Psychological information can be revealed to us in a variety of ways through different forms of divination. In the 20th Century, psychotherapy is delivered by doctors but in the past it would have been the local soothsayer who tried to help troubled seekers and help bring peace of mind to them.

For me, the Tarot is my tool of preference when dealing with a troubled mind. This wonderfully fascinating pack of cards led me on my continued search through symbolism, numerology - all part of the ancient wisdom left to us through the mists of time – and finally onto psychotherapy. The question I now find I am asking myself is can the two, Tarot and psychotherapy, really go together?

The answer is easy for those who come to me for a Tarot reading, it is yes. The reading forms a good ice breaker and gives me insight to a person’s character. I counsel many people with the revelations the cards show me. In some cases my clients cannot talk about their inner most feelings to anyone else; it is the counselor in me that listens once the cards have been laid out.

How the Tarot works
The Tarot functions as a reflections of our inner self, mirroring our sometimes most hidden internal states. It has the ability to reveal to us individually, collectively and therapeutically, showing the individual in questions gifts and talents within their own psyche, along with possible hidden problems within their personal psycho-life path.

Within the symbolic structure on each card the interpretations are given, the card itself representing an outer mirror of an internal process going on inside the client.

There are many different Tarot decks available to you. You will become aware that each creator and author’s view point of their Tarot sets may be biased towards their own life experience and theories. It is therefore necessary to remember that the symbols underlying the Tarot are a universal ancient language and the cards are laced with this ancient map of our consciousness. Furthermore within each structure there are mythical figures that reveal psychological processes of this universal nature, referred to by Jung as ‘archetypes of the collective unconscious’.

The Mythic Tarot: Book, Cards, and Cloth, by Juliet Sharman-Burke, Liz Greene (Contributor) click image to visit amazon.co.uk. Prices from: £13.29

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4 Used & New from £14.71

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Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom click image to visit Amazon.co.uk. Prices range from £9.09.

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Humanistic Psychology
This following book provides a simplification of the theory of Gestalt Therapy and Transactional Analysis. It spends time addressing how the three sides to our personalities can interact with these same three ego states in another individual and all the things that can go wrong along the way and how to fix them. The process of getting these three ego states to work together is where Gestalt Therapy comes in. There are numerous exercises to help one's own transformation.

Born to Win: Transactional Analysis With Gestalt Experiments
by Muriel James, Dorothy Jongeward (Contributor), John Bell (Editor)

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Psychosynthesis Counseling in Action
by Diana Whitmore (Author)

Transpersonal Psychotherapy
Transpersonal psychology is concerned with the spiritual and religious aspects of being human. In the following book John Rowan explains what transpersonal psychology is, examines the work of early pioneers such as William James, Neumann and C. G. Jung. It covers such exciting areas as dreams, regression, and active imagination and he shows how transpersonal psychology has always been an important part of therapy.

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The Transpersonal: Psychotherapy and Counseling
by John Rowan

Clinical Setting for Psychotherapy & Tarot Readings

However if you were in a more clinical setting the production of a pack of Tarot cards could be quite alarming to some people. And the answer to the original question ‘does Tarot and psychotherapy really go together’ would be "NO !" in this case.

Many people hold the misconception that the Tarot is evil, connected with black magic and the Devil. These misunderstandings are to be expected by a society indoctrinated by state-backed religions. Even today, people have shied away from me when they have found out that I can read Tarot cards. Some of them are fascinated, but scared, and others are clearly horrified and want to know why I would want to do it? It can be a hard job to put someone at their ease. Patience and understanding is what I try to give them.

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Society today is going through a critical transition, where not everyone is spiritually aware and able to feel this shift in human conscious awareness which has come about as a response to the gross materialism, lack of time and separateness in our western culture. It clearly results in the need for personal attention; leaving many of us crying out for help.

Anyone who is worried about, and not wishing to go down the route of, the holistic approach to self help should contact their own GP for guidance. Sadly even clinical National Health Service settings are failing in the fact that they only have a token number of weeks per person available for therapy, initially offering between 8 -12 weeks. This is, in some cases, not enough and still leaves people feeling on life’s conveyer belt!

So some of you go off to find a Tarot reader for life guidance and some up-liftment, but what you are really seeking is someone to talk to and take notice of you in this seemingly uncaring world! Alternatively, if you prefer to keep things private, self help is also a good healer. Learning the Tarot yourself, understand and accepting who you are is the key to get to a balanced life.

How to Do Psychic Readings Through Touch
By Ted Andrew
Review by Claire Greenberg

The ‘stone tapes’ theory - that objects can record impressions - has been slowly coming into the mainstream of social consciousness. Psychometry is the way we read those ‘stone tapes’, and this is a useful book that looks at psychometry in detail and gives you the tools to develop the skill on your own.

This aspect of psychic ability is often a way in to developing your own paranormal abilities. As Ted Andrews says in his book “For many people, psychometry is one of the easiest of the psychic abilities to develop. It is easily developed by everyone, and it can be used to hone and fine tune all of your psychic perceptions.”

Ted Andrews marries psychometry with a body of metaphysical thought, so that the book is not just a series of exercises for you to practice, but also a collection of ideas that you can explore. He uses both pure science (as in Quantum Physics) and what scientists call pseudo-science to explain psychometry, and that makes for interesting reading. I do not have a problem with this eclectic mix of ideas, although the links between hypothesis and experiment are tenuous. The book may confuse people into thinking that psychometry is provable within western scientific thought. Remember, all paranormal abilities are viewed with skepticism by mainstream scientists; mixing Hindu meditation exercises such as Kundilini flow through the Chakras with Quantum Physics is hardly mainstream science!

So what happens when you follow through the exercises he describes and develop this skill? Has it got a use apart from satisfying your curiosity about an item or place? He brings forward psychic healing, empathy and counseling as all gifts that develop from awakening your ability to do psychometry. He states quite clearly that “As we develop any one of our capabilities, it becomes easier to develop and manifest them all.”

The book is well and simply written. It is not in the ‘earth-shattering enlightenment’ body of paranormal literature, but does find a place in the ‘useful little book’ section of my bookshelf. I would hand it on to a beginner on the path who wants to develop his or her paranormal skills in a small way before going on to deeper and more life-changing skills.