Why I Am Still Reading Tarot (but you can't pay me to do it...)
In which I tackle the very thorny question of cultural appropriation and tarot....
Today here on my Substack I am finally fully importing my MOST popular post from my defunct Medium blog, the one that still gets a lot of eyeballs even though I haven’t posted or tended in any way to that blog in over two years. Some of my positions in that initial post have evolved slightly, and some of the links were broken, so I have made some edits from the original.
I should start by explaining that I have been a student and practitioner of Tarot even longer than I have been a witch. I have been in a relationship with the cards for more than 35 years. I have read professionally, taught workshops professionally, and have researched as much as I can about the history of the deck and its use.
I have always been aware of a relationship between the Roma and Tarot. Recently, there has been a lot of discussion around the idea that non-Roma should stop using Tarot decks for divination, because Tarot-reading is a closed practice belonging to the Roma people and any non-Roma use of Tarot is cultural appropriation. Some are responding to this by shredding their decks and “canceling” everyone who publicly practices Tarot. Others are being dismissive, claiming that there is nothing in the history of Tarot that suggests it has anything to do with the Roma.
I want to unpack all of this, and explain how I am choosing as a longtime Tarot practitioner and witch to respond to this issue. I am not going to claim that I know better than anyone else what is right. But as a teacher and a writer, I hope that shedding light on my thinking and my decisions around this issue can help others as they make their choices.
I want to begin with the most important and undeniable truth: the Roma have been subjected to an unconscionable amount of inhumane treatment over the course of centuries, and are still being subjected to harassment, abuse and discrimination even today. I have witnessed first hand the negativity that Europeans direct at Romani, as casually as if they are noticing the weather. They were among the peoples the Nazis hoped to extinguish from the earth with their genocidal concentration camps. They are still treated as unwelcome in much of Eastern and Southern Europe, and still subjected to discrimination, both socially and legally. Roma have spent centuries living on the margins of European society, often enslaved, economically shut out, verbally berated and chased out of communities. Roma culture is a distinct culture, one that has developed over centuries, and has often been appropriated from. If you are decorating and dressing in “boho chic” you are likely borrowing from a aesthetic. And you do not have a “g#%^y soul” — the term is pejorative and as insulting as any racial epithet, which is why I blanked it and I will not be using it again in this piece (or ever for that matter.) I implore you to do some homework on the plight of the Roma, and how even today they are struggling for survival and to have their human rights recognized. I believe that among my charges as a witch is to lend power to the powerless, and stand up for those who have been marginalized. The Roma certainly fit in that category.
It is also true that cartomancy is part of Roma tradition. I have heard divergent accounts — some saying Roma have only read with the 52 card standard deck, and more recently that Roma do cartomancy using only Tarot decks, and asserting that not only were they the first to invent this, but that it is a “closed practice” — that it is something that is considered only validly done by people with Roma heritage who have appropriately learned from Roma teachers. That cartomancy is a big part of Roma culture and how they economically support themselves is undeniably true. Roma are often living itinerant lifestyles, and prevented from obtaining the education and access to jobs that would lift them out of poverty. Offering divination services is one way for Roma to make money in a society that seems determined to keep them in poverty. It is also something of a trope — we have all seen the fortune teller draped in flowing skirts and wearing a headscarf and ribbons, reading cards to tell someone’s fortune. Let me be very clear on this: if you are dressing up in the standard media tropes associated with a “fortune teller” either as a costume or to lend your divination practice more “style,” you are appropriating Roma culture, and it’s not okay no matter what kind of deck you’re using or how.
Roma who do engage in divination for money are often discriminated against. Many places in Europe have made cartomancy illegal specifically to keep Roma out of their communities and to deprive them of livelihood. There are even laws like that in the United States. When I first started reading professionally out of a new age bookshop in Virginia, I did so fully aware that the town ordinances said that doing so was illegal unless I was doing it “strictly for entertainment purposes.” And there’s some issues with selective enforcement. Many places will allow non-Roma to practice divination in violation of local law, and enforce those same laws very strictly when they encounter Roma. It is very true that Roma are singled out for their practice of cartomancy in a way that other practitioners are not.
