A few days ago I received an e mail about how Tarot is the work of Satan (sorry did I yawn), having been in this position many times before, I put a note on FB and asked my lovely Tarot friends what their thoughts were, how great you all were. I received this note below from the lovely Susyn Blair-Hunt who is speaking at the Tarot Conference this year, it makes very interesting reading and you may find the information useful if you ever come across a happy clappy bible bashing bigot, there are a lot out there. Enjoy!
……. I wrote an article about the history of the tarot (an excerpt included at the end of this email) which basically states that the Tarot images come from the Egyptian Book of Life – many believe that during the time Jesus disappeared in the bible (from the ages of 13 – 30) he was in Egypt, studying this book and the Gnostic religions. The tablets these images were carved into eventually ended up side by side with early versions of the Bible at the Library of Alexander in Egypt. When the Library caught fire in 391 AD, the monks who ran the Library made sure that two things were saved – the biblical tablets, along with the Tarot tablets – by giving them to passing Gypsies – the connotation is that the Tarot is derived from the sacred text (Egyptian Book of Life) that became part of the basis for the Bible that Christians use today.
As far as one’s fear of prophecy in general, there are many passages in the Bible that support prophecy, old and new testament. I’ve listed these below – the only instance in the Bible where prophecy is condemned is in the story of the Witch of Endor – in the first book of Samuel. As the story goes, King Saul condemned all “witches” and prophets but secretly kept the Witch of Endor nearby – when she predicted something he didn’t like (which by the way came true) it was then that witches and prophecy were condemned.
Excerpts from the Bible that support prophecy and astrology:
Genesis – (paraphrasing here) And God placed the stars in the firmament so that people who could read them would be able to predict the future.
Book of Daniel – Daniel is an astrologer, seer and dream interpreter, who actually has an entire book devoted to him.
New Testament,
Matthew Chapter 2, which tells how the wise men (actually cited in many bibles as astrologers) were the first to acknowledge Jesus as the son of God and the first to save Jesus’ life, denying his existence to Herod, who wanted to kill him.
Paul – 1st corinthians – chapters 12 and 14 which talk about how God gives all people the gift of prophecy (if they use it rightly).
Romans 12:6 says “if your gift is prophecy, prophesize”
And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.
And this same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.
also Book of Wisdom – Catholic and Protestant Bibles – Chapters 6/7/8