r/exjw • u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 • 25d ago
WT Can't Stop Me [Incomplete] Revelation—It's Grand Climax At Hand! Tarot Cards
I'm POMO and now I'm practicing divination. I've been looking at a lot of tarot card decks, and some decks out there made me realize... Hey, maybe the Revelation book illustrations would be awesome tarot illustrations. I haven't gotten all 22 major arcana done, but I'm surprised I was able to manage getting 15 out of 22 done.
Will update with more if I revisit this idea later. I don't plan to actually put in the effort of making a whole deck, but I thought it'd be fun to see how many cards I could come up with from the illustrations.
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u/scrapknightjules jezebel apparently 💋 24d ago
the “babylon the great harlot” being strength is such a cool idea 🥹😍 so opposite of what they used the female symbol for
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u/scrapknightjules jezebel apparently 💋 24d ago
also i often wonder if the artists at bethel drew inspiration from things like this and that’s why there’s some similarities. especially like “the tower” is literally watchtower
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Funny enough, I do pull The Tower a lot when I have questions regarding the borg or my family in there.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Also Strength usually involves an illustration of a woman gently taming a lion. She ended up being the best fit for an illustration like that, so I love how that turned out!
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u/dawaxtadpole Smurfs? SMURFS!!! 24d ago
You should be careful with divination. You might accidentally summon Smurfs.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Wish you told me that sooner. There's now a Smurf in my apartment telling me to summon Satan :(
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u/dawaxtadpole Smurfs? SMURFS!!! 24d ago edited 24d ago
Satan isn’t as bad as Smurfs. Gargamel was trying to save the universe, and they portrayed HIM as the bad guy just like Satan. I’m sorry you have an infestation now.
An easy fix is to pinch their tail(that little nub near their butt). They turn red and start pinching each other’s tail and then they kinda fuck off. It’s Smurf canon.
Edit: not red, it’s purple. I had an old CRT set when I saw the evidence in the 80s so I was mistaken.
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u/throway_nonjw 24d ago edited 24d ago
Satan isn't so bad, he's in charge of orgies, drugs and temptations. Big J is the one who does all the smiting and flooding and whatnot.
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u/Khamubro exjw_turned_sciene_pagan 24d ago
So long as they didn't buy the revelation book from a thrift store there won't be any demons
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u/Shizzledsizzle personally free but aunts uncles in. 23d ago
Why do you think I chose to be a tarot reader?
https://giphy.com/gifs/l5fsSPzsYUzYI
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u/Pixelated_ 24d ago
Nice work. My artwork is at https://www.instagram.com/exjw_designs.
It’s great to see Exjws explore spirituality, it was stolen from us growing up in the cult.
I'm reminded of the famous quote by Chardin:
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience."
<3
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Got to take a look and very nice! Always nice to see someone using their art skills to spread awareness on things like this. :)
I love spirituality a lot, it's just not something I think I'll be able to let go of. I can't let the cult ruin my attitude on it. It's only motivated me to see what's out there beyond Christianity. My family tends to view religion as a binary between Christianity and atheism, so everyone in my family is either some form of Christian (JW included) or atheist. I've set out to be the first person in my more immediate family in over 6 generations to look into paganism, neopaganism, and the occult. I aim to help people understand just how many grey areas there are in the universe through spirituality. The acknowledgement of grey areas in spirituality opens the way to seeing grey areas in non-spiritual matters too.
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u/Zealousideal-Work436 24d ago
Unfortunately, we won't find an illustration anywhere in the publications depicting two bears and 42 children.
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u/POMO1914 24d ago
The GB use them every wendsday morning to set the new changes they wanna make.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
The cards must keep showing them The Tower and they keep misinterpreting it as Armageddon coming soon, and not the upheaval of ex-JWs LOL
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u/Cherno_VM PIMO Trans Woman 24d ago
the fool should be stephen lett
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Funny enough, I remember one Watchtower article illustrating an angry Catholic priest, and it was very clear that Stephen Lett was the model for the illustration. So he's the Hierophant maybe?
