During the pandemic, an Australian llama named Patrick finally eroded my aversion to joining TikTok. I had exhausted the clips on Facebook Watch and needed more. So, I downloaded the dreaded app and haven’t looked back. Apart from the ability to lose hours swiping through content, it’s not a bad app. However, one night, while I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t stop overthinking an interaction with a dating app dude, I stumbled across TarotTok.
I swear I only see these videos late at night when I’m the most emotionally vulnerable. And they always start with “If you’re seeing this, it’s meant for you!”. The cards always say my true love is waiting in the wings, just a few more days and he’ll be there. It’s twin flames and soul mates and the Queen of Cups! And it all sounds wonderfully relevant to my situation until I look over and see 241,000 other people have liked the video.
I’ve often thought that I didn’t need to know the specifics of my future. I don’t the name of my future love or the date when we’ll meet. The amount of money my first published book will sell. The date of my death. And, in fact, I probably wouldn’t believe it if anyone told me those things. I would, however, like a glimpse at the vague outline of what awaits me.
What I mean by that is, I don’t need to know my soulmate’s name, just that there’s someone out there for me. That we’ll eventually connect. I don’t need to know when I’ll be “successful”, only that it will happen some day. I want someone to reassure me that good things are just over the horizon. I don’t need to know exactly where, just that they’re there.
And I think that’s what makes TarotTok, psychics, astrology, and other modes of fortune telling so popular even in an age when superstition is dying. We all just want a little reassurance that things will turn out alright, even if they don’t look so good right now. Some certainty to quiet the anxious voices whispering in our ears. And so I’ll watch her turn over another card even if 10,000 other people are watching at the same time. Even though logic is telling me it’s absurd. Because maybe, just this once, it will be right.
KT Byrde Writes 