Acknowledging all of these truths, is it cultural appropriation for non-Roma to read Tarot?
To really understand this, it’s important to understand that there are multiple elements of how cultural appropriation works, each of which requires a distinct analysis.
Is the object, the Tarot deck, proprietary to the Roma? There are indeed objects that are proprietary to certain cultures, and their use by others is verboten. These are usually sacred objects created by the culture for a specific purpose. Ceremonial objects or objects denoting a certain status usually fit in this category. The fact that the deck was created as a card game is not in question — the earliest records we have of the use of the deck refer to it as a card game, not a divination tool. The earliest records we have indicate that the game probably did originate in parts east of Europe, and the assertion that the game of Tarot was brought here by the Roma, while not part of the written record, is not out of the realm of possibility. That said, even if the Roma originated the game of Tarot, a game is not an object created specifically for sacred or ceremonial purpose. Games, in fact, are usually considered objects that are meant to be shared. There is therefore nothing wrong with a non-Roma person owning a Tarot deck.
There is an important additional twist in the history of Tarot that must be addressed, the elephant in the room. In 1908, one of the members of a London-based occult society, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Arthur Edward Waite, commissioned artist Pamela Coleman Smith to create pictures for a Tarot deck. At the time, it was a requirement of reaching a certain status within the Golden Dawn for members create their own Tarot decks. Alastair Crowley would eventually publish his Thoth deck and recently Godfrey Dawson’s deck has been published as the “Hermetic Tarot Deck.” What is now commonly referred to as the Rider Waite deck (but more properly called the Waite-Coleman-Smith deck, I will use the abbreviation WCS) was first published by William Rider & Son in 1909 and its images and interpretations provide the underpinning of the majority of commercially sold Tarot decks today.
Did Waite and Coleman-Smith appropriate Tarot from the Roma by creating their deck and calling it a Tarot deck? There are some significant changes that happened with the Waite Coleman Smith deck. The most obvious is that for the first time ever, the numbered cards, what we call the Minor Arcana or the “pip” cards, offered images that went beyond stylized depictions of the objects that were the “suits” of the cards. In prior decks, the ten of wands had ten wands on it. A two of cups would have two cups. The images created by Pamela Coleman Smith for the WCS deck are far more detailed, and are vignettes that involve people and creatures and objects in dynamic action. This was an original addition to the deck. Waite and Coleman Smith also incorporated symbols from a variety of mystical origins and religious traditions — drawing from astrology, Kabbalah, numerology, Hermetic magic, and mythology. The Major Arcana, the 22 cards that in the original game of Tarocchi served as trump cards much like in bridge, already contained some symbolism, mostly believed to have come from Catholic festival processionals, called “Roman Triumphals,” but the WCS expanded on the symbology in those cards significantly.
Hip hop culture is instructive here (I’ve been a fan of hip hop from its inception.) Hip hop was born because of the “break” — DJ Kool Herc (née Clive Campbell) from the Bronx extracted the “breaks” from popular dance music and then MCs would rhyme over them. The practice of “sampling” — borrowing hooks from popular songs, often older music, to create the break beats over which the MCs could rap, is considered okay, provided you give credit to the original artists. Sampling someone else’s music without crediting them is not cool (yeah, looking right at you, Robin Thicke….)
But here’s the thing — Waite specifically called his deck a Tarot deck. He and Coleman Smith did not create a deck of 78 cards structured the same way as a Tarot deck and then claim that it was an entirely new creation that required an entirely different name. In calling it a Tarot deck he was to some extent crediting the source material, even as he was adding to it. The WCS deck is not the exact same deck that likely originated with the Roma. It has been significantly changed. When an artist grabs a sample from a previous artist’s work and then with it creates something new, the new object does not become the property of the previous artist simply by virtue of that fact.