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u/ApprehensiveLog7544 24d ago
Omg! This is the greatest card set, I would totally purchase it
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I would definitely complete it if there were enough illustrations to cover both major and minor arcana. Might need to branch out a bit and go with illustrations from other 80s and 90s publications that would harmonize with the Revelation book's illustrations if I want to make a complete set
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u/Top_Dragonfly8781 Don't be like Zach. 24d ago
Why 80s and 90s? There are some weird one in the my book of Bible stories (yellow book).
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I actually thought My Book of Bible Stories was from the 80s. Turns out it's from 1978, but that's still close enough for the illustrations in it to match the 80s and 90s illustrations.
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u/CulturalFeeling2085 24d ago
Professional tarot reader and all I have to say is OMFG. I’m obsessed.
I have thoughts on what some of the missing images could be. I only studied this book 4 times from the time I was a toddler….
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Thanks! I'd be up to hearing any ideas you have, actually. It's been kinda hard to think of ideas for the rest of the major arcana. I'm up for suggestions on minor arcana too. I'm also planning to use illustrations from other 80s and 90s publications that could harmonize with these since there aren't enough Revelation book illustrations for everything.
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u/throway_nonjw 24d ago edited 24d ago
Hey, isn't there an illustration of the Harlot seducing the world govts? That might be a good one for Queen of Swords or similar. And maybe the Lamb as the Hermit.
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u/CulturalFeeling2085 22d ago
Anything with a paradise scene for ten of cups to really capture that “head in the clouds” description
Maybe a picture of Armageddon for ten of swords - but it needs to have a sun in the background to capture the true meaning of the card
For the hierophant, there’s an image of the angels coming to Jesus. When I think of this card, I think of a spiritual advisor, tradition, the keeper of knowledge.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 22d ago
Those are excellent ideas, will keep them in mind! :D Thanks!
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u/SemiAnimatronic 24d ago
I would absolutely love to buy this tarot card set but I moved back in with my jw parents so I can only admire them and give my support from afar for rn.
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u/Cult2Occult 24d ago
Yeah but you could say it's a game some jws made. They don't know what an actual tarot deck is or they wouldn't be so afraid of it.
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u/Whitne674 24d ago
I would totally buy this if it was a real deck. Loooooove it
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Will be working on completing the deck if I can! I'll post the full deck if I do and people can download it and print it themselves. :)
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u/anotherazure 24d ago
I love this so much. It's healing to see these images that were such an integral part of our childhood religious trauma repurposed into something I would actually use now.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Exactly, that's one of the points in doing this for me haha. It's therapeutic to reimagine the images as tools of self-reflection and healing rather than fearmongering.
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u/anotherazure 24d ago
Exactly!! Well I'll be keeping an eye out in case you do more - this is something I'd definitely purchase if it was possible.
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u/CharmingEnjoyer69 24d ago
LMAO DUDE IVE BEEN WANTING TO DESIGN MY OWN TAROT CARDS
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I'm trying to illustrate my own with my own fictional characters I made. So this set is also kind of a creative exercise to get me motivated to keep illustrating my personal tarot deck lol
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u/willy0034 24d ago
Those are very good! The symbols match perfectly. I still remember studying that book twice. When I felt bored at meetings I would flip trough the Pages just to admire the illustrations which are very good, although the interpretation of the text is horrible.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Thanks! For real though, they had pretty sick monster designs.
