“There’s no caption, no hashtag, no sound. If this video is on your For You Page, then you were meant to see this” – words you should be VERY familiar with if you’ve ever stumbled onto ‘Tarotok’. With over 16.9 BILLION views under #tarotreading, it’s safe to say that a majority of us have fallen victim to the app’s trap.
In case you weren’t aware, tarot is a sort of card-based divination that is believed to allow you to receive knowledge of your past, present, or future. There are 78 cards in a conventional tarot deck, which are split into the Major and Minor Arcana. Reading periods can be as brief as a few minutes or as long as two hours. Usually, readings are done in person (face-to-face). However, they are available digitally via phone calls, emails, video calls – it’s essentially just tarot readers ‘working from home’, totally normal.
Now what’s NOT normal is a TikTok tarot video that’s supposedly “meant for you” – but also millions of other people. Make it make sense! But don’t get us wrong – while we undoubtedly see a benefit in personal tarot readings, we just don’t see it for those on TikTok (as we should). Asking a question about a particular circumstance in a person’s life is the foundation of tarot, which brings us to the issue with TikTok tarot videos. The practice of tarot depends on the ability to ask a personal question. News flash: TikTok isn’t personalised.
Perhaps “personalized” in the sense that there is an algorithm which the app follows, so if you’re liking a bunch of videos about heartbreak quotes and edits of ‘The Night We Met’ lyrics, then of course, you’re gonna eventually get a tarot video that tells you that you’re heartbroken and that he/she is coming back – it’s not rocket science. But the real damage happens when you watch said tarot video, think it perfectly captures your current predicament, and then decide to like it. Now remember when we talked about algorithms? Yea, so you now, after liking that ONE video, you now have heartbreak tarot, love tarot, relationship tarot, ex tarot; ALL OF IT, in your algorithm. So no, nothing you see is by “chance” – everything you see is by design.
And do not even get us started on the videos that apparently have “accurate characteristics” of the person they asked you to think about. Come, tell us what the characteristics are – dark hair? Brown eyes? A deep voice? Honey, dark hair is the most common hair colour in the WORLD: it’s estimated that more than 90% of people in the world have brown or black hair. But okay, okay, let’s narrow it down to our motherland, Malaysia; for those who attended public schools, how many people with light hair did you meet there? How many people had green, blue, or hazel eyes? Close to none. Thus, kindly note that identifying the most general features a person can have is not in any way “accurate”.
But the cherry on top of the icing is when these readers end their bulls**t with: “like, comment and share to claim” HUH??? We’re no tarot and spirituality experts by any means, but we’re pretty certain that tapping a few buttons on TikTok will most certainly NOT guarantee that your ex is coming back or that your twin-flame is going to text you tonight. Actually, you know what this reminds us of? Those chain WhatsApp messages of the aughts where you would be cursed with 7 years of bad luck if you don’t share it to at least 20 people. Stupid right? Well, hate to break it to you but Tarotok isn’t all that different.
^ what your TikTok tarot readers look like…
Okay, we’ve been harsh, but it’s all tough love, we promise! Regardless, even for those of us with any amount of awareness, when it comes to things like this – it’s hard. But as enticing as it is to hear about what your soulmate is thinking about, or when your crush is finally going to confess to you, you need to accept the fact that TikTok tarot readings are simply unreliable and extremely untrustworthy. If anything, all they’re doing is encouraging unhealthy visions/ fantasies for you and well, feeding into all those delusions of yours. It’s time to be realistic and learn to accept things for the way they are.
We’re saying this because if ‘Tarotok’ has found you, it’s likely because you’re looking outside of yourself for something; answers, confirmation, advice. But to use the algorithm from an app designed to cater to your interests instead of real intuitive practice or proper advice? Relying on misleading and straight-up false TikTok tarot readings to determine the loss or win in some aspect of your life is NOT going to be fulfilling or give you any proper answers. On the contrary, all these ‘predictions’, whether they be positive or negative, will all end up becoming a negative in the end. It’s either you get your hopes up and create unrealistic expectations (which will blow up in your face in the long run) because they told you what you wanted to hear, or you just go into a state of gloominess or depression because they said what you didn’t want to hear. There really is zero to gain from all of this.
The bottom line is: viral TikTok algorithms will not, and do not have a say on your destiny. PERIODT.
