using tarot to recover repressed memories

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 08 Nov 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

seaofclouds	08 Nov 2004
Greetings! I am writing a (fictional) book, and my main character had an experience as a youth that she has repressed, and she's moving into the section where she will try to recover those memories. I would like to use tarot in my book (I already have-- the character's grandmother was a reader), and was wondering if anyone had any information about how/if this is done... also, was musing as to whether any professional counselors ever used tarot in therapy? It would seem to make sense to me. Any bits of knowledge you could toss my way would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Sea

Phoenix Rising	08 Nov 2004
Hi Sea That is such a cool idea, to write a book, wow! I'd definitely buy your book. I do know a couple of people who use the cards in their therapy sessions. Although she discerns who to use it with, because some don't like the tarot....you know the devils work. And 2 other readers i know were taught when they were young by their grandmothers. The only thing I can suggest as to how to use the tarot, is by finding what the cause of the repression is using tarot, and then taking her down into a deep level by a meditative process. Actually I have done this process. It was by alot of sexual harassment, so I knew where to go to, I confronted the perpetrators, yelled all the shit and crap at them for what they had done, how it made me feel etc. funny thing is that they also told me why, and it wasn't what I had thought it was, so i understood. Then I was able to forgive them. But the day after, i was spuing my guts out. But that was the letting go process. it was bloody good. Just a thought!

WalesWoman	09 Nov 2004
What a great idea, it seems like the Hermit, HP, Moon, Hierophant are good cards for an indication of where to begin...or atleast an indication that there are repressed/hidden memories. I wish I knew, because I swear Tarot has been one of the best counsellors I've ever had when it comes to confronting things I really don't want to and can't avoid any longer. So I'm waiting for someone who knows about this or has used this and hope they share spreads and techniques as well, I would imagine it wouldn't be a one time thing. I wonder if the questions would be presented almost as hypnotic technique of regression. Starting in the present and laying cards progressively into the past, maybe based on levels of childhood and adolescent development. This is me at * age, this is what impacted me most, this is how I dealt with it? Karl Maslow had five basic needs/ stages of development I think, that needed to be met in order to reach a healthy stable emotional adult, but if something happened along the way, then a person would be stuck, not able to develop into a true mature state. Now I've got to go back and dig out my college psych development books again! Great idea for a book, Sea, hope you find ideas and share them with us!

Moongold	09 Nov 2004
I think it is an interesting idea for a novel and you would have an opportunity to set the context and boundaries. It is fiction after all. However, I am very skeptical about repressed memories and their supposed accuracy. The potential for error and injustice is immense. Memory may be imperfect for many reasons. And the chain of recollection gets even more shaky as people remember the memory again and again. In meditation some years ago (before Tarot) I had a very clear image of a kitchen in a house in which I had grown up. The memory was like a photograph. When I actually did return to the house in 1999 the stove was exactly as I had remembered it but its placement and the placement and significant other features in the kitchen were significantly different. There had been no building renovations. I had superimposed the memory of yet another kitchen on the earlier kitchen. Yet I was absolutely certain that my "photographic image" was correct. To add to the hypothesis of unreliability, people do not even experience things in the same way. If you get a group of people in the one room and ask them to give an account of something they have just experienced together you often get very different responses. One might remmber something that wasn't "truthful" in the first place. Once I saw the potential for immense harm to be done through "repressed memories" and the idea now makes me very uneasy. You could write a clever, tantalising novel which does not claim to be authorative and leaves as many questions as it answers. That would be entertaining and interesting. But I would not buy a novel that sugggested it was possible, without doubt, to recover repressed memories. Many blessings ~ Moongold

Anna	09 Nov 2004
I am a counsellor, although I am in the UK, and some of the ethics and laws I am bound by when I work will be different to the ones where you are. I work for a counselling agency, so I have to follow their rules for practice. This means that I can not use tarot with my clients. At the moment, its not something I would do anyway, even if I could. I might change my mind about that in the future, but for now it feels right to keep the two things seperate. But I think there are some other issues that you might want to think about... Confidentiality is an important one. In my work, everything my client talks about is kept confidential unless there is a risk of harm to my client, or harm to a third party. Normally, that means that everything is kept confidentially within the agency. I am required to have regular supervision, and I am also asked to make the administrators and directors aware of any particular problems that might come up. However, if there is any risk of harm; for example, if a client told me the name of a person who had abused them in childhood, I am legally obliged to inform the police. This stuff might be important for your book if you have a character who is a proffessional counsellor because counsellors, even in private practice, must have supervision, and at some stage, your character might need to inform the police. The other thing that I am thinking of is around the repressed memories. Within my training, we did a lot of work on this. Repressed Memory Syndrome is used in the courts to disprove accusations of abuse. As a counsellor, if I even ask a client "where you abused as a child?", this can be twisted round in court to argue that I as a counsellor had implanted the suggestion. Even something as small as that question!! What it means in practice is that I would never suggest to a client that they had been abused and never never never use relaxation or hypnosis to recover memories. If my client did want to go to court eventually, by me doing any of those things, I would have ruined their chances of winning the case. Do you see what I mean?