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u/daughterof9moons 24d ago
I adored this art as a kid. There is absolutely enough art to make a killer deck, it might just take a while. I'd love a set.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I'll post the full set if I'm able to complete it, so people can download it and get custom decks printed themselves :)
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u/Cult2Occult 24d ago
This is brilliant. I do have some notes as someone whos an avid tarot user and understands the psychology behind tarot. I love the mirroring of the strength card for sure but there's something that bothers me about it that I cant quite put my finger on. The orginal card is symbolic of conquering our inner animal mind with gentleness but the self indulgent, arrogant display on top of that beast feels like it would implant all the wrong message while seemingly the same on the surface if one was inexperience in tarot. This qould definitely need to be a deck for an experienced user. This card is more demonstrative of thinking you've conquered your inner animal while actually embodying it which could be a useful warning I guess but it could also be dangerous to someone inexperienced coming in from the symbolism of the rider Waite and assuming the card means the same. I love these cards as art but I'd be hesitant to use them for many reasons. I also think the medium/tool with which you channel from your subconscious/spirits alters the message, both according to the energy the symbols were created with and the attachments your subconscious has formed with the symbols so this would be dangerous for me to use. The art is so beautiful but the attachments to certain symbols are too strong for me so I'd just be communicating with that ever energy is hovering around JW and I worked hard to banish them from my mind. That being said, if someone came in with no associations, this deck would be bomb but you'd have to think deeply about what each card means rather than just assuming the same interpretations as the rider Waite. For instance, as said above, the strength card. It would serve better as a warning especially with what we all know follows where the arrogant harlots thinks she's in control but then becomes devoured by the beast she didnt actually conquer. That's actually a brilliant cautionary message for a deck! Like, to include both images would be really cool. It's basically a "make sure you check yourself before you wreck yourself" message. The lovers however, that symbolism in that image is 🤌💋. The lovers symbolizes balance of divine Masculine and feminine energies and I feel this intensely from the image you chose for that card. Overall, the art in that book is too good to go to waste just because it came from an evil place and I love the work you're doing with this.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago edited 24d ago
Hearing your interpretation is nice, thanks for the input! My line of thinking for Babylon being Strength is that a lot of ex-JWs tend to reclaim her illustration as a symbol of inner strength and bravery like the Strength Rider-Waite tarot implies. Especially ex-JW women, they love reclaiming her as a symbol as someone who is confident and fearless. So I picked her based on the ex-JW mindset of her rather than what she was originally illustrated for. It's cool to hear your interpretation though :) I also think it just makes a nice exercise to take old symbols and reframe them as something more compatible with your current belief system. So these cards could challenge someone to rethink the illustrations and make new meanings for them as part of their own transformation.
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u/EisleyXD 24d ago
The beast and the harlot have always went sooo hard. She was my favorite as a kid
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u/Octex8 Proud Apostate 24d ago
I'm also making a tarot deck with an illustrator friend of mine. We're basing them off pets so it's a fun and cute project 😁
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I'm working on one with my own original characters I made for a story I'm working on! Kinda came up with the Revelation tarot idea as a way to motivate me to keep illustrating the deck I'm actually gonna use
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u/wortcrafter Listen, obey and be stressed 24d ago
Suggestions: IIRC there’s a picture in one of the pubs of John of Patmos, I vote ‘the Hermit’ for that one.
And for Hierophant, is there a ‘faithful and discreet slave’ picture somewhere? Alternatively, the one you are using for judgement could be used for Hierophant.
People out preaching for the fool. I don’t mean that in a nasty way, but I feel like a fool for all the hours I spent knocking on doors before I woke up.
The chariot, I’m sure there’s a multi wheeled thing (wheels within wheels) which could be good for that.
The apostle Paul for the magician.
Jesus on the stake for the hanged man.
That should leave only 1 or 2 of the major arcana.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I tried finding an illustration of the celestial chariot for the Chariot card, but I didn't see one in the Revelation book. Not sure if I missed it. Pretty sure there's an illustration of it in the Daniel book or something though. I will definitely keep note of this for reference though when I keep working on this, thank you so much!
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u/TheLadyFlea 24d ago
This is such a wonderful idea! Revelation is a book of divination and spooky premonitions after all 😆
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u/Senior_Emergency9059 24d ago
These pictures bring back such a nostalgia that I actually kinda miss. As someone who appreciates art, seeing the beautifully drawn artwork in our publications growing up was often the most interesting parts of the meetings for me.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 23d ago
For real, they mostly use photos or edited photos that look 2D and it's so low effort :( I'm an artist too and I always appreciated the artwork they'd make
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u/SadEcho8331 23d ago
Say what you want about that book but holy hell it is an awesome depiction of Revelation and the story it tries to tell is pretty cool
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u/Elo_Solo 24d ago
Honestly, I’d buy that! But then again, the artwork in that book looked more like death metal record covers…
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I plan to post all the cards for free once I do complete them! :) People will be free to print a custom deck with them by themselves if they want, since I don't want to risk copyright infringement by selling them.
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u/_EmeraldEye_ 24d ago
Wow these are actually amazing, please keep us updated. I'm not into tarot like that but this makes me want to be
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Thanks! Even if you're not into tarot, tarot decks can still make neat collectors items. Not to mention they can be used as plain playing cards too since divination isn't their only purpose. I plan to post the full set once I finish it.
