The Tarot Deck - Part 3 - A Jungian Approach to the Major Arcana

...”You and I are multi-faceted people.

The Tarot cards mirror aspects of our

personalities that require contemplation,

interpretation and understanding...”  C. G. Jung

Carl Gustav Jung worked for six years with Sigmund Freud. They had much in common, but over the six years it became clear to Jung that Freud's approach to Psychoanalysis was lacking something. This something was a recognition of the mystical, the spiritual and the occult influences over the lives of human beings. With this difference of opinions the two men parted company.

Jung studied many of the World's major religions and esoteric paths and drew much from them. He adopted the use of Mandalas as a means of expressing the 'Self'. He used these daily for his own purposes and also encouraged his patients to do the same.

Additionally, Jung made use of the Tarot deck in therapy (interestingly, Freud did the same). The Jungian approach to the use of tarot can be applied to varying degrees, from a metaphorical application of the images of the Major Arcana to events in the patient's life all the way through to the use of the full 78 cards to analyse aspects of a person's situation down to a fine degree of detail. 

This variety of approaches also spans the range from the purely Therapeutic to the Mystical. I shall be exploring simple uses of the Major Arcana in therapeutic scenarios... but there are many sources through which you can explore the deeper applications of Jungian analyses to the Tarot. I would recommend the Jungian Tarot trilogy by Robert Wang (all available on Amazon):

1. Tarot Psychology
2. The Jungian Tarot and its Archetypal Imagery
3. Perfect Tarot Divination :Through Astrology, Kabbalah and Principles of Jungian Interpretation

 ...and also his book 'The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy' (although this is well outside the price-range of the casual researcher!).

There is also a Jungian Deck which you might be interested in (click here). The designs are specifically structured to complement the books by Robert Wang.

I shall be using the standard Rider-Waite deck throughout, as this is by far the most popular deck in the English-speaking World.

A Qabalistc approach to the Major Arcana would segment the 22 cards into the 4 stages of life as follows:

In fact, there is no reason why you cannot use this approach in combination with a Jungian analysis if it suits you...

However, the purer Jungian approach aligns the Major Arcana differently as shown below:

This reflects the levels of Consciousness proposed by Jung. The Conscious is, as it suggests, the part of ourselves of which we are conscious. The Unconscious is the area that we sublimate, but which still relates to us as an individual. The Collective Unconscious is the shared racial memory which includes the 'Archetypes' that Jung proposed were universally embedded in all people of all societies as a sort of set of templates which are then populated by our own experiences.

You may decide to use either of these approaches on different occasions... or try them out to see what suits you and your Client. Or, indeed you may choose not to use either, but to use the Major Arcana in a less structured and more intuitive way (my personal preference!).

Whatever you decide... the analysis of these beautiful images as metaphors for stages of the Fool's Journey will no doubt charm you... and allow your Client to discuss their issues in a dissociated manner.

I will now discuss each of the cards in the Major Arcana briefly and then explain how you might use them in a therapeutic setting...