up? Found an emotional release after a hip-centric yin yoga class? Cried after a reiki session?

Whether these woowoo practices hold any physical, scientific, real-world merit doesn’t discount the fact that they have had an effect on us. Maybe it doesn’t even matter if it’s all placebo or not because at the end of the day, we feel better.

That said, there have been a billion and one quacks, cult leaders, and misinformation spread because people weren’t responsible enough to do their research. (ie, the Tiktok chiros doing crazy things to people whose bodies are already in a compromised state)

Two (or more!) things can be true at the same time.

I believe in the mystical magical art of tarot and oracle card reading—in how synchronicities can show up and make us feel connected, healed, motivated, and moved.

I also believe that this “magic” can be made more robust, more long-term, and more valuable if we’re able to put a little bit of pragmatism into it. If we can merge the woowoo crystals and sound baths and talk of chakras, astrological houses, and retrogrades with logical, rational, actionable plans that keep us grounded in the real world—not hunkering down in creepy, cultish corners to escape reality.

**As long as we’re practicing our magic in a responsible and smart way that doesn’t hurt anyone (including ourselves), then there is wisdom in all this woo.**

If someone calls your craft “witchery” and does so derogatorily, look back through history and see all the long-standing wisdom our elders held for us. See how the patriarchy is slowly (veeery slowly) getting its comeuppance for all the knowledge it’s sidestepped and all the people it’s misused and abused.

At the same time, derive comfort from the fact that modern contexts, technologies, and information systems can also work wonders, save lives, keep us learning.

Tarot and Oracle cards carry all of it: woowoo, witchery, and wisdom.

If you put forth clear intentions for the readings you do, know how important it is to safeguard yourself and the people you read for, then placebo or not, “evidence” or not, you’re probably doing something good for a person’s spirit, thoughts, emotions, and perspectives when you read for them in a levelheaded way.

If you’re clear about your beliefs, boundaries, and capabilities, then you’re not some peddler taking advantage of people who are already in a vulnerable state.

If you’re able to identify when the person you’re reading for will mostly likely benefit more from someone with scientific training or a license (like a doctor, therapist, psychologist, etc.) and if you’re humble and responsible enough to let them know that what they need lies outside what you can realistically deliver, than you’re doing your job right.

If your reading doesn’t guarantee miracles, helps people learn to help themselves, and at the same time makes them feel valuable, worthy, and witnessed without being enabled, then I think your work as a reader naturally becomes important, valid, and effective.

We contain multitudes and so can our practice.

PM TLDR: Tarot and oracle cards are, at the end of the day, just pieces of paper with pretty drawings on them. And tarot readers are storytellers just trying to help people make sense of themselves and the world.

Let’s stay within our bounds, respect that we don’t have the answers to everything, and relish when our readings bring the relief we and the people we read for seek. And lastly, let’s keep things REAL.