Running Head: Archetypal Journey

Archetypal Journey: The Tarot as a Toll for Self Reflection

Moniza Pereira Borges

ID number #149750192

COM111

Communicating Across Contexts

April 2, 2020

Prof. Prabha Sharma Sajan

Seneca
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Archetypal Journey: The Tarot as a Toll for Self Reflection

Oracular sanctuaries were numerous in antiquity and played an important role in the

formation of civilizations. The oracles were consulted for various purposes, whether to predict

the future, whether as an instrument to guide decisions. The Tarot is certainly one of the most

popular oracles in the contemporary world. Composed by 78 cards, the Tarot is subdivided into

two groups: 22 cards called Major Arcana (that include images such as The Magician,

Temperance, Wheel of Fortune, The Fool) and 56 cards called Minor Arcana (comprise four

suits – Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles). The word Arcana comes from Latin Arcanum,

which means Secret. Thus, Arcanum is a mystery whose knowledge is indispensable to

understand a certain group of facts, laws or principles. Despite being used as an instrument of

fortune-telling, the Tarot is a powerful tool of symbols for self-knowledge. Likewise, Tarot is a

system of representations of human potential, called archetypes. From images stamped on the

cards, we would be called upon to reflect on the virtues and troubles of our own existence. And,

from this reflection, lead to decisions more favorable to the development ourselves. In other

words, the study of Tarot certainly facilitates making conscious what is unconscious, and

consequently promoting the totality of our Being.

The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was the first to explore the

symbolism of the Tarot as a perfect correlation to the unconscious contents that exist in every

human being, regardless of race or culture, which he called Collective Unconscious. The

Collective Unconscious is constituted by Archetypes which are the common ideas shared by

humanity, regardless of creed or culture. According to Jung:

“The archetype is a force. It has an autonomy and it can suddenly seize you. It is the

biological organization of our mental functioning in the same way that our biological and
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psychological functions follow a model. Man has a model, a form that specifically makes

him a man and no man is born without this. We are profoundly unaware of these things

because through our senses we live outside ourselves. If man could look inside himself,

he would discover it. This aspect of human personality, repressed in the majority of cases

by virtue of its incompatibility with the image the individual has of himself, is not

composed solely of negative character features but also represents the whole of the

unconscious. It is, almost as a general rule, the first face by which the unconscious

introduces itself to the conscious mind. The better we understand the archetype, the

greater a role we play in its life and the stronger our grasp on its eternal and timeless

qualities (p. 928, 1997).”

For this reason, there are certain experiences that demonstrate the effects of the collective

unconscious more clearly than others. For example, the experience of love at first sight, or the

experience of déjà vu (the feeling of having previously been in the same situation) and the

immediate recognition of certain symbols and meanings of some myths, can be considered as a

conjunction of the external and internal reality of the collective unconscious. Other examples that

more fully illustrate the influence of the collective unconscious are the creative experiences

shared by artists and musicians of the world at all times, or the spiritual experiences of the

mystique of all religions, or the parallels of dreams, fantasies, mythologies, fairy tales and

literature.

Jung saw in the Tarot a rich expression of the collective unconscious. Like the other

oracles, he believed that Tarot descended from archetypes of transformation. Jung believed that

the pictures and symbols from the cards acted as a form of connection. In his words:
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“The original cards of the Tarot consist of the ordinary cards, the king, the queen, the

knight, the ace, etc. Only the figures are somewhat different. And besides, there are

twenty-one cards upon which are symbols, or pictures of symbolical situations. For

example, the symbol of the sun, or the symbol of the man hung up by the feet. Or the

tower struck by lightning, or the wheel of fortune, and so on. Those are sort of archetypal

ideas, of a differentiated nature. They mingle with the ordinary constituents of the flow of

the unconscious. And therefore, it is applicable for an intuitive method that has the

purpose of understanding the flow of life (p. 923, 1997).”

From his perspective, the tarot images become a reflection of our internal experience,

and, as we explore them, we begin to observe how they are expressed in our daily life, providing

guidance for the continuous regeneration of our existence. To demonstrate, Jodorowsky (2009)

points out that the Major Arcana have 2 series of 10 Arcana led by The Fool, which can be

considered the archetype of the initial energy, and closed by The World, which one can consider

the archetype of achievement.

Symbolically the Fool,

represents each one of us, traveling

throughout this world, going through

the other 21 arcana. The Fool

represents the archetype of the Pilgrim,

who begin his journey by an impulse

that comes from the soul, often without

knowing rationally where this journey

will take him, he just feels that he must Figure 1 Major Arcana, Rider Waite Tarot
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go. However, at the end of this journey, The Fool becomes wise and experienced, and it is about

this transformation that self-knowledge provides us.

In conclusion, the Tarot is not only an instrument of future-telling, but also a powerful

tool for self-knowledge. Jung saw in the symbols and myths present in the Tarot a rich

expression of the collective unconscious, a concept that he created to designate a kind of residual

content of all the experiences of humanity, updated by repetition over the years which are

represented for archetypes, such as the pilgrim, the maternal love, the impulse for war and

fascination for the divine. The characters, virtues and situations described in the cards indicates

important points of the human journey. allowing self-analysis and, consequently, the

regeneration of values and attitudes. See the oracle as a key to personal development is, first of

all, to trust that we can be guided wisely by the invisible - whether it be called God or Self.
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References

Jodorowsky, A., Costa, M., & Graham, J. E. (2009). The way of tarot: the spiritual teacher in the

cards. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books.

Jung, C. G., & Douglas, C. (1997). Visions: notes of the seminar given in 1930-1934 by C.G. Jung.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Jung, C. G., & Jaffé Aniela. (2013). Man and his symbols. Bowdon, Cheshire, England: Stellar

Classics.

Nichols, S., & Greer, M. K. (2019). Tarot and the archetypal journey: the Jungian path from

darkness to light. Newburyport, MA: Weiser Books, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.