(OPINION) Is Disney, the ever-iconic kids entertainment company, stepping into the occult with the launch of a new Tarot card set? The new “Villains” Tarot cards, featuring Disney’s most famous antagonists, are certain to spark controversy and concern, especially among Christians who understand biblical warnings against these tools that are all-too-often inappropriately and inaccurately paraded as mere parlor games.

The card set wasn’t officially launched directly by Disney, though the company reportedly licensed images of some of its most famous villains to be used in the deck — and now the cards are making their way onto holiday gift lists. Religion News Service led its coverage of the new Tarot set with the following proclamation:

“With ‘Villains’ tarot deck, Disney pushes the mystical practice further into mainstream.” Before we continue on the Disney Tarot front, perhaps a brief history and explainer on Tarot is warranted.

Tarot decks, which have been around for 600 years and are widely used by mediums, psychics, and others who try to predict the future, come with 78 cards. These cards were, at first, a game after the deck first emerged in 15th century Europe — but by the 1700s, the cards took on an entirely new meaning.

Encyclopedia Britannica has more on this tool and how psychics use it: The adaptation of tarots to occult and fortune-telling purposes first occurred in France about 1780. For fortune-telling each tarot card is ascribed a meaning.

The cards of the major arcana refer to spiritual matters and important trends in the questioner’s life. In the minor arcana wands deal mainly with business matters and career ambitions, cups with love, swords with conflict, and coins with money and material comfort. The tarot deck is shuffled by the questioner, and then the fortune-teller lays out a few of the cards… READ MORE