wulzcat
And I always thought it was because giving people other avenues of self-discovery challenged the hegemony of the "Church Fathers" in our patriarchal system of religious mind-control.
Well yes, that too, very much so... Within the church at least - as I understand it - there is the idea that, self-determined or not, if you open yourself up to God and God's will you won't go too far wrong. But if you open your channels to other non-specific spiritual agencies then your advice could be coming from anyone/thing. And in becoming dependent on that guidance - which could be true, or false, or a mixture of the two - you are essentially turning yourself into an empty vessel and potentially exposing yourself to harm. Whether or not you support this belief in spiritual agencies, misapplied dependence on divinatory systems can become very disempowering and damaging. Not because the cards themselves lie, but because the seeker's energy is skewed or blocked in some way. You could say the seeker themself is like a reversed card...! But like a reversed card can always be turned upright.