The Mental Health Benefits of Incorporating Tarot Into Therapy Sessions

Written By Candis Green

Psychotherapy is a process of understanding, meaning-making, and feeling. At times, our experiences can feel so overwhelming that it can become difficult to express them solely through words — and this is why I love to reach for the tarot deck.

Tarot is a powerful psychotherapeutic tool that activates the brain’s right hemisphere processes of the intuitive and somatic, rather than the logical or rational processes of the left hemisphere. This is particularly helpful for those who have experienced trauma, which affects our neurological ability to feel and make sense of experience. In working with tarot, deep layers of the unconscious are unveiled, offering a valuable pathway towards healing and development.

When used in creative applications, tarot can illuminate understanding of self through its universal imagery, archetypes, and metaphors.

Tarot and the unconscious mind

The unconscious refers to actions, feelings, experiences, and thoughts that one is not fully aware of, but are nevertheless hugely influential to their current experience. Tarot takes takes the words spoken during a therapy session, often laden with unconscious meaning, and paints a rich picture worthy of deeper exploration.

First, we travel through the minor arcana — these are the cards that portray the four suits of the tarot and offer insight into our day-to-day activities, feelings, and goings-on. Then, we travel through the 22 cards of the major arcana which give voice to life’s universal experiences like struggle, discovery, celebration, death, and rebirth.

Making your own meaning

While the traditional card meanings can help orient us to the guidance they offer, I often encourage clients to throw those meanings more or less out the window and focus on a connection with their intuition when we pull cards during sessions. We so often look to external cues to tell us what we are feeling or should do in any given situation, but by using tarot cards as therapeutic tool, we are empowered to explore what the cards are bringing up for us in the here and now. Some questions worth exploring include:

  • What feelings are these cards bringing up for me?

  • Do I see myself anywhere in these cards?

  • Do the people in these cards remind me of anyone?

  • What do these cards make me want to do?

  • Do these cards remind me of anything in my life — experiences, dreams, wishes?

Suddenly, a new layer of meaning is available for exploration.

Tarot x Talk Therapy

In a session, I will pull tarot cards at a moment of curiosity or deeper inquiry for both of us, or I may invite you to pull your own cards to create a spread, or in other creative applications. Then, we will collaboratively explore what comes available into consciousnesses. The cards that are pulled will have a unique meaning for you within the context of your experience. Any way you interpret them is completely valid and holds deep meaning.

Interested in learning more?

Candis Green