So yes, the modern WCS Tarot deck reinvented the original Tarot deck, whose origins as an object may have involved the Roma in no small part, even though there is no specific documentation to prove it. Irrespective of any Roma involvement in its creation, the original deck as an object is still a game that was meant to be widely shared, not a sacred object to be withheld from outsiders. So the fact that Waite and Coleman Smith created a derivative work from the original Tarot deck does not mean that the Roma can claim that derivative work as entirely theirs. It is important, however, that the Roma’s relationship to the WCS Tarot deck be acknowledged. Those that have published and profited off the WCS deck might want to consider how to recognize the Roma contribution to the work — and specifically consider whether recognition should include compensation.
But Tarot is not just an object, it is also a cartomancy practice, and that is the purpose for which the WCS deck was made, and that begs a separate question and analysis. Are the Roma the inventors of cartomancy with a Tarot deck and therefore is anyone else who attempts cartomancy with Tarot guilty of appropriating from them? This gets trickier, because those who advocate for the Roma as the originators of cartomancy are correct that history is written by the privileged, not the marginalized. OF COURSE they have been erased from the written history of Tarot because Europe has been trying to erase the Roma for centuries. If they really were the first ones to use decks of cards for cartomancy, who would have documented that? It’s important not to be outright dismissive of Roma claims that they originated cartomancy simply because there are no written records of it.
The place where this falls apart is that cartomancy as an activity is just too broad to be said to “belong” to anyone. Sooner or later, if you have a drum-shaped object, someone will take it upon themselves to beat on it to make music, and if you bundle up herbs sooner or later someone will get the idea to burn them and use the smoke, and game pieces that lend themselves to randomization will sooner or later be used for divination. Neck bones, dice, cards, M&M’s, tea leaves, piles of sticks — humans have a natural penchant to look for divination in things that can be randomized. The mere fact that the Roma turned the tools of a game into a tool for divination does not afford them the ability to claim anyone else who thinks to do the same thing is stealing from them.
There are all kinds of documented ways that cards have been used to “tell the future” — one account from the 16th Century talks about how as a game, people would draw Tarot cards and compose verses that amounted to telling the future of someone else in the room. That doesn’t come close to anything that is purported to originate from the Roma. It’s highly unlikely that the Roma and ONLY the Roma ever thought to use Tarot cards as divination tools.
A practice may be considered belonging to a culture even in the absence of written proof if the practice being claimed is narrow enough — based on the use of a very specific object in a very specific way. For instance, box braids and corn rows are very specific braiding techniques very much associated with Black culture (even if we can’t point to a moment where they were “invented”) and when white people take on those hairstyles they are appropriating Black culture. But that fact alone does not render any and all complex hair braiding techniques the sole province of Black culture. Nearly every culture braids hair in some way. Likewise, excluding non-Roma from ALL forms of cartomancy of any kind with a Tarot deck is an overreach. Cartomancy as a whole does not belong to the Roma, but certain specific techniques, ways of doing cartomancy, could very well be proprietary.
Waite’s intent in commissioning the WCS deck wasn’t to memorialize Roma cartomancy techniques, but to mix together a wide range of symbols to create his own cartomancy system, one where almost three-quarters of the images in question were original to the deck that was created by Waite and Smith. But if the WCS deck and reading technique specifically incorporates Roma cartomancy techniques, is that appropriation? In this instance, Waite and Coleman Smith did in fact sample from other material to create their cartomancy system with respect to many of the obvious influences like Kabbalah, astrology, and numerology. And there is some consideration to be given to whether that sampling was okay. Things like astrology and numerology are not closed practices, so those are not problematic. Kabbalah is another (very complicated) matter, however, and that is a whole other discussion for another time.
But the question before us right now is: did Waite “sample” card-reading lore from the Roma? That readers of the WCS deck and the Roma are using the same tool does not automatically mean they are using the same technique. If Waite and Coleman Smith essentially extracted Roma Tarot card-reading techniques and published them as their own, then yes, that is TOTALLY cultural appropriation and problematic. But as far as I can tell from the critics, nobody’s saying that’s what’s happened. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. Most of the Roma critics do not claim that the WCS way of reading Tarot is the same as how the Roma read Tarot.
