Therapeutic Tarot/Therapy: defn

[Master_Margarita]

Solitaire: If I understand correctly, your definition of therapy would be:

Therapy: "Psychological treatment by a trained (and licensed?) psychologist."

I'm not just asking you, Solitaire. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

I don't think that was a correct reading of Solitaire's definition. A "psychologist" is typically someone with a Ph.D. and who is licensed by (in the U.S. a state) to practice psychology. Here is an example from Washington state.

"Therapy" can certainly be provided by individuals with other credentials.

"Counseling" can be provided by individuals with still other credentials. In fact, in my jurisdiction I could obtain a license as a "registered counselor" basically by paying fifty bucks and taking an AIDS awareness seminar, which I could do online. My being an RC wouldn't qualify me to provide therapy, nor would my tarot and oracle reading skills.

Again to take an example from Washington state's Health Profession Quality Assurance office, they regulate three classes of treatment providers:

"License: The state grants permission to persons who meet predetermined qualifications to practice a specific health care provider profession. The qualifications for licensure are set by law and without a license, the practice of the specific health profession would be unlawful. The license protects the scope of practice and the health care provider’s title.

Certification: The state grants recognition to an individual who has met certain qualifications. The qualifications are set in law. A non-certified person may perform the same tasks, but may not use certified in their title.

Registration: The state maintains an official roster of names and addresses of the practitioners in a given profession and, if required, the location, nature and operation of the health care activity practiced."

To give you an example of the potential for confusion in this area, I would note that it appears that Doreen Virtue's website is very carefully written to avoid stating that she is a licensed psychologist in California. She says she is a "spiritual doctor of psychology" and "holds a Ph.D. degree[ ] in counseling psychology." In fact, when you look DV up at California's Psy Board credential search she was only ever licensed as a "psychological assistant" in the early 1990's and those registrations were cancelled long ago.

Not all the terms being used here are interchangeable and it is necessary to consider the terms used very carefully. One doesn't need to be a licensed psychologist to provide treatment to individuals, nor is a license an imprimatur of infallibility, but I am uneasy at the apparent thought that reading tarot is a psychological credential. I may be misreading the threads here however myself.

M_M~

 

[Aoife]

Despite being aware from past discussions that there's resistence from some in the tarot community to the notion of using therapeutic ideas and techniques, I have to say I'm astonished by the emotional response [mine and the posters] of some of what I've read.

I find it interesting that my therapist colleagues do not show anywhere near the same degree of resistence to tarot. Their unwillingness to use it seems to be born out of respect for the fact that tarot is more than its images, and the belief that it would take a great deal of time and effort to become competent in its use.

Conversely, some tarot readers are clearly already using therapeutic techniques, realising that there are no rules, beyond generally agreed ethics, and are willing to experiment in the belief that new ideas have something to offer both themselves and their querents.

I simply don't understand the degree of defensiveness I feel is being shown.

... are you suggesting that these outsiders not do what they feel called to do, but instead, step in line and act like other fortune-tellers do?

 

[Grizabella]

OK maybe I can make an analogy that will help.

I'm a grandmother raising grandchildren as a single parent. I raised four children as a single parent before these. What I do as a grandmother could be considered therapy on some scale. I think everyone would agree to that. But should I call myself a childrens' therapist then? No, because I'm not one in the formal sense. I can't go hang out my shingle and call myself a childrens' therapist. I'm a very intelligent woman who has educated herself extensively in a lot of fields including child psychology. But it's not a formal education. It's self-education with lots of motherly intuition, common sense and practical experience mixed in. I don't know what better "therapy" there could be for children and I wouldn't be afraid at all to be a mother/grandmother to further kids, knowing that my skills are very healing and nurturing for children including disturbed children and that I have a good education in the field. However, I can't call myself a "child therapist" because I don't have the credentials and I'd never presume to.

At this point, there are no credentials that would cover practicing psychological therapy by tarot readers. Therefore, I'm not in favor of trying to include therapy as one of the areas tarot readers should practice in.

I realize there's a sneer in the term "fortune teller/tarot reader" but I'm not ashamed to be seen as one. We have our place.

 

[Aoife]

I'm a grandmother raising grandchildren as a single parent. I raised four children as a single parent before these. What I do as a grandmother could be considered therapy on some scale. I think everyone would agree to that. But should I call myself a childrens' therapist then? No, because I'm not one in the formal sense. I can't go hang out my shingle and call myself a childrens' therapist. I'm a very intelligent woman who has educated herself extensively in a lot of fields including child psychology. But it's not a formal education. It's self-education with lots of motherly intuition, common sense and practical experience mixed in. I don't know what better "therapy" there could be for children and I wouldn't be afraid at all to be a mother/grandmother to further kids, knowing that my skills are very healing and nurturing for children including disturbed children and that I have a good education in the field. However, I can't call myself a "child therapist" because I don't have the credentials and I'd never presume to.

