“Every single deck of tarot cards has a spirit attached to it”: She was enslaved to reading fortunes until a Voice set her free

Religion was very much a part of Jovena Ramona Chia’s growing up years.

Her relatives served as temple mediums, and Jovena frequented those temples often, especially late at night.

When Jovena was in Primary 5, her parents decided to divorce. Her mother sought the gods to find solutions to her marriage issues, and Jovena would watch from the sidelines as rituals were carried out.

Spiritually sensitive, she gravitated to certain media

As a child, Jovena was been spiritually curious and sensitive. She would have vivid dreams and premonitions about situations that might happen.

The media she consumed since she was a kid – Winx Club, Harry Potter, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the Addams family – influenced her to view things with a mystical view and to yearn for the occult. 

One of her favourite shows was Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It introduced to her the concept of one’s soul being sold in exchange for money or fame.

“I remember I would have random conversations with the devil at the back of my dad’s car, challenging him with things like: ‘If you are real, send me a bird to fly pass the window and I would sell my soul to you,’” said Jovena, now 26.

Young Jovena in Primary 1 when she was already really curious about fairies and magic.

It was through American media that she first learnt about dowsing sticks, Y-shaped sticks that are supposed to lead a person to what he or she is looking for.

“I read about it and wanted to try it out. So I held on to the stick and asked questions. When I felt the stick being pulled in a certain direction, I would follow,” Jovena told Salt&Light.

Playing with a dowsing stick

When she was eight years old, she was at a park when she asked the stick to lead her to find some answers. She felt the stick leading her to a tree at the far end of the playground.

Under the tree, she saw a huge raven standing in front of her.

She heard the bird talk to her in her head: “Did you not ask for me? The answers are in the cards.”

“Now, I know that all these are very demonic. But back then when I was a child, everything just felt very magical,” Jovena recalled.

“The incident with the raven did not make sense and I forgot about it until I discovered tarot cards for the very first time later on.”

Jovena grew up being heavily influenced by the media she read and watched.

Jovena’s growing up years were turbulent because of her parents’ divorce. She was juggled between her mother and father, and the other relationships within the family were also fractured.  

Lacking stability, she began to seek answers and comfort in things that brought her instant gratification.

Getting immediate answers to her questions 

At the age of 14, a friend brought her to a place in Chinatown where a tarot card reader gave readings at S$10 for three questions, which the teenagers deemed “reasonable”.

“I got hooked immediately on the idea of tarot cards. I was very amazed at the fact that I could immediately get the answer that I seek and they seemed to be really accurate,” said Jovena.

A deck of tarot cards. The deck that Jovena bought was much darker.

She returned to the tarot card reader again and again, asking what her future looked like, who her husband was going to be and what her financial situation would be like.

Eventually, she scoured the Internet for a pack of tarot cards for herself.

She came across a “very dark” deck and bought it.

When she first opened it, she heard a voice.

“The deck said: ‘Hello’ and I felt an instant connection to it. I knew the tarot deck was talking to me,” Jovena told Salt&Light.

That was when she started to practice reading tarot cards for others – first for friends, then family members, then schoolmates and her colleagues at her part-time job.

Being taken under the wing of a “mentor”

In 2015, Jovena went on a family trip to Taiwan when she was “talent-spotted” by a fortune teller.

She related: “Our tour group was brought to a fortune teller who could ‘calculate’ our fortunes. The fortune teller saw me and told my mother that I have a knack and calling for fortune telling. She said that since fate made our paths cross, she offered to pass down some of her skills to me.”

Over the next three days when the tour group was in the village, the fortune teller taught Jovena about divination, palm reading and fortune telling.

“I didn’t tell my mother but I got the fortune teller’s Facebook contact and so her mentorship with me continued even when I was back in Singapore,” she said.

Jovena found that she seemed to really have a knack for palm reading.

“When I read their palms, I would immediately get spiritual downloads and know what to say. I didn’t need to follow step A and then step B as I was taught,” said Jovena.

