tarot

Psycho-Spiritual Development Group

~ claire ballardie

Psycho-spiritual awareness has both psychological and energietic qualities. We are often aware of our physical wellbeing and our mental capacity, but our energetic self needs care and development too. This course is to help you to develop as a sentient being- one who has a heightened sense of awareness, both of yourself and the world around you.

This development group is aimed at helping you to develop your intuition, to listen to your ‘gut feeling’, to help you to fine-tune the use of your senses. A useful course for CPD for practitioners/therapists, or for self-development.

This 4-week course of 2-hour sessions costs £20 per session and includes:

  • Grounding techniques
  • The body’s energy: chakras and the nervous system
  • Psychology of the senses (clairaudience, clairvoyance, clairsentience, claircognisance)
  • Psychometry
  • Visualisation
  • Intuitive Interpretation of Tarot cards
  • Dream analysis
  • Meditation

What is the Psyche?

The psyche, according to Carl Jung, consists of your conscious mind (ego), your unconscious mind, and the collective unconscious: shared experience with others.

The conscious mind (Ego) is about your sense of self, being aware of what you are thinking, remembering and feeling in the present.

The unconscious mind is about forgotten memories, experiences and emotions that impact on your responses to the world around you. However, you have no awareness of their effect on your reactions, mood, behaviour.

The collective unconscious is a shared experience with others, such as religion, symbolism, rituals.

Please be aware that being present in both mind and body is essential before exploring the body’s energy and sensitivity. 

If you are interested in this course, please contact me. Dates to be arranged once there is sufficient interest. This will be a small group, limited to 4-6 participants.

Tarot and Psychotherapy

~ claire ballardie

What are Tarot cards?

Tarot cards come in different decks. I use a popular set of cards by Rider Waite. Interpretation of the images can be useful in psychotherapy as a way  to explore unconscious thoughts. Interpretation of the cards helps you to understand how and why you react to situations in a certain way,  developing a sense of intuition, and self-awareness.

Carl Jung, was a pioneer in psychotherapy. He worked with myths and symbols, and the relevance of dreams as being a window into the unconscious mind.

How Tarot cards are used in therapy

 

The images on Tarot cards are symbolic, and their meaning can be interpreted in many ways.

As a psychotherapist, I work with you to see what the images and archetypes represent to you, how they make you feel.

For example, when looking at a tarot card closely, notice what you are first drawn to in the image- how does it make you feel? What does it bring to mind for you? There are more than one interpretation of the cards, with the ‘shadow side’ as relevant as the initial response to the image. The cards can be used individually, or interpreted as a spread, or small group. In therapy, we focus on making sense of what the cards mean to you.

Looking more closely at the chosen card, what does each thing represent, either in the past or present? Reading tarot cards is not about predicting the future, but to recognise elements about yourself, your thoughts and feelings around the images, and what they symbolise and mean to you at the moment.

What is an Archetype?

An archetype is a symbolic image that is derived from the past collective experience of humanity and is present in the unconscious mind of the individual, such as Gods or Goddesses, the image of a hermit, or a fool. An archetype may remind you of someone in your life, or an aspect of yourself. Exploring this archetype can help to see yourself, or other people, from a different perspective. Seeing both ‘sides’ of an image (shadow side), highlights both positive and negative straights, wither in ourselves, or as we see others..

Your personal development can get ‘stuck’ at any stage in your life. Using tarot cards in therapy can tap into unconscious processes, and help you to see things from a different perspective. This can help you to develop a sense of peace and control over aspects of your life, planning  a brighter future.

For more information about using Tarot cards in individual psychotherapy sessions or in small development groups, please contact me.