Spiritual Salvation: Is Tarot Tok Restoring Faith in Gen Z?

“I just needed help,” Amy Elizabeth, a Tarot reader, content creator, and mother, tells me. “I was in therapy, but I needed more.”

It is no secret that the importance of religion fades with each generation.

“Generation Z is the least religious generation yet. More than one-third (34 percent) of Generation Z are religiously unaffiliated,” reveals the American Survey Center.

So, what do they look to for salvation?

A 2021 survey done by Religion News found that 61% of their respondents use tarot cards and fortune telling as a form of faith. However, many of the respondents did not unaffiliate from the religion they were born into, they are just “looking beyond established structures for spiritual growth.”

One of the respondents, Matthew Blasio, says that “sometimes you just need something or someone that is rooted in courage.”

And where do they find it?

TikTok. The platform emerged in September of 2016 and is now home to 1,000 Million users. Spirituality is nothing new, but it has taken on a new form thanks to TikTok and other social media platforms.

More specifically, Tarot Tok. Users have generated over 1.7 Billion views under videos with the #tarottok hashtag, forming a community where not only Gen Z, but all generations can tap into their spirituality.

Tarot cards are a 78-piece deck that is used to connect with a higher power; each card has a different wand containing its own symbolism.

“Typically, wands symbolize creativity and passion, swords symbolize intellect, pentacles symbolize work and money, and cups symbolize emotion,” reveals The Cut.

The practice of Tarot is nothing new; in fact, it dates back to the 1430s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art reveals that the origins of Tarot “fall within the quadrilateral defined by the northern cities of Venice, Milan, Florence, and Urbino.”

The Italians used Tarot cards to play games in the fourteenth century. Typically, only the wealthy owned these cards as they were mainly commissioned decks painted by Renaissance artists. Tarot cards were not used for divinatory purposes until the eighteenth century.

“In 1791, Jean-Baptiste Alliette, a French occultist, released the first Tarot deck designed specifically for divinatory purposes, rather than as a parlor game or entertainment,” states Learn Religions. “By the end of the Victorian era, occultism and spiritualism had become popular pastimes for bored upper-class families.”

Fast forward to today, “The United States Psychic industry, over the past five years, has grown by 2% year over year. The number of active Psychic and Tarot businesses has grown by 1.6% and their employees by 1.4%, according to an industry report of IBIS,” reports A Little Spark of Joy.

The practice of Tarot has grown rapidly over the years. Whether it be businesses, content creators, or the eager Gen Z member—spirituality is in.

Jena Turner, the owner of Breathe Gifts, considers her business a “center of spiritual and emotional healing.” Growing up on Long Island, I visited Breathe Gifts at their Bayshore location many times. Breathe has four locations in Long Island, one in Texas, and is opening a Brooklyn location.

Besides its merchandise consisting of crystals, Tarot cards, sage, and more, Breathe also offers classes, certification training, readings, and healing sessions.

“Breathe is not your traditional gift shop,” says Turner. “Our primary goal is to provide the tools and resources so that you can implement healing on your own.”

Turner has read Tarot cards for 30 years and describes opening Breathe as a “natural way to incorporate who I was in my own place of business.”

She says her clientele stretches over a wide range of ages but feels that “social media has a large impact on the buying power of Generation Z.”

Turner recognizes that social media is a vital tool that will help grow her business.

“I have become familiar with Instagram and habitually ended up there,” she says, “but lately have been more drawn to TikTok and do plan on using that platform to grow my business.”

Amy Elizabeth (@amyelizabethtarot) has grown very popular on the app and has about 167.7K followers. Her content is comprised of Tarot readings to the TikTok collective. However, she also offers personal readings as well.

Elizabeth grew up getting Tarot readings but never saw herself as a reader. But around her mid-forties, she began researching how to become a Tarot reader.

During this time, Elizabeth’s roommate gave her a deck. And she got to studying. Due to divorce, financial reasons, and illness she says her life was filled with turmoil.

“I always knew I was intuitive. I always knew I could feel dead people around me for instance,” she says. “I never thought of it as something that was unique to me.”

Elizabeth says her gifts came through in her forties after a personal incident. “I was just going about my life and being intuitive,” she says.

She was born into a Catholic family and stopped practicing her faith around 1988 once she discovered there was “spirituality beyond religion.”

Elizabeth began her studies in Tarot 10 years ago and has officially read for about four.

She looked to Tarot for healing and wants her fans to find healing through her TikTok content. “I pull the cards,” Elizabeth says, “and what comes up is what is going on right now,” Elizabeth says.

“Dealing with what is going on right now can create a more positive outcome in the future,” she claims, “it’s a tool [TikTok].”

Once she posted frequently, she got booked for personal readings. She looks to empower her followers through this platform.

“Spirit guided me to this tool,” Elizabeth tells me.

As a mother of five, two of her children are members of Generation Z. Her following stretches over a large age group, however, she says many young girls book her for readings as well.

She describes an interaction with a four-year-old girl. While reading her, she pulled Page of Swords and told her how strong she was, and the little girl's face lit up with joy.

“Gen Z is closer to birth, meaning their closer to spirit,” she says. “They’re also wired a little bit differently being born into the technology age.”

She believes that TikTok is a great way to teach others about spirituality and how to become readers themselves. However, she says to be wary of scammers.

“The collective is getting very good at determining who is legitimate and who is not,” she states.

Elizabeth feels that every content creator has a different gift and reason for posting their readings on TikTok. Elizabeth says that when scrolling through Tarot Tok, it’s important to trust your intuition. She advises that “if you resonate with someone, that's who you should go with.”

If you’re looking to delve into the world of Tarot and spirituality, she feels that the best thing you can do is research, practice, and “take the leap.”

“There are plenty of classes and plenty of books,” she says. “There are schools TikTok creators are going to now as well to learn about Tarot.”

Naomi Golan, a Gen Z LIM College student, practices her spirituality in her everyday life.

“I first began diving into my spirituality when I was going through my first heartbreak,” she says. “It forced me to find myself and look deep inside to find my true happiness.”

Golan uses a multitude of methods to practice her spirituality; whether it be healing crystals, meditation, writing letters to the universe, burning sage, or listening to uplifting frequencies to give her peace.

She feels that Generation Z has adopted Tarot, crystal, and manifestation culture. “I think it’s a beautiful thing, even if it’s just a trend to them,” she says.

“Finding time to bring yourself to the present and feel really great about yourself is a practice that I recommend for anyone,” Golan tells me.

Golan agrees that TikTok has become a great platform for tarot readers and those interested in their spirituality to form a community. Her mother has even begun doing Tarot readings on the app.

Golan does not post her own content on TikTok but continues her practice. “It is something I only really do on my own or with my boyfriend, as we both love to meditate together,” she tells me.

There has been an ongoing debate on whether Tarot, crystal, and manifestation culture have become its own form of religion.

Golan does not feel it is a religion per se but does not discourage anyone that feels otherwise.

“I personally believe there to be a higher power and no matter what religion or idea you believe in we are all praying to the same source,” she says. “However, we all have different personal and cultural beliefs surrounding who or what that source is.”

Whether it be a form of religion or not, Tarot TikTok has created an eagerness in Generation Z to tap into their spirituality.

Elizabeth and Golan both turned to spirit during troubling times in their lives, finding salvation in this community. Though spirituality is not limited to age, some may say that Generation Z has adopted these practices with the help of social media.

No matter your beliefs, I hope there is a community out there for you where you can feel safe to heal. Because if we’ve learned anything from the past few years, the world is in need of healing.