Words of Wisdom from Philip Johnson, he left this comment on the last Psychic Sisters Post ; I felt they deserved a wider audience than the ones that might read the comments
Sally
There has been some fascinating comments made here by your friends. It is great to see lively discussion and reflections. I would like to offer some comments about the contextual use of tarot in evangelism. I hope that by indulging me in a bit of a lengthy post that I might clarify some details.
By way of a foundation, allow me to be briefly autobiographical before heading on to the theory and practise. I am a Christian living in Australia where our experiences of religious diversity (and the surge toward new age) has been very deep and profound. From my observations on the circumstances facing Christians in Britain are that you folks are about a decade behind what has ensued "down under" in the riotous old ex-colony of convicts!
I was raised in a Christian home, with an Assemblies of God church life in my childhood-adolescent years. I crossed the threshold of faith aged 9. I have never been a devotee of any other religious pathway, so I am not an ex-new ager (for instance).
At the age of 18 I intuited that religious pluralism (and the do-it-yourself approach to spirituality) was a trend that would ensue and therefore required careful attention. I began five years personal research into apologetics and "other religions" while holding down a clerical job.
Then I quit working to take up full time study. In 1983 I began my undergraduate study for a BA at the University of Sydney. I majored in history (all related to religious and church), Religious Studies, and minored in Islamic Studies. Before graduating (1988) I enrolled in a Bachelor of Divinity programme also at the same uni and I studied under a broad range of theologians (Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox, Uniting Church, Baptist, and Sydney Anglicans) and scholars including Barbara Thiering. At uni I was active in the Aussie branch of Campus Crusade.
I later proceeded to an MTh where I wrote a dissertation on Evangelical Responses to New Religions.
In 1991 I co-founded the Community of Hope (COH) as a para-church ministry toward new religions, new age etc. That year the COH entered the Sydney Mind Body Spirit festival, and so began a long process of field work in contextual missions. In 1993 I conceived of the idea of using tarot cards to present the gospel. It was in the late 1990s that John Drane lectured at Morling College in Sydney where my colleague Ross Clifford introduced John to what we were doing with the tarot. That was the starting point for the subsequent book on tarot being written, Beyond Prediction (Lion 2001) which Ross, John and I co-wrote.
So I am an advocate of the use of tarot cards in evangelism with new spirituality seekers, and I have done so in new age festivals, at conferences of professional tarot card readers, among neo-pagan devotees who use the cards and in various community forums when asked to do so.
Alright enough of autobiography and on to the gist of "to do or taboo".
The first point is this: tarot cards were not invented for occult purposes, but as a card game in Renaissance Italy. The cards are a product of those times and the portraits on the earliest surviving decks reflect this. The early decks show pictorial influences from Cathedrals, illuminated manuscripts of the Book of Revelation, and symbolism reflected in Dante's writings (also hinted at in Man of La Mancha: Don Quixote).
The association of tarot with fortune telling is clear once we reach late 18th century France when it was conjectured that the tarot came from Egypt (remember Napoleon conquered it and found the Rosetta tone). A French occultist nicknamed Eliphas Levi was the first known person to link tarot with Cabala and explicit fortune telling. It was not until the late 19th century that tarot cards as fortune telling made its way into England.
So the cards were "hijacked" from their original purpose. Keep in mind that the Bible has been "hijacked" at times for unsavoury reasons -- KKK misquote it to justify hatred of non-whites, some white Sth African Chruistians used it to justify apartheid, Jehovah's Witnesses use it to prove that Jesus is not God the Son but Michael the archangel. The Bible can used correctly or inappropriately; and the same thing holds true for many other "objects".
Now the deck that appears in Beyond Prediction and the one COH people have used in festivals is called the Rider-Waite deck. A E Waite conceived of his deck, Pamela Colman Smith drew the pictures, and the London company Rider published them in 1910. This deck is the best-known and most widely used. It is parallel in influence and "respect" in tarot parlance to what the KJV has been as a bible version for Christians.
Now the pictures on Waite's deck have some very explicit biblical and Christian symbols as Waite was a mystically inclined character in his approach to Chjristianity. This does not mean the cards he devised are "Christian", but the hristian and biblical influences are undeniable. You need to see the cards and it would help if I could demonstrate things -- but the blog cannot facilitate that.
Basically you'll find Adam and Eve in Eden (Lovers card; depicts Genesis 1-2), Adam and Eve in chains to the Devil (The Devil; depicts Genesis 3). The Death card is one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And so it goes on.
What we do in festivals is we make it clear verbally and on our booth signage that we do not "predict the future" or use the cards that way. Instead we make it clear we have a spiritual story to tell that the cards illustrate and that story is about who we are, why we are here and how the sory connects us to Jesus Christ. Nine out of ten people are happy to then proceed. We sit down across a table, and proceed to lay out the cards one by one explaining each card sequentially. The shape of the cards is in the form of the Cross, and the story is told from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 in 30 minutes using the cards.
As the final card is laid out and the story concludes, we invite the person to see themselves at the foot of the cross and to consider Jesus Christ. We have had many people confess they have never heard the story before. For others it fills in the gaps. We have prayed for people and seen some take a step of faith in Christ.
Also some of the best encounters we have had have been with professional readers who do not dispute what we say and admit that we are correct in pointing to the Christian meanings in the cards. Indeed most readers admit that they do not read the future. Instead they have replaced the priest's confessional box, and they engage in non-directive common sense counselling.
Is this stuff "respected" in circles where the cards are esteemed? Yes. In July 2005 I was invited to address an international tarot conference. I can attest that the spiritual hunger is strong and the reception of what I presented was marvellous (and without any compromise on the uniqueness and particularity of Christ).
Pragmatic results of course do not justify the means. But that is where a lengthy discussion about contextual mission principles begins, and where topics like "appropriate syncretism" and "inappropriate syncretism" would ensue. I'm sure that what I have jotted here may trigger off questions, remarks etc. But let me assure you that the cards are not demonic, they are pieces of cardboard. If you attribute power to them then you become a slave to the object. I see the cards as a providential object in the same way that Paul spotted an altar to an unknown god in Athens (Acts 17), and in the same way Don Richardson spotted the "peace child" story and ritual which became the "cultural entry point" into which he could meaningfully explain the gospel.
Blessings to all of you
Philip
