Looking for a book on tarot and psychoanalysis

P.S. I don't think Rosengarten's _Tarot and Psychology_ is what you are looking for, although I admire what he's done to link the two. I can not recommend _Tarot and Dreams_. If you are familiar with dreamwork I think you'll find it sadly lacking.

Mary

Thanks for all the answers, everyone.

Teheuti said:

It sounds to me like you are looking for a book that would take you on a kind of deep inner journey into the Self.

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Yes, exactly.

Teheuti said:

The best way to accomplish this is to write the book that you are looking for - making sure that you do and write up as examples all the processes yourself (whether you use them in the final book or not).

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I've been thinking the same. The books I come across either seem too superficial or they seem to focus on a theoretical interpretation of the major arcana only, while I think I'd like to use the tarot in a broader and more personal approach. Tarot as just one aspect of working with archetypes and complexes. I'm not too fond of the general new age healing approach or elaborate esoteric structures like kabalah either. I guess I'm just an odd minority, as a scholarly philosopher committed to inner work, but maybe there's an interesting niche for me out there. Besides, writing seems to be my calling anyway...

Rosengarten: yes, I had the same impression, that it sounds like a very thorough and interesting book, but not exactly what I'm looking for right now.

Is it 'Tarot and Dream Interpretation' that you don't recommend? I don't know a lot about the practical side of dreamwork yet and was thinking about looking into that as well... Or are there better books on tarot and dreamwork around?

I think I'll just read more about inner work in general and try to find my own approach to using the tarot with it...

Mariana,

This article won’t “answer” your questions, you it may find it interesting:

http://www.schuelers.com/chaos/chaos7.htm


Also, are you familiar with Allan Hobson and Bob McCarley’s “synthesis-activation” theory of dreams. This is a neurodynamic approach, not Jungian. I find interesting how it resembles the way tarot works.

Best,

EE

Mariana said:

Is it 'Tarot and Dream Interpretation' that you don't recommend? I don't know a lot about the practical side of dreamwork yet and was thinking about looking into that as well... Or are there better books on tarot and dreamwork around?

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I don't recommend that particular book. Rachel Pollack and I use a technique that we first learned from Gail Fairfield's _Choice-Centered Tarot_ (now published under a different title, I believe?). Basically, you list the major dream images (scenes and figures) and draw a card for each one of them. Then use an open-ended brainstorming/associative process and/or dialoging, etc to work with this juxtaposition.

Besides doing this with a large number of groups, I did it myself on a regular basis when going through therapy (with a Jungian dream specialist). I'd bring a dream to my therapy session, then go to a coffeeshop afterwards and draw Tarot cards for the major elements of the dream and work more with them. Sometimes I'd bring a dream that I had already worked on to my therapy session. It was a very enlightening process.

I highly recommend the book _Inner Work_ by Robert Johnson, but there are lots of websites that list the major dreamwork techniques. Several of the techniques in _21 Ways_ are applicable - which was why I mentioned it earlier.

Enrique - thanks for the link to that article.

Mary

Thanks for the suggestions, both of you. I'll look into them.

I've only recently started reading books on inner work, although in a way I've been doing inner work on my own all my life. My background in psychoanalysis is mainly theoretical, as part of philosophy (esp. Freud and Lacan, Jung doesn't seem to be taken as seriously here - I'm familiar with the archetypes and other Jungian hypotheses mainly from my courses in literary theory).

The book by Robert Johnson has been recommended to me before, I understand it deals with dream work and active imagination? It looked like a general theoretical introduction though, or is it deeper than that?

Yes, I can see how 21 Ways would reflect Jungian techniques. Maybe I could use those exercises in a more general approach? Thanks for explaining your own dreamwork approach.

I'm afraid I have the mind of a scientist as well as the soul of a mystic, while unfortunately it's really hard to find books that nourish both. I get frustrated with inner healing type books for the lack of substance, depth and foundation, I often get frustrated with philosophy as well for the lack of internalisation and personal reflection, and I get frustrated with most tarot books for trying to fit other theories into the tarot structure instead of looking at tarot from a broader perspective. So I keep going back and forth between philosophy, literature, psychology, anthropology, mythology, tarot and other related things, trying to find the area where they overlap and taking that to greater depths.

Right now I think there are (too) many useful theories that I'm familiar with, but I want to go deeper. In a more than rational way, but without letting go of the rational foundation. So I'll just have to build my own approach, I guess...

I'll let you know when my book's finished.

Mariana said:

The book by Robert Johnson has been recommended to me before, I understand it deals with dream work and active imagination? It looked like a general theoretical introduction though, or is it deeper than that?

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It's a very practical book by someone with a lot of experience. As with anything, especially in the field of deep inner work, books are only guides and recommendations. There's nothing that replaces doing the work yourself. Some of the work can be done with others, since a group can intensify the experience, plus a good teacher will push you beyond your comfort zone and monitor your energy while you do the work. This should complement and enhance what you do on your own.

Writing a book is an excellent way to discover what you most want and need to learn.

Mary

Here is another essay you may find interesting, this time from a semiotic prespective:

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/french/as-sa/ASSA-No13/Article6en.html

Thanks again. I've bought the book, it wasn't too expensive. Yes, practical work is what I'm looking for. I don't think group work would be right for me at this moment, I would lose myself in other people's structures again, but I'll keep it in mind for later. Right now I think I need to lessen the external input and focus on going deep - with a few reliable books as guidelines and maybe a few people who can give feedback every once in a while.

I'll keep Nichols' book on my wishlist. I've also come across 'Meditations on the Tarot', which looked very fascinating, especially since I have some experience in christian contemplation. And I'm still looking for something more general on shadow work. Those books will keep me occupied during the summer I'm sure.

So thanks for answering my questions.