I agree, you are not a children's therapist. I would say you are a grandmother using therapeutic ideas and techniques. In much the same way, I would describe myself as a tarot reader who uses therapeutic ideas and techniques.

 

[Teheuti]

I would describe myself as a tarot reader who uses therapeutic ideas and techniques.

Me, too. And I also have been astounded by how many people feel that a tarot reader should not do this.

I wonder if it would help if we put up a big disclaimer that this Board IN NO WAY ADVOCATES TAROT READERS BEING CALLED THERAPISTS or there being an official field called tarot therapy unless it is being done by a licensed mental health professional.

Instead we seek discussions about and among:
1) mental health professionals who use or would like to use tarot in their practice.
2) tarot readers who use therapeutic ideas and techniques in their readings, but maintain boundaries between what they do and "therapy."
3) individuals who use therapeutic ideas and techniques in reading for themselves.

Would this serve?

Mary

 

[Teheuti]

The words Tarot + therapeutic or therapy appear in 438,000 places on the web.

Tarot + reader appears in 1,460,000 places.

However, "Tarot Reader" only appears in 284,000 places.

By itself, Tarot appears over 32 million times on the internet.

 

[Elven]

I think people who adamantly insist on trying to force tarot into the mold of "therapy" don't understand what harm could be done, or else they just don't care in their campaign to be able to tack the word "therapist" onto their titles.

I think the words Tarot Therapy sounds a bit ummmm .... dull , and its not something I think I would use on my card. I use Tarot Consultant ... thats my skill, thats what I do ...

Im not seeing any insistance though about trying to force Tarot into a specific mould, and I think thats a good thing, an approach I would like to explore - the breadth of what is possible with Tarot. We could explore Tarot and Cooking ...

I myself find the act of reading 'therapeutic', be it for myself or for others ... so I can see the corelation with those words and definition (as in my own definitions that is) ...

I do like exploring this topic (forum), as my readings have a psych flavour and aspect, maybe its the jargon I use, and the way I read the cards, and the elements which reach me from the reading of the cards, maybe its the cards I use, but its not a therapist's approach, its a readers approach ... it's self determining, and not under some banner of what some one else or organization determines ... and I have a responsibility - to my self and to the person I read for regarding what I do.

I also feel theres a difference in the approach depending on where you live as to reaction about this as well?
In Australia, its OK to be a reader - and where I live is a pretty Spiritual place (though there are those who see it as occult stuff) but on the whole, Its not illegal or notorious, Tarot readers and the Tarot are pretty well no-big-deal ... I dont feel as if Im going to get sued, or arrested ... tough I know this is not the casein some other places in the World.
Do you think this has a influence regarding this topic and forum? ... just a thought or a variable I thought might enter into this which might need consideration?

Cheers
Elven x

 

[mac22]

When I read the cards -- I draw on all that I am, all I have experienced, all I have lived, all that I have read, studied & absorbed.... across a WIDE array of subjects.

Now you can put it in various boxes with various labels on it but that doesn't change what I DO when I read the cards.

Mac22

 

[Verdi]

I think this sub forum is so good.
I have not been doing Tarot too long, a beginner in other words. But my journey so far has been in search after an all encompassing theory behind the tarot. A so powerful tool needs a sphere into which it fits. For some this is god or whatever. For me this is Jung and lately a transpersonal psychology. I cannot read fast enough (!)
It seems to me that Tarot is too good not to be used in a “therapy/consultant/coach” way for those of us that inclined. This of course has consequences, in so much as standards will be applied if not by the reader then by the public. Which leads us to define what we mean by Tarot Plus.

Verdi

 

[Teheuti]

When I read the cards -- I draw on all that I am, all I have experienced, all I have lived, all that I have read, studied & absorbed.... across a WIDE array of subjects.

This is exactly what I do and how I feel about it, thank you! I don't want someone else limiting what I do in any way. It's the main reason why I never completed my psychology phd—I didn't want to be held to some standard by the pscyhological community or state licensing board for the way I work with tarot (and I have friends who do both that do feel very restricted). I equally don't want any group to restrict tarot in this way. I hold myself to a standard of ethics that I created myself but that is not that different from what you'd find elsewhere. I have also set boundaries for what I do—but these are based on what actually works for the benefit of my client pool.

Mary