seaofclouds	09 Nov 2004
CharmingPixie, it's interesting about implanting the idea for repressed memory syndrome. I have never heard of it being referred to as such. Could add a whole new subplot ! I think I do remember seeing tv shows where people had fake repressed memories... ah, Law & Order, it's all coming back to me now ;) In my experience with Tarot, I always ask the cards to show me what is beyond my ability of understanding *right now*. Personally, I do not believe in the past or the future (it's a zen thing). But I have me readers who are very gifted, and based on the energies at work in the *now*, can make guesses about the future. So I just wonder if it doesn't happen also in the "past". I've heard of past-life spreads. Depending on your belief system, this may or may not work for people. If tarot really is the "book of life" I like to say it is, it *should* be able to handle this task. Uggh! So much to think through! Thanks for the input! Melissa Seaofclouds

Alissa	09 Nov 2004
Thinking/brain storming as a writer tooooo.... You could theoretically set up a scene where your protagonist is getting a "past life reading" but the reader actually finds the reading discussing a repressed memory from *this* life. As a tarot reader, I'd "buy that" (i.e. find it plausible) especially if the reader is built into a character who is more psychically inclined, and may describe flashes, or "pictures" that pop in his/her mind while reading. These pictures may act as a so-called trigger for your protagonist's repressed memories to begin to emerge from (perhaps generating an "episode"?) Just a few ideas! Best of luck!

Flavio	09 Nov 2004
I understand that after a therapist help unlock/recover memories from a patient and depending on how intense were those memories or the cayuse they were lost, the patient might fall into shock, the therapist must have the tools to support the shocked patient, and help process the recovered memories have you considered this for your character?

Cerulean	09 Nov 2004
perhaps the character who is going to be activating her or his memories might have strong associations with a specific tarot image? For instance, if the hanged man has a strange fascination or horror for the character so affected, would it be because the character had a bad or fascinating association with a trapeze artist or remembers a friend swinging upside down on a tree limb? If there is a tendency for people who didn't know the Hanged Man was someone with their foot in a noose to actually upright the figure, that might be interesting trivia around the image for your story. Then again, if you do make up a specific deck to use in the story, you might want to make notes on what the majors might look like to the character--you could base it vaguely on a deck that you have, but change some things about it. One social worker who took a small seminar once shared he didn't remember very much before he was a certain age. We were actually exploring fairy tale motifs...and after awhile, he said he realized that it might be because he is thinking of what he is doing in his present life in English. He actually felt that he kept his memories in a different compartment of his thoughts--if he was talking in Spanish, he remembered more and felt that he had better access to memories of stories, his childhood in another country and family associations. What if the tarot that sparks his repressed memory was a Spanish one, if we use this instance as an example? In the setting of a story, if the story was spanning a certain time period, one might choose a long-lived twentieth century tarot deck or one known in the past 30 years, if it's a story of someone about that old...hope these suggestions might be helpful. Regards, Cerulean

Melvis	10 Nov 2004
Lots of good suggestions already, but I wanted to point out the book "Tarot and Psychology" by Arthur Rosengarten. It tells about the different ways Dr. Rosengarten has used tarot in his practice, and how tarot compares to various psychological schools of thought. One story in particular from his book was about a man coming to him for therapy who was dying of Aids. As the man's health deteriorated, Dr. Rosengarten had the man go through the deck of cards and pull out cards that made him feel happy and put them in a pile. Then he had the man pull cards that made him sad, etc. They talked at length about the cards and the man's feelings and the memories they stirred up. This process ended up helping the man make peace with some of his memories. The second thing I wanted to mention was a reading I did for a friend of mine. We discussed most of the cards in the reading, but were stuck on one particular card. It was from the Bosch deck, and showed a man basically in the fetal position as if afraid. We just couldn't figure out who or what it was referring to. So I picked up the card and held it facing me. I turned it around quickly and held it up in front of her face. I asked her what's the first thing that popped into her mind when she saw the card. She said, "Oh my god, that's my dad!" And suddenly she figured out something about her dad that had been bothering her but had not found it's way to the surface yet. Good luck with your writing! It sounds like you have a wonderful start! :) Peace, Melvis :TSTRE

April	10 Nov 2004
seaofclouds wrote: I think I do remember seeing tv shows where people had fake repressed memories... ah, Law & Order, it's all coming back to me now ;) There was an episode of Law & Order: SVU last night dealing with this subject. It's about the only show I watch (sometimes as much as three times a night), and some day I will create the Law & Order Tarot. Anyway, a girl's therapist used "truth serum" to convince her that she had been raped by her father years before. The potential for implanted or false memories is pretty dangerous but if I don't see the harm if it's fiction. I also saw a L&O once where the prosecution used "truth serum" to help their case, so I guess the jury is still out (ha! I make myself laugh!). It might be helpful if after the memory was uncovered your character could find some evidence to prove that it actually happened. I like Alissa's idea about the past life reading. Dream interpretation might work, too. Something that is designed to explore the sub/unconcious. Let us all know when we can buy a copy. Peace, April

fairyhedgehog	11 Nov 2004
CharmingPixie wrote: I work for a counselling agency, so I have to follow their rules for practice. This means that I can not use tarot with my clients. I know what you mean, Charming Pixie. I would hesitate to use Tarot in my bereavement service counselling. But I use Gestalt counselling in my private practice (which sounds grander than it is: I see one client a week, usually :) ). I have the Whimsical Tarot available, and this week I had fanned out face down the Major Arcana from that deck. A client decided to look through the cards and choose one that seemed to be where they are at the moment. This is my first ever Tarot in counselling moment! About repressed memories, I agree with everything that Moongold says, except for not buying a novel! I don't look for realism in my reading, I look for escapism :)

The using tarot to recover repressed memories thread was originally posted on 08 Nov 2004 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.