Why Tarot Is Toxic: The Dark Side of Tarot Readings - MUST READ

Tarot cards have gained massive popularity in recent years. With TikTok readings, YouTube pick-a-cards, and a growing interest in spirituality, tarot has gone mainstream. For some, it’s an empowering tool for self-reflection. But for others, tarot can be misleading, addictive, emotionally damaging, or even manipulative.

While tarot isn’t inherently harmful, the way it’s used, marketed, and consumed can be toxic—especially when people rely on it for answers they should be finding through personal growth, therapy, or healthy relationships.

This article takes a critical look at why tarot can be toxic, drawing from psychology, real-life experiences, ethical concerns, and how unchecked spiritual practices can turn harmful. If you're curious about the shadow side of tarot, keep reading.

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1. Tarot Can Create Emotional Dependency

One of the most toxic aspects of tarot is that it can create emotional dependency.

People often turn to tarot in times of anxiety, heartbreak, or uncertainty. At first, it may feel helpful or comforting. But over time, some users begin to rely on tarot to make every decision—from whether to text someone to whether to quit a job. When this happens, tarot stops being a tool and becomes a crutch.

This dependency can lead to:

• Chronic indecision

• Loss of personal agency

• Fear of making “wrong” moves without consulting the cards

• A need to constantly “check” what’s coming next

Instead of developing self-trust, users outsource their judgment to the cards. This kind of emotional reliance can mirror addictive patterns and interfere with personal growth.

2. It Can Trigger or Worsen Anxiety

Many people use tarot for reassurance. But paradoxically, tarot readings often fuel anxiety, especially when the messages seem vague, negative, or ominous.

Some common anxiety-inducing situations include:

• Pulling the Death or Tower card and assuming something terrible is about to happen

• Interpreting a “bad” spread as a sign of doom

• Becoming obsessed with timelines or outcomes

• Constantly re-reading or pulling new spreads for “clarity”

This kind of obsessive thinking can worsen mental health, especially for people already struggling with:

• Health anxiety

• Relationship anxiety

• Obsessive-compulsive tendencies

• Generalized anxiety disorder

Even well-meaning tarot readers can unintentionally trigger fear by using ominous language or focusing on worst-case scenarios. In the wrong hands—or even the right hands under the wrong conditions—tarot becomes a source of fear, not insight.

3. Tarot Can Be Misused for Manipulation

Another major issue is the potential for manipulation, especially by unethical readers.

Some examples include:

• Scare tactics: Telling clients they’re cursed or spiritually blocked—and offering expensive “cleansings” to fix it.

• Love scams: Promising that an ex will return if you pay for more readings.

• False hope: Feeding clients comforting messages that aren’t grounded in reality.

• Over-promising: Claiming psychic accuracy or predicting exact dates and names with no evidence.

These practices not only exploit vulnerable people, they erode trust and damage the reputation of ethical practitioners. In extreme cases, tarot becomes a business of emotional exploitation.

A 2021 investigation by The Guardian found that some online tarot readers and “love spell” services made thousands of dollars by preying on emotionally distressed individuals who were promised supernatural solutions. This is spiritual manipulation disguised as guidance.

4. It Encourages Magical Thinking Over Practical Action

Tarot can be a helpful tool for self-reflection—but it can also promote magical thinking that disconnects people from reality.

Magical thinking includes beliefs like:

• “If I manifest hard enough, my ex will come back.”

• “The cards said I’ll get rich, so I don’t need to work hard.”

• “The reading said he’s my soulmate—even though he’s abusive.”

• “I don’t need therapy; I just need more clarity from the cards.”

This thinking can delay real-world action and encourage escapism. Instead of facing hard truths or seeking professional help, people can become trapped in a fantasy built around symbolic interpretations.

When tarot is used to avoid responsibility or justify unhealthy patterns, it becomes toxic.

5. It Reinforces Confirmation Bias

One psychological danger of tarot is confirmation bias—the tendency to interpret information in a way that confirms what you already believe or want to believe.

Here’s how that plays out with tarot:

• You believe your relationship is destined, so you read every card as a sign to stay—even when it’s toxic.

• You’re afraid of failure, so you interpret neutral cards as warnings.

• You want to quit your job, and suddenly every reading seems to say, “Yes, leave.”