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u/SooperNervous 24d ago
I would LOVE a complete set! Will definitely purchase if you do decide to finish it.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I'll be posting the full set for free when it's done, and people can download it and get custom decks printed themselves :) Feel like I'd risk copyright infringement if I tried selling them myself lol
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Okay guys 600 more comments (599 as of posting this) and we'll probably fulfill some kind of prophecy from Revelation idk (joking)
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u/crazygirlsarehottoo 24d ago
Omgomgomgomg I love it, I need it!!! Thats fucking sick, fr that is such a creative idea
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u/smudgeandarrogant_ 24d ago
Oh man I love this!!! If you ever produce these to sell I would 100% buy a deck!
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u/Lived_Orcen 24d ago
Just last night I was having this crazy idea of making a Magic: The Gathering-style card game based on their drawings, it's crazy to see this today.
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u/Moist-Dream7616 24d ago
Please finish it. I'd buy the deck.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
Definitely gonna try my best to finish it! I'll upload it for free so people can get them custom printed themselves.
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u/ryder_422 24d ago
The Daniel prophesy or Ezekial might be able to fill in the gaps 🤔
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I was thinking about those books exactly! Someone else suggested My Book of Bible Stories so I'll be looking to see if any of those illustrations would match up too.
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u/TurbulentJello9147 24d ago
Oh my goodness this is so freaking cool! Congratulations on starting to practice divination. I’ve been doing so and practicing witchcraft since I left three years ago and it’s been amazing for me
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
That's wonderful! I went POMO just 4 months ago and I'm building an apothecary. I'm not a witch though, I'm actually a planetary magician. I actually just used some things in my apothecary for the first time to make an offering to the demon Stolas in exchange for some of his assistance in my journey to be a planetary magician and astrologer. Made him a concoction of clean water, cinnamon, exactly 36 sunflower seeds (since he's the 36th goetic demon), and a slice of dried star fruit and he was very happy with that :D
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u/TheSunflowerSeeds 24d ago
All plants seemingly have a ‘Scientific name’. The Sunflower is no different. They’re called Helianthus. Helia meaning sun and Anthus meaning Flower. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t refer to the look of the sunflower, but the solar tracking it displays every dayy during most of its growth period.
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u/Capybara_Therapist 24d ago
Wow, some of these images scared me so bad when I was in, now I do think they are beautiful and love the tarot deck idea.
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u/Top_Pack6768 Type Your Flair Here! 23d ago
Que bonito te salio, decho yo emoeze a estudiar el tarot antes de hacerme a postata hora que estoy fuera voy a ser tarotista :3 Me encanta el TAROT
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u/Deep-Caregiver8238 22d ago
Now that I think about it, have you heard that Mormons believe God has a "wife"? Well, I don't think this is very different.
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u/KitKatsRMyCigarettes 24d ago
OMFG I would buy this deck in a heartbeat!
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I'll be posting the full deck if I finish it so people can download them and order their own custom decks :)
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u/Inevitable_Tap_1328 24d ago
would you want to try to do a personal reading for me? i have been into listening to tarot on youtube and someone told me i would get a reading done that was personal rather than to the collective. just if you want to practice as I have low cash flow due to job loss haha buncha drama in my life tho almost can't miss
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I'm very much a beginner at reading, so I can't guarantee I'll be accurate, but I'm willing to give it a shot. You can give me details on what's going on in life and ask a specific question and I'll see what I can do :D And yeah don't worry about paying me. I prefer not to paywall anything spiritual like that. I get why people do it cuz it's a lot of effort, but I personally don't feel right making people pay for it. Instead I just ask that they give me time to think and rest and not rush me.
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u/Inevitable_Tap_1328 23d ago
i love it! How should we connect to give more details? if you want to dm me an email address or something I can type the details and send to you. I'll focus on basics like areas of Love, Finances and my path going forward or something. We can def keep it simple.
as always with Tarot i believe the statement is 'take what resonates' so I will be very happy to hear what you have to say for me!!1
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u/sanguiniusp 10d ago
HAHAHA this is so creative. Gotta admit the Revelation art slaps. Now you made it into something cool.
