Tarot on TikTok with Aly Dimaculangan
If you’re seeing this, this may be for you. Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t. You may take nothing at all.” The first time I heard those words, I was curled up in bed in the late hours of the evening at the peak of the pandemic. I was confused with what life had to offer me, but here was this person on my TikTok For You Page telling me that I was destined for greater things.
With affirmations of my struggles and conflicting messages of my future I started to wonder: Are these messages really meant for me? To gain more insight on how tarot is practiced on such a huge platform as TikTok, I reached out to Aly Dimaculangan, a Filipino tarot reader, also known as @theblessedbhie.
YOUNG STAR: What inspired you to do collective/ general tarot readings on TikTok?
ALY DIMACULANGAN: I got into TikTok a few weeks before the pandemic happened, and it was really an outlet for me to cope. The videos, despite what was going on, they were all so carefree. What inspired me to do collective readings was actually my favorite tarot TikTokers or my favorite practitioners such as conjurequeen, wandamystic, talaspiritual and ph_witches. Seeing them help people, seeing them inspire people to be better versions of themselves as well as that really positive and healthy community, inspired me to start my own TikTok as a way of healing and a way to help others.
@theblessedbhie ♬ original sound - theblessedbhie
When do you record general readings for Tiktok? Is there a certain feeling from spirit guides?
Most of the time, I would film readings whenever I feel inclined to, but there are also certain readings that I take into consideration. Sa collective namin, or my spiritual group, we take moon phases seriously. So whenever there is a full moon, new moon, waning moon (or) waxing moon, from time to time, that’s when I start doing readings; every start of the month, end of the month.
But most of the time, it’s just gut feeling; most of the time it’s intuition telling me to deliver something. At the end of the day, it’s still more spiritual for me, more of like an inclination for me rather than it is me as a content creator.
In your opinion, how has TikTok shaped people’s opinions on online tarot?
I feel like for the most part, there’s still a long way to go when it comes down to respecting tarot as an actual spiritual tool. There’s this aspect or certain group of people who are actually inclined to resonate with spiritual messages, and of course there’s this other side na mas light, mas fun. They resonate with the aspect na paasa lang ang tarot, it’s a scam. I think it really depends on how an online tarot reader delivers their message as well as how they promote responsible divination or how they practice their ethics as a practitioner.
There are people that do respect the craft, but at the same time they don’t educate themselves as much. What are your thoughts on this?
The scary aspect of TikTok or other platforms in general, while they make space and give way to make spiritual messaging and practices a lot more mainstream, a lot more accepted, they also make way for people to take advantage of these spiritual practices. Hindi natin siya maiiwasan because of the lack of regulation and the lack of moderation. It all boils down to the responsibility of the reader, but at the same time, you also have to extend that responsibility to those people that accept and resonate with the messages.
I feel like for the most part, there’s still a long way to go when it comes down to respecting tarot as an actual spiritual tool. There’s this aspect or certain group of people who are actually inclined to resonate with spiritual messages, and of course there’s this other side na mas light, mas fun.
Are there any misconceptions about tarot that you have noticed come with having a huge platform?
I think the main misconceptions about tarot reading, lalo na here in the Philippines na it’s all hula. That we’re just predicting, but there’s a difference between predicting and reading. There’s also a difference between fortune tellers and fate readers. Fortune tellers, commonly known as manghuhula, don’t necessarily need spiritual tools to deliver their divine messages, they can just do it through intuition, they can do it through prayer even; while fate readers are the type of readers who read cards or use other spiritual tools like astrology, runes and the like to deliver a certain message.
At the end of the day, as much as tarot is very much hyped to give you asa, kasi sinabi ng cards na magiging kayo ng crush mo, it’s not that simple. It’s guiding you to lead yourself to that direction or not lead you into that direction. Resonating isn’t just about liking the messages that you hear, it’s also about being spiritually or energetically inclined to take the message as a guide and not necessarily just as affirmation.
You’re known for the catchphrase, “Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t. You may take nothing at all.” What do you intend for people to do when they hear this?
I didn’t really intend for “Take what resonates, leave what doesn’t” to be some sort of a meme, and it’s also a commonly known phrase. I won’t credit myself for that. My actual intention for that line is for people to be more aligned with what they need to hear and not necessarily what they want to hear. So kahit hindi magresonate yung buong reading o kahit hindi ka makarelate sa buong reading, that’s fine. But if you find yourself relating to at least some of the message, you claim it. There’s nothing wrong with being selective about what you accept and what you don’t accept.
@theblessedbhie ♬ original sound - theblessedbhie
What would you advise people who want to get into tarot readings more because of what they see online?
Try and really relate the messages to yourself and how they affect you. It’s so easy to focus on the face value of readings, but if you look deep into underlying messages, you will understand a lot more about yourself and your journey. You don’t have to force yourself to take every tarot reading as yours and rush yourself into getting into spiritual practices because, at the end of the day, it’s your journey.