Why the Tarot Isn’t Woo Woo
And how it can serve you as a mental health tool.
The tarot has been around since the 1430s and is still widely used today.
Guys, that’s a long time to stick around for a card game that most ‘sensible’ people consider woo woo!
Is there a beneficial quality to the tarot we are somehow missing?
I needed answers, so I experimented with the cards to find them. Their peculiar magnetism grasped me, and my rational mind was going to figure out why.
I discovered the tarot is a powerful tool for self-reflection — well, I guess I’m not inventing the wheel here, but I will back this claim up with psychology.
Tarot surprisingly hits the notes relating to modern psychology, here’s why.
Rewrite Your Story
When laying down a spread of cards, it’s the tarot reader’s task to string the cards together in a captivating storyline. When doing so, we project our life’s narrative onto these cards. We are actively exploring fresh angles to the otherwise instinctive plot.
This works therapeutic. Why, you ask?
Narrative therapy is a recognized tool in psychotherapy, in which you consciously seek to rewrite your story in a more empowering way to help you move out of stuckness.
As human beings, we are meaning making machines. But often the stories of our lives are created in default mode. This holds a certain danger, because when the paradigm is negative, the outcomes will be negative.
The tarot can help you gain new perspectives and support you in creating your tale thoughtfully.
Furthermore, the images in the tarot are wildly open to interpretation. And that’s a good thing. Much like the Rorschach test — the common psychological test, where the subject interprets ink blots — you can project anything onto these cards.
It’s not for nothing, the tarot is commonly called a window to the soul. Your personal projections will provide you with a treasure of information about yourself. As such, the cards are a powerful tool to integrate your conscious and subconscious mind.
The Universe in Your Hands
We hold a universe in our hands when we pick up a deck of tarot cards. Heaven and hell, church and state, stars and planets, elements and principals, even ancient gods inhabit the seventy-eight pieces of card stock (Duquette, 2017).¹
For those who aren’t familiar with the tarot, the 22 trump cards consist of mythical beings representing events that everyone goes through at some point in life.
To me, these cards symbolize archetypes, as the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung would call them. Jung defines archetypes as universal and primal symbols or images that are stored in every person’s unconscious.
Jung states that through human evolution, we have collectively shaped these archetypes in our stories. They include characters like the hero, the old wise man and the mother.
Now Jung’s theories are somewhat controversial.
But the concept of an archetype to call upon in challenging times is a helpful exercise nonetheless.
For example if you are stuck in life and don’t know what to do next. Ask yourself the following question: ‘If I was an old wise man — holding the wisdom of many years — what advice would I give myself?’
Viewing the tarot in this way led me to believe the images aren’t utter coincidence. In fact, the 22 trump cards tell a story on their own.
The Hero’s Journey
You might not realize it yet, but the concept of the hero’s journey is a pot of gold when considering your mental health. If you rethink your challenges to fit into the plot of the hero’s journey, magic happens.
To make my next point, I have to introduce you to the basic storyline of the trump cards of the tarot. Bare with me, I’ll make it a quicky!
The Fool is the archetype depicted on the first trump card, numbered 0. He is to embark on a journey without pre-assumptions and has no idea of the adventures ahead.
The fool meets all of the other archetypes on his journey — the other trump cards — and learns valuable life lessons from each of them. In the end, the fool returns home. In a full circle, he restarts at the beginning — though wiser than before — awaiting the next adventure to unfold.
This outline strongly resembles the narrative of the hero’s journey.
The hero’s journey is a concept popularized by Joseph Campbell. It is the storyline that many myths and tales follow — ancient and modern ones alike.
The storyline is something along the lines of a hero venturing out into the world to find a solution to a certain problem. On his quest, he encounters many challenges. As hero’s usually do, he overcomes all obstacles and returns home safely. Back home, he shares his new found knowledge with the community and puts it to good use.
Now, why is this a pot of gold?
- First of all, the challenge in this storyline is depicted as a necessary agent for growth. In the depths of our despair, we tend to overlook the positive qualities inherent in every negative situation. Using this storyline to write our own stories, we are challenged to purposefully look for the positives.
- Secondly, the hero’s journey is written in retrospect. This can aid you to begin to see yourself coming out of the grasp of depression.
- And thirdly, the plot can help you assign meaning to your suffering. How can you help the greater good of humanity because of what you’ve been through? The answer might just make the suffering worthwhile. And leaves you stronger than before, ready to embark on your next journey.
Let's call this next level therapy!
We have just addressed the narrative value of the cards, but there are realms to be excavated by their symbolical, mystical and occult meanings. I will spare you of those — for today at least…
When shuffling the cards, we are shuffling the possibilities of life.
I now see the tarot as a metaphor for the human experience — a tool for mindful reflection — a tool human beings have created attempting to understand themselves.
Isn’t everything we do an attempt to gain a greater understanding of life?
¹ Duquette, L.M. (2017). Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot. Weiser Books.