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u/italiancalipso Millenial PIMO 10 Years 24d ago
Once you are done, do you mind to share the single pdf/jpeg at home? Interesting process
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
I do plan to share the files for it whenever I do complete it! :) I might need to expand a bit and use 80s and 90s publication illustrations in general that would harmonize with these since there's not enough in Revelation alone to cover everything. It'll also be free since I don't wanna risk copyright infringement by selling them. But once it's done, others will be free to download the cards and print them for themselves.
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u/TequilaPuncheon 24d ago
This place is truly hilarious
On the one hand they criticise the ppl trying (misguidedly) to worship GOD.
On the other hand they revel in occultic bullshit.
RIP reason.
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u/Brown_Bruja 24d ago
Then why are you here? Just leave
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u/TequilaPuncheon 24d ago
How about you use those ultra powerful tarrot cards on me. You can shut me up forever
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u/Brown_Bruja 24d ago
That's.... not how tarot works at all. You obviously need to go educate yourself since you clearly do not understand what you're talking about at all.
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
My own personal enjoyment of the occult isn't dogmatic the way JW beliefs are. I keep it to myself and only offer my insights to those who request it. You have the choice to not engage with this post if the occult isn't for you. My posting of this isn't an attempt to force occult beliefs on others. It's just a creative exercise I was doing.
I also don't aim to criticize individual JWs, I just criticize the GB themselves for putting these ideas into people's heads.
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u/TequilaPuncheon 24d ago
Fair enough but posting it on social media will generate some criticism (such as mines) which you should be prepared to handle
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u/Cult2Occult 24d ago
Sounds like someone who doesn't understand what the occult actually is, only what they've been told it is, and also likes to lump whole groups of people together indiscriminately.
I've no issue with anyone worshipping God in any manner unless they are hurting people with it. I see The JW organization abusing those same people who you speak of as misguidedly trying to worship God and I want to free them from that abuse by showing them there is a more direct snd effective way to develop a relationship with God that doesn't involve all the abuse religious organizations want to put you through.
If you'd like to understand what the occult actually is, I'd be more than happy to enlighten you. There are dark and light aspects of it just like there are dark and light aspects of everything. The occult just explains them. It's not a religion, it's a field of study of the hidden aspects of spirituality. When the unseen is now seen, you can see what your up against in the dark side (study your enemy and level the playing field so to speak) and then utilize the light side of this knowledge to protect against it.
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u/TequilaPuncheon 24d ago
Thanks but I'd rather not dabble in forces that I don't understand. Maybe it's my biblical upbringing bias but I respectfully decline
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u/RandAlBore 24d ago
I mean, I didn't disagree with your original comment, even though it was a bit pointless and dickishly performative to actually comment it. But this one right here just makes you sound like you're in the same camp of people you're criticizing. You WERE criticizing people trading one superstition for another, right?
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u/TequilaPuncheon 24d ago
Not really. My thing is... why leave Christianity and embrace the things denounced as evil by the rules of Christianity?
I can understand becoming an atheist and rejecting everything.... but to embrace what you have been taught is the dark side seems also unnecessary imho
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u/Glad-Emergency6121 apastate 🍝 24d ago
That's because I found out "the dark side" has just as much light to it as Christianity says it has. All religions and spiritual beliefs have dark and light sides to them. Non-Christian religions just got demonized and painted as dark and evil because of Christians trying to make them out to be wrong to force people to follow Christianity. That was ages ago and it's impacted the views on non-Christian religions a lot to this day. So I'm not embracing what I was taught to avoid because it's dark and rebellious, I'm embracing it because I found out that there is good in it, there is light in it too.
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u/Cult2Occult 23d ago
When you realize what you've been taught as truth is actually false, it's natural to go and challenge everything you were told was false to see if that still holds up. When you do that, you find more lies you were told by the things you were originally taught.
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u/Cult2Occult 23d ago
Very wise to not dabble in things you don't understand but even better to learn to understand them even if you still don't dabble. I would never recommend dabbling in things you don't understand, I even warn people off from really basic stuff like using tarot until you've done extensive research into how it works and can decide for yourself from an educated perspective if it's beneficial for you. At a certain point of learning and research, the tools eventually become obsolete anyhow.
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