Jungian Psychology and Tarot
“Later interpreters of Jung doubted that his experiments with divination as an analytical technique would pass peer review. “To do more than ‘preach to the converted,’” wrote the authors of a 1998 article published in the Journal of Parapsychology, “this experiment or any other must be done with sufficient rigor that the larger scientific community would be satisfied with all aspects of the data taking, analysis of the data, and so forth.” Or, one could simply use Jungian methods to read the Tarot, the scientific community be damned.”
Josh Jones - ‘Carl Jung: Tarot Cards Provide Doorways to the Unconscious, and Maybe a Way to Predict the Future’ August 31st, 2017
I have had a few books about Jung and tarot on my shelves for years but not read them, as they felt too overwhelming. I am not a psychologist or a scientist and it felt like a whole world I was not ready to enter, having come to tarot through the ‘woo-woo’ door of divination in my teens. But I was just reading this article and am thinking now might be a good moment to delve in. The bridge between formal science and spirituality gets ever more solid, wider and accommodating, and the interconnectedness of all disciplines, therefore, easier to discuss without the need for justification. My daughter is a physicist and often indulges her mother’s ‘pseudoscientific’ leanings, but I can’t help myself - I want to believe everything! So when there are links made between modern coaching theory, psychology, spiritual disciplines, quantum physics, and magic - when big names like Carl Jung are mentioned - that’s when I get really excited and start sharing annoying links on her Facebook page.
I recommend this short article if anyone is interested in this approach to tarot - proponents of the open reading method will find Jung’s ideas about tarot familiar and reassuring, as archetypal symbolism and the belief in the ability of our own mind to read patterns, is our starting point.
I’ll report back when I have worked my way through one of the books…
The Jungian Tarot by Dr. Robert Wang