bbc.co.uk
>"Our sales have been up 268% in the past six months," says Ms Vogel, before adding that the increase marks the biggest spike for the firm in almost 40 years.
>According to US Games Systems, a publisher of tarot games, sales across the industry were up by 30% in 2017.
>"Our societies are going through an extreme sense of alienation," says Ms Vogel, mentioning Donald Trump's presidential victory in the US, as well as the rise of far-right groups, violence and misogyny. "People are lonely and angry. Tarot helps them to cope with insecurity in these difficult times."
>Mike Sosteric, a sociologist at the University of Athabasca in Canada, agrees."When we were younger, change used to be much slower and gradual. Now, the world is changing at a more rapid pace than ever," says the professor, who studies tarot, human spirituality, and the occult.
>"This leads us to a time of crisis and drives people to seek big answers for big questions. Through tarot, people can mimic a sense of control."
>According to Dr Sosteric, many people find it hard to relate to traditional religions, which often carry patriarchal values, and are turning instead to alternative belief systems.
>One example of this is the #MagicResistance movement. Every month, self-identifying witches gather to cast "mass spells" on Donald Trump, and use tarot to assist them in the task.The Tower card, commonly used in Trump spells, depicts a solid tower being struck by lightning, and flames emerging from small windows at its top.
>Ms Gong combined her love of witchcraft and her coding skills to create tarot apps, as well as an online tarot school. She describes the majority of her users as young females who no longer want to be "good girls", and who see tarot as a tool for political resistance.
How shall we fight back against these dark forces Jow Forums?
