Dreams and
Tarot: Innovative Approach to DreamWork and Depth Therapy
Lauren Z. Schneider, MA, MFT,
is a psychotherapist who integrates family systems, dream therapy
and her pioneering method, “Tarotpy” in private practice. She
supervises dream and “Tarotpy” groups for training therapists and
laypeople and lectures throughout Southern California; graduated
Phi Beta Kappa from U. C., Berkeley; and is certified in “Advanced
DreamTending”, Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Abstract
“There were considered to be
three worlds: the world of matter below, the world of spirit
above, and the world of image in between – each realm entirely
real…. Today I see the prototype of this intermediate realm in the
world of dreaming.” Robert Bosnak
This psychotherapeutic method
called Tarotpy® utilizes the rich symbolic imagery of Tarot, Dream
Cards, Soul Cards, and other representational images to actively
engage deeper unconscious processes and lay the imaginal world out
on the table. Strephon Kaplan Williams, the renowned Jungian
therapist, created the Dream Cards for this purpose: to understand
“symbolism, dreams and the application of dreams to life. [It
will] help you create strong bonds between dreaming and waking
consciousness.” Using this method of Tarot Therapy, the archetypal
patterns, psychological and interpersonal dynamics that influence
our life come into clearer view.
Tarotpy® enhances dreamwork and
visa versa. I use Tarotpy® with a client to contemplate and bring
further insight to a specific night dream; or to stimulate
imagination and insight that may be otherwise blocked in some
clients – for instance, with those clients who do not remember
their dreams. Often, I find that a Tarotpy® session will be
followed by reports of more vivid dreaming. These archetypal
symbols represent a universal language of imagery, which is
cross-cultural, perhaps birthed from the same collective and
psychic pool from which emerges the dream. In her book, Jung and
the Tarot, Sallie Nichols states that “these old cards were
conceived deep in the guts of human experience, at the most
profound level of the human psyche…Studying a specific card seems
to unlock hidden stores of creative imagination so that sudden
insights and ideas can burst forth into consciousness – seemingly
from nowhere.”
As
with dream work, the core principal of Tarotpy® embodies a
profound respect for the inherent wisdom, creativity and wholeness
of the psyche. Unlike traditional Tarot readings in which there
are set formats and definitions, this method is a hands-on
interactive process with the client: I carefully attend to the
individual’s verbal and non-verbal cues as the client selects the
deck, the number of cards, the form and name of each placement. On
the one hand, the therapeutic use of Tarot cards is a highly
effective projective tool or Rorschach, for assessment and
exploration. This simple method relaxes the vigilant ego and
provides a safe and effective medium to discuss issues, often
revealing the client’s deeper concerns and truth without engaging
resistance. The metaphoric imagery creates a bridge for
unconscious material and intuition to flow between client and
therapist. On the other end of the spectrum, there seems to be an
unconscious mastermind at play in the “random” selection of a
specific deck and particular imagery. Like the genius of the
dream, it appears more intentional than random to bring into
consciousness information about relationships, our environment and
ourselves that is vital to emotional, physical or spiritual
growth.