Tarot isn’t objective. It’s symbolic and open to interpretation, which means your subconscious fears or desires can color the message. This is especially dangerous when you're emotionally involved in the outcome.

Instead of offering clarity, tarot can become a mirror for your own biases—confirming what you want, rather than challenging you to grow.

6. It’s Often Marketed with False Certainty

The spiritual and tarot industry is often guilty of selling false certainty to people who are emotionally vulnerable.

Taglines like:

• “Accurate answers guaranteed”

• “Find out if your ex is coming back”

• “Your soulmate revealed in 3 cards”

…suggest that tarot offers clear, reliable truth. But the reality is far more nuanced. Tarot is interpretive, not predictive. It’s based on symbols, intuition, and subjective meaning—not objective facts.

When people mistake tarot for hard truth, they make serious life decisions based on what amounts to symbolic guesswork. That can lead to poor choices, disappointment, and deep regret.

7. It Can Be Spiritually Disorienting

Some users report feeling spiritually “off” or energetically drained after using tarot obsessively. While this may sound metaphysical, it’s often a mix of emotional burnout and cognitive overload.

People who rely too heavily on tarot may:

• Feel disconnected from their own intuition

• Lose trust in their decision-making

• Experience fear around “negative energy” or bad omens

• Obsess over cleansing, protecting, or over-analyzing their decks

This disorientation can be spiritually paralyzing. Instead of feeling empowered, users feel confused, afraid, and energetically scattered.

8. Tarot Can Replace Professional Help

Perhaps the most dangerous consequence of tarot’s misuse is when it replaces therapy, medical advice, or legal counsel.

Some users turn to tarot for:

• Diagnosing mental health issues

• Deciding whether to stay in unsafe relationships

• Getting business or legal advice

• Dealing with trauma or grief

Tarot readers—no matter how skilled—are not licensed therapists or doctors. While tarot can be a supplement to healing, it’s not a substitute for professional help.

When people ignore serious problems because “the cards said it’s all good,” it becomes a form of spiritual bypassing. In some cases, this has tragic consequences.

9. The Online Tarot Industry Is Largely Unregulated

Another toxic issue is that the tarot industry is completely unregulated. Anyone can claim to be a professional tarot reader, psychic, or energy healer without any credentials or oversight.

This opens the door to:

• Scams and exploitation

• Misuse of spiritual authority

• Fake testimonials and misleading advertising

• Zero accountability for harmful advice

While many readers are ethical and well-intentioned, the lack of standards means there’s no protection for vulnerable clients. In contrast, therapists, doctors, and coaches are subject to strict ethical guidelines for a reason.

10. It Can Distract from Personal Responsibility

Finally, tarot can be toxic when it shifts focus away from personal responsibility.

When people constantly ask, “What do the cards say?” they may avoid asking:

• “What do I want?”

• “What action can I take?”

• “What patterns do I need to change?”

This over-reliance on external signs fosters a passive approach to life. Instead of building resilience, people wait for fate to deliver answers. This disempowers individuals from making conscious, grounded decisions—and that’s the opposite of what true growth requires.

Conclusion: Tarot Isn’t Evil—But It Can Be Toxic

Tarot is not inherently bad. In the right hands, and with the right mindset, it can be a beautiful, symbolic tool for growth, reflection, and creativity. But when used irresponsibly, obsessively, or manipulatively, tarot becomes toxic.

Here’s a recap of the key risks:

• Emotional dependency and anxiety

• Manipulation and exploitation

• Magical thinking and escapism

• Confirmation bias and false certainty

• Replacing professional help

• Avoiding responsibility

If you use tarot, use it mindfully:

• Don’t read when you’re in crisis or fear-based

• Don’t take every reading as absolute truth

• Avoid relying on it for every decision

• Seek professional help when needed

• Trust your own voice more than any card

Tarot doesn’t have to be toxic—but only if you stay grounded, skeptical, and emotionally honest. Like any tool, it reflects the user. Use it wisely.

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Alex Assoune (MS) is a global health and environmental advocate. He founded Panaprium to inspire others with conscious living, ethical, and sustainable fashion. Alex has worked in many countries to address social and environmental issues. He speaks three languages and holds two Master of Science degrees in Engineering from SIGMA and IFPEN schools.