She once told a friend that her reading showed that she had a son. That friend then blurted out that she had not told anyone that she had had an abortion when she was very young.

Jovena also learnt from her “mentor” how to do water divination – where she could see the answer to her question via a scenario playing out in the bowl of water that was in front of her and the person she was doing the reading for.

“I should have had an inkling that this was definitely demonic or that there’s a spirit behind it. But it didn’t register in my brain. I was taught that it was a guiding spirit or guardian angel and I was just amazed by the magic,” she said.

The beginnings of a “side hustle” 

Customers found Jovena’s divination and tarot card readings so “accurate” that she found she could start charging for it. So she began her side hustle by advertising her services on Carousell.

As the people who sought for her services increased, so did her prices.

As a “baby” reader, she initially charged S$5 for three questions. Her fees later rose to S$75 for the same number of questions.

“Every single deck of tarot cards has a spirit attached to it. That is how the reader get those spiritual downloads and information. The spirit behind my deck was mean, ruthless and straightforward which a lot of people seem to gravitate towards because they want to hear the truth straight up. So many people began seeking me out,” she said.

Her tarot card reading business gained so much traction that she even landed corporate job offers. Companies invited her to do her readings at their roadshows, annual galas or dinner and dance events. Her fee ranged from S$3,500 to S$8,000 for an event.

“It paid my bills. I was charging really exorbitant prices because I was confident that my readings were very accurate, whether it was about predicting pregnancy, abortion or an accident,” Jovena said.

Dissatisfied, drained and depressed

The more her predictions came true, the more it fed Jovena’s ego and pride.

“It made me a very selfish and greedy person who was never satisfied,” she admitted.

The irony was that while Jovena was helping others find answers to their questions all day long, she herself had many questions of her own that were left unanswered.

At that time, she was drinking, smoking and clubbing almost every day to try to fit in with her friends. She had dropped out of polytechnic and later the Institute of Technical Education.

“I was stressed over not living up to my mother’s expectations. I felt like a failure who had nothing else going on for me except reading a pack of cards. It’s a fundamental rule to never do a reading for yourself but even when I ignored that taboo, the answers I got were all vague and unsatisfactory,” she told Salt&Light.

“There was no answer about my dreams, on what I was made for and where I should go in life. I felt myself yearning for a deeper connection and more realistic answers,” she added.

Planning to die, yet having to go for a Christmas production

After every reading, she felt very drained and saw no hope in life. Though she was earning a good income, she was so depressed that she wanted to die.

“Once I am dead, there will be no more questions, no more pain or depression,” Jovena said of her mental state.

She chose December 22 in 2017 to take her own life. It was two days after her mother’s birthday, and she wanted to be present for her one last time. She even had her suicide note drafted.

A suicidal Jovena during her witch era.

But Jovena could not go through with her plans as she remembered that she had promised a friend to attend a production at Revival Nation, a church in Lavender.

“I didn’t know it was a church event,” said Jovena. “I used to hate Christians, thinking that they were hateful people who were only kind if you went to their church. But I didn’t want to disappoint my friend and I feared she would hate me if I cancelled, so I went for her church’s Christmas production.”

After the sermon and production, the Pastor asked people who felt tired and burdened to lift up their arms.

“Our God is a God who yearns to take care of us. He yearns to take care of our burdens and problems because he loves us,” the Pastor said.

He was giving a call of salvation, but Jovena, being a newcomer to church, had no clue what was happening.

When she saw the people around her raising their hands, she followed suit.

“But I really believed what the Pastor was saying because I heard God for the first time that day,” Jovena said.

“I heard Him say: ‘I know how tired you are. I have always been here and you can come home’. I felt a huge burden being lifted off my shoulders and I experienced a love I have never felt in my life,” she added.

She began crying uncontrollably, feeling seen, understood and loved for the first time in her life.

“In that moment, I realised that there is a God, He is real and He loves me,” Jovena told Salt&Light.

