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    How To Use Tarot Readings To Improve Your Mental Health

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    Sarah Beth Elsbernd
    This document discusses how tarot readings can be used for mental health and personal growth. It explains that tarot cards represent archetypes and can guide one's journey in life. Each major arcana card symbolizes a different archetype related to the hero's journey. When laid out, the cards can represent the stages and experiences along the path to self-realization. Doing tarot readings for oneself can help clarify thoughts and feelings during difficult times, and provide insight into the best next steps to take.

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    How To Use Tarot Readings To Improve Your Mental Health

    Uploaded by

    Sarah Beth Elsbernd
    168 views3 pages
    This document discusses how tarot readings can be used for mental health and personal growth. It explains that tarot cards represent archetypes and can guide one's journey in life. Each major arcana card symbolizes a different archetype related to the hero's journey. When laid out, the cards can represent the stages and experiences along the path to self-realization. Doing tarot readings for oneself can help clarify thoughts and feelings during difficult times, and provide insight into the best next steps to take.

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    How to use Tarot readings to improve your mental health

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    This document discusses how tarot readings can be used for mental health and personal growth. It explains that tarot cards represent archetypes and can guide one's journey in life. Each major arcana card symbolizes a different archetype related to the hero's journey. When laid out, the cards can represent the stages and experiences along the path to self-realization. Doing tarot readings for oneself can help clarify thoughts and feelings during difficult times, and provide insight into the best next steps to take.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    168 views3 pages

    How To Use Tarot Readings To Improve Your Mental Health

    Uploaded by

    Sarah Beth Elsbernd
    This document discusses how tarot readings can be used for mental health and personal growth. It explains that tarot cards represent archetypes and can guide one's journey in life. Each major arcana card symbolizes a different archetype related to the hero's journey. When laid out, the cards can represent the stages and experiences along the path to self-realization. Doing tarot readings for oneself can help clarify thoughts and feelings during difficult times, and provide insight into the best next steps to take.

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    You are on page 1of 3

    How to use Tarot readings to improve your

    mental health.
    Tarot, archetypes, Hero's Journey

    The history of how Tarot came to be is a bit murky. For our purposes it doesn’t
    really matter. You can do your own research and learn more in various books.
    I’m working my way through Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel
    Pollack. She explains:

    Bonifacio Bembo - painted a set of unnamed and unnumbered cards


    (supposedly for some wealthy family)
    it contained:

    o 4 suits with 14 cards each


    o 22 cards showing different scenes

     and later called ‘trionfi’ - in English, ‘triumphs’, or


    ‘trumps’.
    These trump cards were archetypal in terms of medieval social types.
    “Today we see the Tarot as a kind of path, a way to personal growth
    through understanding of ourselves and life.”
    she indicates that tarot is meaningful to people who have “the inner
    conviction that everything is connected, everything has meaning and
    that nothing occurs at random.”
    Carl Jung was a German psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He’s the “father of
    analytical psychology.” Simply Psychology lists key concepts he came up with
    that have permeated society, including the idea of archetypes; which are
    universal and recurring themes.

    The major arcana cards each represent a different archetype. For example, the
    Fool is the archetype of someone who is just starting out on a journey. They
    know very little, not even enough to be afraid of what lies ahead. They start
    their journey in an innocent state.

    Jung and Tarot: an archetypal journey by Sallie Nichols, explores this in


    greater detail. Notable quotes include:

    “A journey into the tarot cards is primarily a journey into our own
    depths.”
    “the trumps can be viewed as a silent picture text, representing the typical
    experiences encountered along the age-old path towards self-
    realization.”

    Joseph Campbell compared different stories and mythologies and revealed a


    pattern in the Hero’s Journey. Once you are familiar with the Hero’s Journey,
    you’ll see it throughout various movies and book. It’s used so often because it
    works! People love this story structure. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry
    Potter all contain the Hero’s Journey.

    You can see the steps of the journey here

    When you lay out the trumps in three rows of seven, you can follow the cards
    through a simplified Hero’s Journey. The fool sits a the top because s/he is the
    one going on the journey, so is in a sense, outside of the structure.

    The first row is focused on the outer world and each card represents a different
    archetype. For example the Magician represents learning and mastering
    practical realities while the High Priestess represents seeking hidden knowledge.
    Empress represents nature/mother, The emperor represents society/father, the
    Hierophant represents Church/Education. You get the idea.

    Each row represents a different phase of the Hero’s Journey.

    There is so much more to explore here, but I’m trying to keep this short! :)
    Ok, the cards can be a useful tool to understand story-telling. But why would we
    use them for our personal lives? I’m glad you asked! ;)

    Have you ever been in a situation where your thoughts and feelings were all
    jumbled up and you couldn’t quite figure out what to do next?

    I invite you to consider the notion that tarot cards can serve as our own personal
    Rorschach test. Learning the different archetypes and how they fit in with each
    card can be valuable. Ultimately, though, you decide what each card means to
    you, in your particular situation.

    Reading the cards for yourself can help you clarify what is bugging you. It can
    help you suss out different factors you weren’t consciously aware you were
    bothered by. Then it can help you figure out what direction you really want to
    go next, rather than staying stuck focused on what steps you think you
    SHOULD take.

    Does that make sense?

    Thank you for reading, fren!

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