What Is Tarot Therapy?

Tarot Therapy is a system I started to develop when I was a psychologist. After 13 years in the field, I was frustrated with the lack of progress my clients were making, and heard the same from numerous therapists. 

Once I started using Tarot Cards with my clients, I saw rapid progress and changes in habits, feelings, and the challenges they were facing, including anxiety, depression, OCD, borderline personality disorder, and symptoms of PTSD. 

I also discovered that many of these symptoms and challenges are a DIRECT RESULT of Religious Trauma, which is why I chose to focus on and specialize in this important issue. 

Watch the video presentation below at your convenience to get a more in-depth overview of Tarot Therapy.

After leaving the medical model field of psychology and its emphasis on talk therapy, I continued to develop Tarot Therapy. It is a positive, solution-oriented model that focuses on strengths of the client, his or her own insights, and specific challenges a person is facing. 

I have also put a large emphasis on Religious Trauma as I have found from working with clients online around the World the past 15 years that almost everyone suffers from some religious trauma and/or is affected by fundamentalist religious beliefs. This is rampant in all political and even educational clients right now. 

How Tarot Therapy Is Different

Tarot Therapy focuses on the concepts of: 

Original Blessing - the idea that everyone is born good and given the opportunity, most people will choose to be productive and kind. The idea of Original Sin causes untold, numerous problems. There is no such thing as Hell, and no one is going there. 

Spiral of Ascension - Everyone is learning and growing. Even if you feel like you are facing the same challenges again and again, you are better-equipped at dealing with them each time, and are learning more about how to handle the problem and yourself. 

Using the Tarot Cards for Insight - Tarot Cards and the archetypal images help to uncover the subconscious mind and what a person is truly facing. This in turn brings awareness to the root of the problem and allows people to move forward without spending years rehashing the same incidents again and again. 

The Plural Mind Model - The Plural Mind is a multiplicity model that states that we are all made of multiple Aspects, or parts, which, when treated as individuals, will help people overcome and heal from trauma.

The Life Map System - Organizes your life into 8 distinct areas so that you can easily see where Religious Trauma is causing the most problems. You can use the Life Map Self-Assessment tool to identify what you'd like to work on and to keep track of your progress as you heal and overcome Religious Trauma. 

Things We Avoid In Tarot Therapy:

Toxic Spirituality and Spiritual Bypassing - Everything is not Love and Light, and we are not a "Positive Vibes ONLY" group. Focusing solely on these ideas is caustic and detrimental to a person's mental health. There are no bad emotions. All emotions are valid, and people must learn to honor and accept their emotions as they learn to respond in an appropriate way to them. 

Posting "Trigger Warnings" - Becoming triggered is a person's body response to a stimulus they need to address. Whether they choose to do so in the moment or to deal with it in a future therapy session is up to the individual. Learning to regulate emotions and trust yourself around topics that you find triggering is a huge part of your growth and healing. As an adult, it is each person's responsibility to be aware of their triggers and to deal with them. Except in the case of extreme graphic violence, there is no need to plaster "Trigger Warning" everywhere.

Justifying What The Church Did To Us - Just because you weren't molested at the alter doesn't mean that the Religious Trauma you've experienced hasn't had long-lasting and detrimental effects. There is no excuse for people telling 4 year old children that they could go to Hell and suffer eternal torment for telling a lie. Or threatening you with abandonment if you don't believe in a 2,000 year old Savior. Or for assaulting you for who you love. 

Blaming our "Ego" - There is no such thing as an Ego. What looks like the ego is multiple parts of you trying to protect you using outdated coping mechanisms. There is no Ego that needs to be controlled or destroyed. We need to stop maligning some imaginary part of us that has merely become the scapegoat for being a "sinner." 

There is no one "Right" Way, one True Path, or even one method of healing. Tarot Therapy uses a variety of methods to help people explore their mental health and overcome trauma. We honor that individuals can heal themselves and teach people to use these concepts in their own self-lead Tarot Therapy Sessions.

Find out more in the Tarot Therapy Alliance.