After dedicating herself to Jesus there and then, she pledged to give up her ways of sinful living and renounced her tarot cards. She stopped mixing with the wrong crowd and began studying the Bible seriously.

A day after Jovena made up her mind to die, she gave my life to Jesus on the 23rd of December, 2017. Rachel ( the girl with green hair) was the one who invited her to church.

But that pivotal encounter with God was not enough to change her ways.

“I only knew God on the surface, but I did not have a deep relationship with Him,” she said.

Not before long, she fell back to her old ways again.

Her old customers kept pestering her to do readings for them again, and she felt she needed the money to continue living a certain lifestyle.

“I thought to myself that it’s going to be a quick transaction. They believe in the reading. I don’t have to believe in it. There’s no harm in that,” said Jovena, who also began selling crystals and candles online. 

“Some of them who asked for readings were my close friends and I felt obligated. Though deep in my heart I knew they were false gods, I was blinded by my need for money,” she told Salt&Light.

In August 2022, Jovena did a tarot card reading for a friend and her mother. It started off with the usual questions about the past, present and future, and about work and family.

“The questions about family led to her mother asking about her own mother, who was my friend’s grandmother. I had extra time so I pulled out the cards for it,” said Jovena.

The first time she forecasted death 

As she pulled out the cards, she received the “download” that the grandmother was set to die within a month.

Jovena struggled with herself on whether she ought to tell them about it. She had predicted things like marriage or adultery before, but this was the first time it was about death.

In the end, she decided to just tell them, not before cautioning them to take it with a pinch of salt.

Her friend laughed it off and said that her grandmother was still very healthy.

Two weeks later, however, she texted Jovena in the middle of the night, with a urgent request for a tarot card reading.

It turned out that her grandmother had just fallen down the flight of stairs in their home, fracturing her spine. Unfortunately, that accident led to her grandmother passing away.

“It weighed very heavily on my heart for the longest time after that. I thought it was my fault that she died. If I had not told them that, perhaps the fall would not happen and maybe she would still be alive,” said Jovena.

The guilt she felt over the accident would not let up. Soon, she fell back into having depressive thoughts and insecurities about her future.

“I chased temporary highs of going to clubs and drinking. But when morning came, I felt like dying. I hated myself for continuing in this kind of lifestyle as it left me feeling emptier than before,” said Jovena.

Meanwhile, she continued to be trapped in fear and guilt.

“I felt so much anxiety and guilt over my friend’s grandmother’s death, but I was so ashamed that I couldn’t tell anyone around me. It was a way for the demons to mess up with my head and keep me trapped,” said Jovena, who experienced sleep paralysis and kept seeing a demon at the edge of her bed every night.

Jovena used to wear crystal bracelets every day and charge them in moonlight after doing certain rituals. She also sold crystals and candles as part of her business.

In 2019, a friend invited her to a church camp at Impact Life Church in Jurong. Jovena decided to go for it, partly because her friend paid for it and partly because she wanted to give “this whole God thing” a try again.

She came back to God after the camp. 

Besides returning to church and being discipled in a small group, Jovena began the habit of journaling during her quiet time with God.

“Whenever I had any questions during my quiet time, the Holy Spirit would teach me about the spiritual world,” she said.

From these sessions, she learnt about the demonic influences behind certain practices like tarot card readings.

“I learnt that these demonic spirits only know your past and your present, but they do not know your future. The reason why the readings can be so ‘accurate’ is because the demon was there to witness it so as to use it against you,” said Jovena.

“When you choose to believe in these things, you leave the ‘umbrella’ of God, and this is when the demon starts to have real power over you, because you have given up the protection of God,” she added.

“So, one may suddenly find every ‘prediction’ coming true because the person is now under this demon’s umbrella. That is how they keep you hooked so that you keep coming back to the deck to ask more questions.”

During her quiet time, she also surrendered to God the guilt she felt over the death of her friend’s grandmother.

