What is Holistic Tarot?

Benebell Wen gives us a guided tour of the history of Tarot and it’s many uses in her new book Holistic Tarot: An Integrative Approach to Using Tarot for Personal Growth.

This Tarot book comes with a twist, however.

Unlike many practitioners, in Holistic Tarot – – Benebell Wen offers us an insight into a different methodology and use for Tarot than the commonly understood norm.  She states that

‘Tarot should not be used to predict the future’

and that a way to progress with modern spiritual psychoanalytical practice is to choose the frame of ‘Tarot analytics’ – as she says…

I do not support fortune-telling and I do not believe in future-telling.  My approach to Tarot is not predictive.  It is analytic.  The signs and symbols of the cards facilitate retrieval of information from the unconscious and move it to the forefront of the conscious plane of the mind, which can then help us form creative solutions, present a different angle to a problem…or offer the breakthrough that allows us to move forward.

 

I call it “Tarot Analytics’

 

Tarot in its many forms originates from playing cards and then transmuted into spiritual tools

I’ve always been attracted to the Tarot and working with card spreads and Tarot books, my first deck being Aleister Crowley’s Tarot deck of Thoth…..I have always found it amazing that a sense of energy from the cards seems to attract them into readings…again and again with the same cards reappearing if one does several readings close together (not always recommended).

In recent years I’ve been much more drawn to Angel Cards, especially the work of Doreen Virtue.  These cards seem to resonate with many people who like the lighter energies attached to them.

Tarot and the Qi or Chi Theory – good Tarot is about energy patterns, not predictions

So how do we learn to use Tarot cards, or Holistic Tarot, to chart the waters of our Qi or energy?

Benebell’s chapter on the Theory of qi really helps me to understand this phenomenon more deeply….

Now I have always steered away from giving psychic readings which are predictive because they make me sweaty and uncomfortable.

How can I possibly tell somebody what their future holds? Premonitions for me pop in strangely and in odd ways…and sometimes take time to unpack, so how can I be truly effective in helping others with such an unpredictable gift?

This is why Akashic Records Readings are so powerful for myself and clients.  The Akashic work is a journey within to understand ourselves and our life journeys more deeply…in order to make decisions for ourselves – using our own inner wisdom, as deeply buried as it may be.  Tarot readings too can help us tap into our Inner Wisdom.

When we learn to use Tarot Cards to reflect our current energetic expression then true help can be sought from the cards.

The History of Tarot and an explanation of the cards

If you have a few Tarot books or are a Tarot beginner you will find Holistic Tarot to be a useful resource.  There are sections describing the history of Tarot cards in detail as well as reviews of psychological influences and background theories as to how Tarot readings actually work.

Tarot card spreads can help us tap into our unconscious energy patterns and hidden motivations…casting light on a way forward, rather than defining it at such.

You can use this book to help you decide on a Tarot card deck, learn to energize the card deck appropriately and gain an understanding of card meanings and the structure of the cards (Major and Minor Arcana)…even a guide to designing a form for recording information when giving readings for others.

This is the premise that Benebell Wen offers in her carefully researched tome Holistic Tarot

Tarot cards have been created over centuries using archetypes from our collective minds, spirits, consciousness, and archetypes.  We can mine these images, energies, and thoughts to more deeply understand ourselves and make better-informed decisions – for ourselves – using the 4 cylinders of mind, intuition, sense and collective memory.

That’s where ‘Tarot Analytics’ comes in. Instead of diverting our energy and focus to the future or perhaps reducing our energetic connection to a shopping list of wants and needs, we can learn to use (or re-use) the Tarot card decks to help us inquire within and discover what is happening at the deeper levels now, in our present minds.

My most effective Tarot card spreads for myself have always been those which relate to my current circumstances, situation and difficulties.  From the clarification of these issues, I can choose to take steps to move in the to the future more effectively, rather than to create a number of self-fulfilling prophecies which may seem helpful in the short-term because they make me feel better.  In the long-term however…are they truly helpful?

Holistic Tarot gives us an opportunity to dig deeper into the benefits that Tarot cards can offer…also giving us a chance to side-step some of the more common pitfalls associated with predictive reasoning and creating a deeper energetic connection with our intuition and inner wisdom instead.

To learn more about Benebell Wen read her bio here.

Benebell also writes a Holistic Tarot blog and you can catch her on Twitter here.

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