Welcome back to this series exploring the individual cards of the Tarot from a therapeutic perspective. These sessions are short and fun yet full of mystery, meditation and beauty. You don’t need to know anything about Tarot to attend these sessions, or to use Tarot with your clients – it’s enough to seek the Tarot’s wisdom.
This session's card is Justice. In traditional Tarot images, Lady Justice balances the scales. In the ancient Tarot de Marseille, she is the first figure in the Major Arcana sequence to look at us face-on. She seems to hold the power, and to know the truth. And yet, if we look very closely, we can see that she sometimes appears to be nudging the scales with her elbow, as if interfering with the natural process. What does the theme of Justice mean for you, and how might this card feel for a client if it were to appear in a therapeutic session? How does it feel to be looked square in the eye, or for someone else to be holding the scales of power in our lives? Where is balance needed for you at the moment? All this and more we will explore in today’s session.
You do not need to own a deck of tarot cards to attend this workshop, but if you have one, please bring it with you.
These sessions are standalone and open to everyone: you do not need to attend every session to benefit and it is fine to attend this session even if you don’t plan to attend others in this series. Please note, however, that these sessions focus specifically on the therapeutic teachings of one tarot card in particular. They do not go into detail about using cards as a therapeutic tool in a general sense, although some tips will be shared along the way. If that is what you are looking for, the recordings of Stephen’s four-part ‘Therapeutic Tarot Series’ can be obtained through Online Events at https://onlinevents.co.uk/presenter/stephen-mccabe/ref/1335/
More about this series
Tarot cards are used all over the world for a variety of reasons: divination, self-support, journaling, creativity, and more. In recent years, their powerful, archetypal images – which depict the human condition so powerfully – have become popular as a therapeutic tool, both for self-reflection and for use in professional therapeutic work.
The Tarot is a deck of cards which was probably created in the 15th Century in Italy. Initially used as a gaming device – or perhaps for personal contemplation – these mysterious cards quickly spread all over the world and eventually became associated with occult practices and divination.
The images of the tarot are imbued with archetypal images; they depict a human journey towards enlightenment – or perhaps, from a counselling perspective, a journey towards individuation or the actualising tendency. It has an uncanny ability to reflect important insights about our lives to us – but only if we are willing and open enough to work with it.
It doesn’t matter if you see this process as a spiritual one or a psychological one: Tarot has the power to heal, and that in itself is significant. The cards can represent experiences that words sometimes fail to capture, making them a powerful tool for expressing difficult feelings and experiences. It can also offer us fresh perspectives on our lives, helping us to break old habits, as well as being a wonderful tool for meditation and creative inspiration.
During this series, counsellor, eco-therapist and tarot reader Stephen McCabe will introduce a topic in tarot (either a deep-dive into one card, or an approach to reading tarot therapeutically). We will explore ways of interpreting the cards in open, person-centred ways for ourselves or for others.
Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event
- To learn how this card might be worked with therapeutically
- To explore tarot as a tool for meditation
- To learn about the history and symbolism of this Tarot card
Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?
- This workshop is appropriate for everyone with an interest in Tarot; experts and beginners alike, as well as those who use Tarot professionally.
How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?
- The workshop aims to help you feel confident working with this particular card in therapeutic tarot sessions, and to understand it more deeply for your personal Tarot practice.
Here are some online Tarot decks, which you might find helpful to use in the session if you don't have your own deck.
- Osho Zen Tarot: https://tarotx.net/tarot-card-meanings/osho-zen-tarot/
- Marseille Tarot: https://www.flickr.com/photos/laird_of_kiloran/albums/72157627768980749/
Course Content
Presenter
Stephen McCabe is an ecotherapist, tarot reader, counsellor and ordained Zen Buddhist. His work includes tutoring for the Ten Directions ecotherapy training programme, facilitating nature groups in Scotland, Tarot Therapy work and running wellbeing groups based on myth and folklore. He is currently working on his first (nature-infused) novel.
