It was primarily during late 2020 to mid-2022, when my life was going a little bit pear-shaped. The fortune-telling videos were non-stop on my feed, reeling me in by telling me that whatever I wanted was on its way to me, the person I have been thinking of has been thinking of me, but if it doesn’t come, don’t worry! Something better is on its way. Like this video to lock it in! I would cling onto these mediums’ clairvoyant messages hoping that the positivity they were promising me was true.
And thousands of other users did too, commenting how specific the readings were to them and ‘claiming with positive energy’. These aren’t bad attitudes to have at all, and no doubt kept a large chunk of people in good spirits by encouraging them to attract, not chase, and have faith in their futures— they still continue to, with the hashtag ‘tarot’ currently having garnered just under 100 billion views on the app.
But over time, my relationship with the content dwindled.
The occult fortune-telling practice fell victim to being TikTokified: wherein content is adapted to conform to TikTok’s trends, engagement, and algorithm to maintain relevancy.
Videos are created to appeal to an enormous audience. Consequentially, they must tailor to a collective, contradicting the private or one-on-one nature that has characterised tarot since its integration into divination in the 18th century.
contradicting the private or one-on-one nature that has characterised tarot since its integration into divination
Creators use broad readings to describe situations that apply to most people, emphasised with encouraging the audience to only claim what resonates, making the video have a flawless global outreach— these videos will pop up even sooner onto appropriate, specified algorithms, and the more engagement the videos get from the creators encouragement, the further it spreads across other algorithms. The videos are no longer readings, but mainstream trends.
It comes across as prioritising engagement over authenticity, crumbling tarot’s ancient origins into commercialised social media content. Despite believing that good affirmations are harmless to spread, I disagree with the videos; I think that the broad terms and advice designed to adjust to large audiences is harmful to users seeking guidance in difficult life decisions and feed into delusions, hindering them from letting go of aspects of their life that are toxic.
What do you think?
