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The Religion of Tarot The Religion of Tarot by © Jessica Williams A Master’s Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Religious Studies Memorial University of Newfoundland Dr. Jennifer Porter January 2021 Acknowledgement I would like first to acknowledge all the participants in my study. Their willingness to speak with me about their dedication to the practice of Tarot is humbling. I thank all of them for their willingness to be open and to discuss Tarot. Of course, I would not be able to finish my thesis without the support of my family. I am so proud of my son, Scott Holden, who demonstrates his love and understanding of my endeavours to achieve my goals and found a way to finish his high school his way. Thank you to his dad Glenn, who was there for him when I could not be. A great big thank you to my mother and father, Chris and Charlie. They gave me every opportunity to push through my learning disabilities and always knew I was more than the difficulties I experienced or the label I was provided. I want to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Jennifer Porter, who kept encouraging me to keep going and provided difficult feedback knowing I needed it to succeed. Thank you to the religious studies department at MUN. All the professors in the department offered encouragement and provided insight and advice. I would be remiss if I did not say thank you to my writing coach Nathalie Ling, who was able to help me break down the writing process and explained how to take a systematic approach. Lastly, I would like to extend my gratefulness to all my friends in my non-spiritual and spiritual community here in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, and everywhere else in the world, including my home city Calgary, Alberta. There are genuinely too many of you to mention by name; however, know that each and every one of you has had an impact on my journey. I am honoured with the grace, dignity, strength and encouragement that each of you has given to me. I may have been the one who wrote this thesis; however, I would not have been able to do this on my own; this is truly a work of passion, love and support from everyone in my life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ii Abstract While Tarot cards are widely known as a fortune-telling tool, the practice of reading Tarot can also be understood as a spiritual practice. Tarot cards have undergone significant reinterpretations since their origins as a secular parlour game in the fifteenth century. Largely due to the influence of occult and alchemical thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, today Tarot has emerged as a mystical tool for divination, enlightenment, and spiritual self-help. This study seeks to understand the religious dimensions of Tarot for Tarot readers. Drawing upon the five dimensions of religiosity model developed by Rodney Stark and Charles Glock, this thesis reveals the inherent religiosity of Tarot reading for practitioners. However, this thesis also reveals the need for a more nuanced model of religion than that offered by Stark and Glock. The thesis argues that while the Stark and Glock model of religiosity can help reveal some of the spiritual dimensions of Tarot practice, its institutional bias fails to account for other important spiritual dimensions of Tarot religiosity. iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................. II ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. III CHAPTER 1: THE IMPORTANCE OF TAROT AS A RELIGIOUS PRACTICE ........................... 3 CHAPTER 2: NEW AGE RELIGION ................................................................................. 8 2.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 RELIGION AND NEW AGE SCHOLARSHIP .......................................................................................... 9 2.3 NEW AGE SCHOLARSHIP AND REFLEXIVITY ..................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER 3: TAROT: A BRIEF HISTORY ....................................................................... 31 3.1 INTRODUCTION TO TAROT .......................................................................................................... 31 3.2 HISTORY OF TAROT .................................................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 45 4.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 45 4.2 EMIC AND ETIC ......................................................................................................................... 46 4.3 GATHERING, ANALYZING AND RECRUITING FOR INTERVIEWS ............................................................ 48 4.4 COLLECTING OF DATA ................................................................................................................ 49 4.5 DEMOGRAPHICS ........................................................................................................................ 50 4.6 ANALYSIS PROCESS .................................................................................................................... 52 4.7 ETHICS..................................................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER 5: TAROT IS A RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY............................................................. 56 5.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 56 5.2 TAROT AND ITS CATEGORIZATION AS NEW AGE RELIGION ................................................................ 58 5.3 USING STARK AND GLOCK’S DIMENSIONS OF RELIGIOSITY TO UNDERSTAND TAROT AS A RELIGIOUS PRACTICE ....................................................................................................................................... 62 5.3.1 Belief ............................................................................................................................................. 65 5.3.1.1 Tarot and the Unifying Connection of ‘Spirit’ ...................................................................... 67 5.3.1.2 Tarot: Prediction, Free Will, and Self Help ........................................................................... 70 5.3.1.3 Tarot, Personal Development and Helping Others .............................................................. 76 5.3.1.4 Tarot: The Connection with Self and Spiritual Knowledge: ................................................. 79 5.3.1.5 Summary: ............................................................................................................................. 83 5.3.2 The Experience Dimension and Tarot ........................................................................................... 84 5.3.2.1 Major Life changes and Tarot ............................................................................................... 85 5.3.2.2 Evidence of Belief of Tarot ................................................................................................... 87 5.3.3 The Practice Dimension of Tarot .................................................................................................. 92 5.3.3.1 Ritual Practice of Tarot ......................................................................................................... 94 5.3.3.2 Devotional Practice ............................................................................................................ 101 5.3.3.3 Cyclical Based Devotional Practice ..................................................................................... 101 5.3.3.4 Non-Cyclical Devotional Practice........................................................................................ 103 1 5.3.4 Knowledge .................................................................................................................................. 105 5.3.4.1 Components of a Tarot Deck .............................................................................................. 106 5.3.4.2 Systems of Tarot ................................................................................................................. 110 5.3.4.3 Historical Views of Tarot .................................................................................................... 116 5.3.4.4 Practitioner Learning of a New Language .......................................................................... 120 5.3.5 Consequences of Tarot ............................................................................................................... 122 CHAPTER 6: TAROT AS RELIGION IN A POST-MODERN WORLD ................................ 125 6.1 TAROT AND THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS....................................................................... 127 6.2 SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS .................................................................................................. 132 6.3 CONCLUSION: TAROT AS RELIGION ............................................................................................. 133 BIBLIOGRAPHY
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