(RNS) — In recent years, tarot cards and readings have become increasingly mainstream. According to a survey from the Pew Research Center released in May, about 1 in 10 Americans said they seek tarot readings at least annually.
When it comes to religious affiliation, the Pew study identified the demographic most apt to use tarot cards as observing “nothing in particular — 16% in that category said they consulted tarot cards once or twice a year. Meanwhile, those least likely to use tarot cards were white evangelicals (4% consult cards once or twice a year).
Three tarot practitioners who left conservative Christian upbringings told RNS using tarot cards helped them reimagine their spirituality.
Tarot practitioners Kevin Garcia and Elliot Adam grew up in evangelical communities they since left, making them what some might call exvangelicals. Charlie Claire Burgess grew up in a conservative Methodist church and said that although the denomination was not considered evangelical, they felt they could commiserate with much of the exvangelical experience.
Kevin Garcia. (Courtesy photo)
Garcia, now based in Atlanta, described themself as being “very devout” growing up.
“(My) mother was the worship leader, uncle was the pastor, we were in church, you know, three to four times a week depending on the season,” Garcia said.
By the time they were 25 years old and serving as a missionary, they decided to leave their evangelical spaces.
“When I came out of the closet, I got kicked out,” Garcia, now 35, said. “And from there I started piecing my life together — the kind of life I wanted.”
For each of the practitioners interviewed, their discovery and use of tarot was closely linked to their leaving conservative church spaces. Garcia’s experience with tarot was also connected to their coming out.
“They told me that the devil was lurking in all of these places, like being gay and in tarot,” Garcia said. “But when I came out, I was like – oh, no, this is actually a good thing. I’m more happy, I’m more connected to love.”
They started to believe spiritual practices like tarot couldn’t be as bad as they were taught to believe either, Garcia said. Reading cards and guidebooks, they began to see tarot as an empowering tool for discernment, or a mirror of the thoughts and feelings one holds inside.
Garcia now uses tarot as a tool for spiritual direction in their coachin …