“He reassured me that I would not have been able to change the outcome even if I did not deliver the news. He told me that no matter what the enemy has meant for evil, He will use it for His good and glory, even if I cannot understand it yet,” said Jovena.

Finding freedom in her living room 

It was with Impact Life Church that Jovena experienced a breakthrough in her spiritual life. In 2021, her youth Pastor arranged for a deliverance session to be done in Jovena’s living room.

During the deliverance session, Jovena renounced the tarot cards a second time.

“Previously when I did it, it was because I was told it was the right thing to do, but I did not fully understand the reasoning behind it,” she said.

The demon manifested and taunted her during the session.

“I have given you so much power and wealth over the years. You owe it to me to serve me,” it said to her.

A terrified Jovena felt something breathing in her ear and clawing her back. She also started vomiting because she could smell a foul stench of rotten eggs.

“Do you really think your God has the power to save you?” the demon laughed as it continued taunting her.

Jovena found that she could not say the name of Jesus nor speak in tongues because something was holding on to her tongue.

The deliverance ministers who were with her warred alongside her, and texted others in the church for their prayer support.

There was one moment when Jovena managed to call out for Jesus, and everyone there felt a warm breeze rush into the living room.

“The Holy Spirit descended upon the place. I felt so enveloped and so safe that Jesus has come. All that fear and lies built a prison for me that I couldn’t escape, but freedom was always there because Jesus had paid the price for me on the Cross,” said Jovena.

From the bottom of her heart, she repented and begged for forgiveness on the floor of the living room that day.

Jovena (third from left) with her church’s life group last year.

“That was when I realised how close my soul was to eternal damnation just because I wanted quick answers to my questions and problems.

“I thought it was harmless, but that’s how they get to you. They package it as it’s just harmless, just a party trick. But the truth is it’s way deeper than all of that. Demonic spirits are at play and the deeper you tread, the harder it would be to get out,” said Jovena, who is currently taking a foundational diploma programme in Kaplan Singapore.

“The world says it’s ‘just energy, just symbols or just for fun’ but Scripture reminds us there are real spirits behind those things, and not all are good. Some mimic light just enough to keep you from finding the real thing,” she told Salt&Light.

Jovena hopes to pursue legal studies next and be a paralegal in future. Besides worshiping at Impact Life Church, she also serves outside in a migrant domestic worker ministry with One For Jesus.

Her church zone at Impact Life Church’s annual big day out. The church has become family to her.

In following Jesus, she has found real answers, along with peace and joy.

“There’s no need for a conduit for you to get the answers you so desperately seek. You don’t need to pay S$15 to talk to Jesus. It’s free and He hears you. And you can do so today,” said Jovena.

“God is the only one who can provide guidance without manipulation, mystery without deception and love without transaction.”

A Word-based understanding of interacting with unholy spirits

Salt&Light asked Rev Dr Joel Low, Head Choices, Counselling and Inner Healing and Deliverance Department at Church of our Saviour to explain what happens in the spiritual realm in cases like Jovena’s experience:

Jovena’s insightful final statement is an excellent summary on interacting with the spiritual and supernatural world: “God is the only one who can provide guidance without manipulation, mystery without deception and love without transaction.”

Indeed the Bible tells that human beings are to have an exclusive spiritual and supernatural relationship (likened to marriage) with our Trinity God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are to talk to, worship and seek guidance from God alone, through his Son Jesus Christ, who in human form, shows us who God is ( 1 John 5:20).

In Jesus, we can have an authentic and fulfilling relationship with God on earth – “He walks with me, He talks with me, along life’s narrow way!” Anyone who knows Jesus knows He is a vigilant,  fun-loving and caring companion – He is our brother and our God. Why do we settle for Satan and his fakes?

The Bible calls any relationship with Satan and his demons adultery or unfaithfulness (James 4:4). We are not to talk to or worship angels (Colossians 2:18; Galatians 1:8). Actually, we are not to interact with angels – good or bad ones. However, good angels on assignment or bringing a message from the Father may speak to us – but usually they are focused, and not chatty or casual.

