Is Tarot a Closed Practice?
I’ve seen a recent insurgence of comments on Facebook groups, or videos on TikTok implying that Tarot and the act of Tarot Reading is a closed practice to Rromani people and that people wishing to get into cartomancy should stick to oracle cards. I can honestly say, I am shocked! In my opinion, this is ridiculous. Especially when being shared by Gadje (non-Romani) people.
Divination has been around for centuries, practised by ancient Greeks, Celtic druids, and many other civilisations along the way. It is hardly surprising that playing cards became used as a form of divination! When tarot was introduced in the 1400’s it came from Italy, and you can see the traditional playing card reflected in the minor arcana, suits and numbers are easily mirrored. It was always intended as a ‘ parlour game’. It wasn’t until the 1700’s that they became used for fortune-telling.
I have never been told that only Romani people should practice the art of tarot reading, no one in my Romani side of my family has ever even implied as much. Divination is not something that is unique to Romani people, and many people outside of that culture are able to perform many different types of divination besides cartomancy, in fact, my Great Granny from the Irish side of my family read tea leaves. When we look back through history, there’s evidence of cartomancy being used in Spain in the 15th Century. Do I think this comes from a good place? I don’t know. I can understand why people would be upset when people dress in what would be considered traditional Gypsy clothing to project an image for financial gain, absolutely. But that does not make tarot closed practice. While people think they’re being ally’s I wonder if they’re actually doing more harm than good by speaking over Romani people.
I believe diviners who are outside of Romani heritage should be sensitive to the images they portray when working, and remember there was a time women who were fortune-tellers were demonised for doing so and for a long time, this was one of the ways a Romani woman could provide for her family, selling fortunes as they travelled. A lot of areas would chase Romani people out of their towns and even entire countries so to dress in a way perceived as ‘Gypsy’ in order to make more sales seems in poor taste. You only have to google ‘Fortune Teller’ and you will be inundated with images of women appropriating a traditional Gypsy style of dress. Even now Romani and Traveller people are moved on from towns due to negative associations so much so, I realised in my adult life I had been taught things about my heritage without actually being told my heritage. Family members taught to hide who they were for fear of being accused of being thieves or fraudsters. Only when I started working on my family tree did I actually see the connection. Do I speak for every person in the Romani community? Absolutely not. This is merely my take on this subject, and as yet, I’ve not seen a single Roma person state that tarot is closed, only Gadje people on behalf of a community that is capable of speaking for themselves.
Based on my own knowledge of the history of tarot and cartomancy, I will continue to teach people, Roma or otherwise, to read tarot while educating people on the way they present themselves as a reader. It is my belief that people seeking fortunes expect authenticity and presenting yourself as something you’re not, makes you untrustworthy and let’s face it, a bit of dick! A wise woman recently told me, be yourself and own it!
*The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are exactly that, opinions*