Therapeutic Tarot is not designed as a method to predict your future or to contact passed loved ones. Instead the cards are seen as a reflection of your present thoughts and feelings rather than a prediction of your future. The imagery on the cards are used as a tool for self-exploration, reflection and emotion processing to help individuals gain insight into themselves and their experiences. While this is a valuable too, it does not replace traditional therapy or mental health support.
Carl Jung who has been a huge influence in psychology was interested in the archetypal meanings of tarot cards and how these can help us understand our inner world. Therapeutically, the cards can help individuals explore their situation more intuitively and visually, providing a metaphor for their inner experiences. It is less about examining the traditional meanings of the cards and is more about focusing on your interpretation, thoughts, and feelings that arise when you explore the imagery of the card. The imagery is used as a gateway to your subconscious and act as a starting point to gently explore your experiences, you may be asked how you feel when looking at the card, what parts of the image are you drawn to, or how the card represents your circumstances.
A key researcher exploring the therapeutic nature of tarot is Inna Semetsky, her research combines tarot and Jungian psychology highlighting how tarot can become a counselling tool bringing the unconscious into the conscious and facilitating self-awareness and emotional clarity.
Overall, using tarot cards in therapy can help support clients to develop their intuition, increase self-awareness and reflection, bring to light new perspectives to an issue, foster creative expression, empower you to take control of your life and reveal hidden thoughts and emotions that may have been buried. At Everlight, we have a range of tarot and oracle decks with unique imagery on them for you to use to help you explore your experiences in a different way.