The writings by critics I have encountered will specifically say that the Roma way of reading is utterly distinct and different from what most non-Roma readers do, some even going so far as to say that it is impossible to use Roma cartomancy techniques if you are not Roma. One cannot have it both ways — you can’t in one breath claim that your cartomancy traditions are being stolen by WCS readers and in the next claim that there is no way that WCS readers can even perform Roma cartomancy techniques. It is probably true that one cannot correctly do Roma Tarot reading if you are not Roma, but until critics point to specific elements about the actual WCS reading techniques that are derivative from Roma practice, it’s hard to make the case that the WCS appropriated from Roma culture. This is not an instance where we need to look at the history, which we can concede would be stilted against the Roma. One can look at the two techniques in practice today and if there are overly similar elements, it is probably safe to presume Waite appropriated those elements. I have not seen that analysis. So, divination with Tarot using WCS methodology does not appear to be appropriative of Roma Tarot reading techniques, though I remain watchful to see if information emerges showing otherwise.
But here’s what *is* problematic with non-Roma people reading Tarot for money — it does undermine a key economic support of the Roma community because non-Roma readers operate with a privilege the Roma do not have. Roma readers find themselves discriminated against everywhere they go, and their livelihood is undermined by those who appropriate their manner of dress to seem more “authentic.” Roma readers are often discriminated against by the laws themselves, and by how the laws are applied by the enforcement authorities. Many of the non-Roma readers who take up space as professional Tarot readers do not need to be there — they are doing it as a side hustle or a hobby. They could easily find some other way to participate in the economy that does not take up space that the Roma rely on. Non-Roma that do participate in the economy in this way need to be aware of their privilege, and use it to proactively advocate for equity for Roma in these spaces. If someone wants you to play the “fortune teller” trope, turn down the gig. If you find that Roma readers are being turned away, or that laws are being discriminatorily applied to them and not you, say something. If you teach, make sure you teach the full history of Tarot, and include the Roma (and their struggle) in your material. If you are aware of Roma readers in your community, support them. If you are not aware of whether there are Roma readers in your community, then take the trouble to find out.
So what does all this mean for me as someone who has been a professional reader and teacher, someone who has been studying WCS-style Tarot for 35 years? I am not shredding my decks or throwing them away. I will still use them for divination. I am not practicing Roma-style reading, and I have never pretended that I am. I will not be using readings to make money. If I choose to do a reading for someone, it will be someone I know, and it will be a gift. I will not be obtaining economic benefit for my Tarot reading. I will still teach WCS-style Tarot. If I do teach for money, I will share proceeds from the class with the European Roma Rights Centre. And my discussion of the Roma in all my classes will be expanded, both in the history and ethics sections of my material. And I am looking for ways to make sure that my little corner of the witchy world is doing right by Roma Tarot practitioners. These are my choices, made because I believe as a witch it is part of my charge to stand up for those who are afflicted.
What does this mean for you as a Tarot reader? I can’t tell you what choices to make. I can only tell you about mine. I can’t tell you that my choices are correct for anyone else but me. Different people will look at these issues and disagree with my thinking and reach different conclusions. Some will say I am needlessly altering my practices. Others will think I am not doing enough. Like I said, I am prepared to listen to more information where it is available. This is where I am today. I can’t promise that won’t change. In fact, that’s the part that’s most important. We can always learn and do better.
Everyone who cares about Tarot as a practice, and about justice, should consider a donation to the European Roma Rights Centre, which is actively fighting for Roma rights in the European courts.
Wow, thank you so much for this thorough exploration of very important information. I feel ashamed to admit I was unaware of a lot of this. The way I use tarot is very unique to me, something I made up, but I do have paid subscribers here at least in part because of my use tarot. I have much to think about! Thank you for including the link to where we can make donations. That's a great starting point while I decide my path forward.
Is Pamela Coleman Smith's real first name Sarah or is that a typo?