Furry Fears Friend Who Creates Tarot Cards Might Be a Satanist

[Happy Halloween, Dear Readers --Papabear]


Hello again.

I am happy to inform you that I have gotten over my Tech E Coyote obsession and I have in fact began talking to someone real a fair bit online. He has been perfectly fine with me and no discomfort, bad feelings or anything have happened and we have become "internet friends" He lives in America and I'm British and we don't plan on meeting up or anything IRL. However I fear there might be a problem on the horizon.

A few days ago, I heard my mother discuss something to do with something called Tarot. These are apparently to do with fortune telling and she says have some links to Satanism. So not good then, eh?

A while ago I had been looking through the submissions and journals on my friends Fur Affinity page and discovered that he has a collection of these cards which he commissions artist to make for him. I thought these were, frankly, quite cool looking but probably due to my lack of knowledge.

I'm basically worried that I may have befriended a perfectly nice... Satanist. He has been very nice and friendly and I trust him as much as it is sensible to online, which isn't that much, just small things like when he'll be online, nothing valuable. But I trust my mother far more but I know she can get touchy over things to do with, let’s call it magic for want of a better word.

So, my question is simple, What the holy fornication do I do? Should I stay friends with him, talk to him, break away from him or just leave it alone. I don't want to just bugger off without an explanation. It is the internet, but come on, we do deserve some clarity.

Thanks for the help

Stettfudd

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Hi, Stettfudd,

Glad you are over your crush on Tech E :-P

I saved your question for today because it is so timely for this holiday; hope you don’t mind. But to the question at paw.... Tarot cards were invented in Europe in the 1400s to play a number of harmless card games. It wasn’t until about four hundred years later that people started using them for fortune telling (or divination). Today, there are different versions of Tarot cards, some associated with games and some associated with the occult.

Just as Tarot cards were adopted by mystics to tell fortunes, regular playing cards are also used for the same purpose. You can also cast lots, throw bones, use a crystal ball, read tea leaves, etc. None of these things are magic in themselves. It is only one's attitude towards them that makes them seem so.

The same goes for Tarot cards. They are just cards with art on them, nothing more. It is the mystic who is the key here. If you believe in such things, it is the mystic’s ability to read the cards randomly shuffled and dealt that allows him or her to tell make predictions about the future. The cards are just pieces of cardboard or plastic with drawings on them.

It’s okay for you to like the art on the Tarot cards your friend made. It would be wrong to assume that because he makes such cards he is a Satanist. The two of you have become friends and that’s a wonderful thing. In your conversations with him, try to bring up the topic of religion and philosophy in a nonchalant manner. Maybe start by saying some of your own beliefs and then see what he thinks. This is a much better way of finding out more about your friend because you know what they say about people who assume—you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.”

Happy Halloween!

Papabear