“Alex Reads Tarot” Folds Her Cards

Jesus wins again

Photo by petr sidorov on Unsplash

Breaking news

I have to admit, when I read this story, the McDonald’s theme rang through my head — I’m lovin’ it.

A few days ago, a viral TikTok creator known as Alex Reads Tarot walked away from a platform that had made her famous. In the span of a few days, she lost tens of thousands of followers after announcing that she was abandoning tarot readings, deleting her content, and committing herself fully to following Jesus Christ.

Good call, Alex.

Alex had built a massive audience around tarot readings and spiritual guidance. She had become one of the most recognizable figures in that corner of TikTok, even earning a mention in a pop song. Most people spend years trying to build that kind of platform and influence. Very few voluntarily walk away from it.

But, sure enough. Jesus set her free from her day job.

She came out in a sobbing video, saying, “Jesus Christ has saved my life.” She described spending the last year praying and questioning the path she was on. Originally, she intended the announcement to be her final post, saying that once the account was deleted, she would not be returning.

But then people did what people do. After the news spread across social media and thousands of followers disappeared almost overnight, she briefly returned to explain herself one final time. She said she felt compelled to speak after seeing the overwhelming response to her decision.

Since then, she has deleted her tarot content, ended her paid readings, and devoted herself to her relationship with God.

Choosing sense over nonsense

Some people have applauded her courage. Others are bewildered that someone would abandon a successful brand and a large audience. Some have gone the route of cancel mania. From my perspective, this story is a familiar one. Lots of people who get caught up in the nonsense of tarot, palm readings, seances, and the like eventually find the real thing and take out the trash.

Tarot cards first emerged in 15th-century Italy, personalized playing cards commissioned by the wealthy. It was in 18th-century France that some occultist weirdos decided to turn them into profit-making tools for sham divination. It’s lasted for centuries.

But they lost Alex.

The Christian story has always included people leaving nets on the shore. Sometimes discipleship costs us something tangible. Sometimes it costs us our audience. Or our income.

Tarot has always struck me as a bizarre foundation upon which to build any certainty about life. It has no scientific credibility and no demonstrated ability to reveal hidden knowledge about the future. It’s for the gullible. Shuffle a deck of cards enough times, and human beings are remarkably good at finding patterns and meanings that were never there to begin with.

The Christian faith, on the other hand, asks us to trust in a God who speaks through history, revelation, conscience, reason, and ultimately through the person of Jesus Christ. It’s tangible and demonstrable. It emerged in the empirical, and it invites investigation. Tarot asks us to trust cardboard symbols and a good imagination.

Those are two very different choices.

I don’t know Alex personally, and I have no idea what her future holds. But I respect anyone willing to lose followers in order to follow their convictions. In an age where people will say almost anything to keep an audience, there is something refreshing about someone willing to risk everything for what they believe is true.

An established public platform is a lot to lose.

But if Christianity is true, it’s more important to be a follower.