The Tarot, a deck of seventy-eight cards, occupies a niche in Western mysticism and divination akin to that of the I Ching in the East. Long considered simply a superstitious system of “fortune telling,” the Tarot is largely ignored in academic circles and is often met with disdain in clinical circles. This is unfortunate, since the structure of the Tarot and its use in divination mirrors the structure and dynamics of the psyche as understood in Jungian psychology.
Among Jungians, the study of divination systems, such as the I Ching, Astrology, and the Tarot, is considered just another aspect of the study of the mind. Analytical Psychology’s consideration of these systems is predicated on Jung’s understanding of synchronicity. Events that occur in rapid succession or simultaneously in space/time can be understood not only through possible causal relationships, but also by investigating the meaning that arises in the psyche of the percipient when confronting these events. Divination systems, including the Tarot, may be thought of as means of invoking synchronicity, rather than waiting for synchronistic events to occur.