Tarot = Taboo?

[veniteangeli]

I'm not sure where else to put this, so I hope I'm not treading on any toes.

I've been telling people about tarot, seeing as I have come to know more about the cards lately and have recently purchased my first deck (and my second is on its way, woo!) and for the most part I have been met by polite skepticism. That doesn't really faze me.

But I told my friend about them - and she happens to be Chinese. She freaked out, said she didn't want to hear about them, said she was scared, and I pretty much just changed the subject, not wanting to push. Another (kiwi) friend gave me the wink and the nod and took me aside to say that she thought Chinese people in general see Tarot as taboo, based on conversations she had had with other Chinese people we know.

Is that true? Do Chinese people see Tarot as taboo, and if so, why? Is there some sort of story or rationalization of sorts behind it? I've tried googling Chinese Superstitions but that didn't turn up much. I just would like to know if it's just this one friend getting spooked, or if it's a subject I ought to avoid with ALL my Chinese friends, you know?
-Lucy

 

[nisaba]

Is that true? Do Chinese people see Tarot as taboo, and if so, why? Is there some sort of story or rationalization of sorts behind it?

An important girlfriend of mine was a Chinese-Australian.

She at once was an ultra-modern businesswoman managing a string of travel agencies, and a traditional Daoist keeping a household Altar on which she'd place riceballs and burning joss sticks to "distract" her Ancestors whenever she wanted to do something naughty with other women, which she felt they wouldn't approve of <grin>.

As to Tarot, she wasn't interested in it, but she definitely was okay with my being interested in it, and had no issues about Tarot whatsoever. This from a really, really traditional Chinese spiritual perspective.

 

[gregory]

There are Chinese members here, and one of my favourite sellers is Chinese and makes her living from tarot. I doubt if it is a specifically Chinese thing. There are plenty of assorted Caucasians who freak about tarot. There are threads.....

 

[Carla]

I'm not sure it's a Chinese thing. You say she happens to be Chinese, and it was your (kiwi) friend who suggested it was a Chinese thing to be leary of the cards. Sounds to me like it's her personal thing. I have a several friends and acquaintances who range from slightly to cool toward to completely appalled by tarot. Just shrug it off and don't mention it again. If you're really curious, you could actually ask all your Chinese friends if they know of a tradition in their community of tarot being taboo.

 

[JSNYC]

Is that true?

I really don't know how true it is, but I don't really talk Tarot with any of my Chinese friends, but the one's I have mentioned it to have not been very receptive, often quite dismissive at the very least. However, many people I know aren't receptive, Chinese or not. But I have an interesting story related to yours. I related in another thread when I got my first (and only live) Tarot reading. I was in Asia (Thailand) and with a girl from Hong Kong, born and raised. She was venomously opposed to getting a reading. She “did not want to know her future!" I was actually surprised at the extent of the negative reaction, quite hostile. She finally agreed, very reluctantly, to just sit there while I got my reading...

I don't think Westerns really understand the dynamics at work in Asia and Asian philosophy. That is one of the reasons I love Asia so much, if you really listen, they often have a very different perspective, although the differences are subtle and thus not readily apparent. Of course, there are quite a few people on this board from Asia, I am sure they could relate how much I really don't understand...

P.S. I have since done a reading for that girl from Hong Kong and even gave her a Tarot deck, she asked for it after the reading. (The Shadowscapes! I gave her one of my backups. She is an artist and loved the artwork.) However, after doing that, we have not talked about Tarot since, it simply hasn’t came up.

 

[Richard]

Fundamentalist Christian missionaries have been agressively evangelizing people in China for many years. Perhaps your friend is a Christian and has been brainwashed about Tarot.

 

[Lusi_C]

Not sure how things are in Chch, but further north there are large numbers of recently-arrived Chinese who are new(ish) members of evangelical denominations, conservative offshoots, and (NZ) minority groups like Latter Day Saints (Mormons), 7th Day Adventists, & Jehovah's Witnesses. They tend to be a little extremist (in an eager, earnest sense) in my experience.

Perhaps she was a member of one of those groups, and that coloured her reaction.