Tarot cards are traditionally used in divination, yet can be employed in coaching to invite mindful exploration. Shirley Attenborough and Rachel Hope explain how Coaching with Tarot works
Coaching with Tarot is an intuitive tool that can open a communication channel between conscious and subconscious feelings and beliefs, enabling both the coach and the client to collaborate more deeply.
As Carl Jung (1981) wrote, “It seems as if the set of pictures in the Tarot cards were distantly descended from the archetypes of transformation.”
Background
Tarot cards, traditionally used to ‘predict’ future outcomes are being used as a coaching tool.
Coaching with the Tarot deck of cards offers a unique approach that enables clients to uncover previously unreachable knowledge and feelings about their situation and assists them to tap into their inner guide and intuition. The Tarot deck can also be used to support and be part of a wide range of other coaching frameworks. The selection of these richly symbolic cards are well recognised for their ability to reflect real life situations and add a deeper layer to the coaching experience. When a card is drawn, its symbols and archetypes become catalysts, prompting clients to explore facets of their professional and personal lives.
Tarot cards also serve as a unique and effective method for facilitating breakthroughs and transformations offering new perspectives on personal and leadership challenges and opportunities.
The tarot deck
All 78 cards in the tarot deck reflects a map of universal human experience.
The 22 Major Arcana Archetypal cards represent a personal developmental journey, illuminating the stages of psychological development of becoming whole in order to reach one’s full potential and to achieve specific goals.
The remaining 56 Minor Arcana cards are traditionally broken down into four suits – Swords (Thoughts), Cups (Emotions), Wands (Behaviours) and Pentacles (Situations) – representing our internal and external concepts and beliefs.
Like traditional playing cards, the four suits have a numerological value ≠ Ace to 10 – adding more symbols and creating further nuances. For example, a deeper knowledge of these cards reveals how the numbers can represent the stage a client has arrived at on their journey towards their goal.
This information can be used to explore further possibilities for growth and achievement of their outcomes.
How it Works
The blend of the two approaches of coaching and tarot change the dynamics of a session in the
following ways:
- Changing the modality of communication by adding imagery to verbal discourse
- Collaboration between the coach, client and cards, adds a third dimension to the session, allowing the card(s) to be the focus, enabling the client to go deeper and ‘get out of their head’
- Focusing on the card enables the client to separate themselves from the problem as opposed to seeing themselves as the problem, giving them fresh perspectives
In Figure 1, the Tarot deck maps onto a multitude of coaching frameworks. Here, we have used Grant’s (2000) House of Change model, which we have piloted across numerous coaching sessions.
Fig 1: The House of Change (Grant, 2000)
As mentioned previously, the four suits of the Tarot align with the overarching coaching process:
- Wands – behaviour/action
- Swords – thoughts/beliefs
- Cups – feelings & emotions
- Pentacles – practical elements, such as circumstances, tangible resources, finances
Tarot in a single coaching session
Using the ‘House of Change’ model, the client can design the behaviours, thoughts, feelings and situations to best attain their desired outcome/goal. Alignment of these four aspects (the four pillars of the house) along with solid foundations (the client’s values and beliefs*) are essential for reaching the specified goal.
*We’re assuming here that the client’s core values and beliefs (which underpin this model) will already have been elicited in a previous session or earlier time.
The process
1. Ask your client to state their goal
2. Then move around the model eliciting ideas on the thoughts, feelings, behaviours and situations that would be most helpful to achieve that goal
3. Ask your client to write a statement for each of the following:
- Behaviour (eg, What behaviours do you need/would help you to exhibit to do X?)
- Thoughts (eg, What are your thoughts around this currently?)
- Feelings/emotions (eg, When you think about X, how do you feel? How does this feeling help you to ….?)
- Situation/place (eg, What resources do you have to support you?)
4. After these initial discussions, take each area one by one and invite the client to pull a card from the four suits (Minor Arcana) and share their reactions to the imagery. Notice how this triggers further thinking and observations.
5. Questions to ask: How does this inform what you already know? What else do you know now?”
6. The client is then invited to hear the traditional meaning of the card to see if this offers further insights. Our experience has shown that by using only the model (without the cards), clients have struggled to come up with more than a couple of responses to the coach’s questions. When looking at the details in each card, the imagery helps them gain more meaningful clarity as they quickly go deeper.
7. Once the client has moved around the model and explored the four areas and checked alignment with their core values and beliefs, invite them to draw one final card from the Major Arcana (Archetypal Action cards). This one card can offer a major overview of the client’s goal and provide them with broader insights. This can then feed into their action plan and next steps as they move towards the final part of the coaching session.
Client breakthroughs: three examples
- The CEO: Negative behavioural patterns
A chief executive had been working for a while with his coach and recognised that as he was winding down and about to pass on the baton he felt a lack of purpose going forward. He’d been working on his work/life balance and pulled the Devil card. He’d never seen or used a Tarot deck before and quickly recognised himself. He said ‘That’s me, I’m my own worst enemy, getting in my own way through my own repeated behavioural patterns that don’t serve me anymore.’
- The team: Conflict resolution
A team leader, dealing with internal conflicts, drew the ‘Five of Swords’, symbolising conflict and tension. This prompted a candid discussion about the root causes of the team’s issues. This awareness paved the way for conflict resolution strategies, ultimately resulting in a harmonious, more collaborative team.
- Personal development: Self sabotage
A client was working towards a new career goal. She was frustrated because she never seemed able to take the next step to realise her goal. She pulled the Nine of Swords and recognised that her ‘monkey brain’ meant she was unable to think clearly, and had loads of negative self talk. As this was unpacked, and the traditional Tarot card meaning explored, she realised her low self esteem together with her negative self talk such as ‘I’m not good enough’ meant she was completely stuck.
It was an ‘AHA’ moment for her. After re-framing, and remembering what she’d achieved in the past, she was able to put an action plan together and took the first steps towards realising her goal.
Conclusion
The key to coaching using the tarot cards is that they unlock the door to transformational inner work, better enabling our clients to connect with their intuition and therefore make conscious deliberate changes and choices in their lives.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
- Shirley Attenborough is a master coach and fellow of The Association for Coaching.
- www.linkedin.com/in/shirleyattenborough
- shirleyattenborough@gmail.com
- Rachel Hope is a tarot therapist and runs workshops across the UK. info@tarocoach.com
References
- Grant, A. & Greene, J. (2001). Coach yourself. Momentum Press
- Jung, C. G. (1981). The Archetype and the Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. 9, Part 1, 2nd ed). Princeton University Press.
- Pollack, R. (1980). Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom. HarperCollins, UK