Those who are engaged in demonic activities face Satan’s wrath (1 Peter 5:8) as well as God’s judgment – a ‘double whammy’ (Deuteronomy 32:21). However, we can repent and turn back to God and receive the privilege of relating to him as daughters and sons, receiving his protection from Satan and his demons (1 John 5:18).

Satan and his demons are desperate to interact with us because they want us to treat and worship them like God. However, as they cannot repent of their rebellion towards God, they hate human beings and seek to destroy each and every person on earth whom Jesus had died for (Revelation 12:12).

The list of forbidden demonic activities (“occult” – hidden or not obvious) in the Bible is extensive. Some of these verses are:

1. 1. Deuteronomy 18:9-14
   2. Isaiah 8:9; 19:3
   3. Revelation 22:15

Advice regarding things that masquerade as “fun” but are demonic in nature:

The list of “fun” demonic activities in the world today is endless; Satan is always creating new deceptive tricks using modern technology and means in the arts, entertainment, political, business, religious or educational fields.

Satan painstakingly “cultivates” these activities that  allow him subtle but powerful control over every human being on earth (ie, culture or worldliness). He has his “influencers” everywhere –some of whom we even call “idols”,  such as artists, singers, writers, actors, gurus, politicians. He openly showers them with money, fame and incredible success – while at the same time destroying them without their knowing it (with addictions, depression, suicides, hurtful behaviour, etc).

Satan reigns in and through the world’s culture – everyone is doing it (so he appeals to the “fear of losing out” and “curiosity” on part of Christians) and it’s so much fun. Fun and excitement are the sugar coatings – the bait of Satan. But once a person or a group is hooked, there is no turning back.

On the increasing popularity of Halloween in Singapore, Christian parents face a challenge. They easily to give in to their children’s demand to have Halloween costumes and paraphernalia and join their friends in “tricking or treating” with the mistaken notion that these are harmless childish activities that their children will grow out of. Instead they have sown a demonic seed – their children will find themselves gravitating towards the occult as they grow older.

As a general guideline, any activity that uses fantasy (which distorts God’s reality), sex, money and power (“works of the flesh” Galatians 5:19-21) is potentially demonic. Internet games of virtual friends, books and movies with superheroes and monsters or cosplay characters (the latter are “hybrids” which distort God’s image of true human beings) and anime heroes who rely on supernatural power or trickery and such like should be avoided.

As the activities of the dark side are endless, a better way is to stick to God’s way, which is the narrow way (Matthew 7:14). We can always check with Jesus if something is good for us or not; the problem, as noted above, is our fear of losing out and our curiosity, which prevents us from trusting and obeying Him.

We want to at least have a taste of the world; His Word warns us not “to love the world” (1 John 2:15-17) and that to be friends with the world is to be the Father’s enemy (James 4:4). But if we are in love with Jesus and He meets our every need, why do we want to be adulterous and unfaithful by befriending the world?

Last but not least, the Bible tells us to “take every thought captive” to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5b). This is clearly a language of spiritual warfare. Everything we see, hear or think about needs to be treated as enemy and interrogated. If a thought submits to Jesus then it is all right; if not we are to bind and cast them out (“exorcise”) from our minds and life.

Ministries that can help if you are encountering demonic disturbance or oppression:

1. Inner Healing and Deliverance Ministry, Church of Our Saviour

2. The Healing Place, Good Gifts City Church

3. Liberty Ministry, City Harvest Church

4. House of Healing, Cornerstone Community Church

5. Asian Ministries – Zion Healing Centre (formerly Ellel Ministries) 

6. Elijah House Singapore

7. Sozo Ministry Asia

If you wish to find out more about spiritual warfare, you can visit Cru Singapore’s page on spiritual warfare prayer here or purchase related books on the topic here and here. 

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The post “Every single deck of tarot cards has a spirit attached to it”: She was enslaved to reading fortunes until a Voice set her free appeared first on Salt&Light.