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TAROT SHADOW WORK |
TAROT SHADOW WORK by Christine Jette
a review by Errol McLendon, CPTR
One of the most difficult elements of reading for oneself is to remain unbiased and to be open to both the positive and the negative. In her new book, "Tarot Shadow Work", Christine Jette doesn't just attempt to push the reader toward accepting the negative aspects of themselves; she suggests that it is best to approach the negative areas of your personality head on and actively work to accept and change them. She proposes that the Tarot can reveal shadow areas that we keep hidden from our conscious self in the form of challenges and gifts. Challenges are negative aspects we keep hidden from ourselves and gifts are areas we may not have developed for a number of reasons we may be hesitant to admit.
Her process takes the reader through four six-card star spreads in order to identify the shadow area and work through accepting it and integrating it into your life. The process uses only the 22 Major Arcana cards since the transitions we are trying to allow to happen in ourselves are of major consequence. I also found that in working through the exercises, it is nice to see the special connections which occur as certain cards resurface through the four spreads, something less likely to happen if using all 78 cards. This step-by-step process has been well thought out and documented in the material that accompanies these spreads; and Ms. Jette writes in a down-to-earth style, peppering what could have been a very stilted subject with humor and common sense advice.
The final segment of the book examines each Major Arcana card from the perspectives of challenges and gifts. Each card offers enough diverse meanings under both areas to allow for a wide range of personalized interpretation. Following these interpretations are a list of contacts for specialized help and counseling plus an excellent reading list which touches on both technical topics related to Tarot and topics related to areas of personal healing which may be revealed in working through the book.
Since this book focuses on opening up areas of the personal psyche which have been ignored or denied for some time, great care should be taken when stepping into the exploration of this book; and this program should never be used with a client, unless you are a professional counselor. Even Ms. Jette offers a ten question self-test to take before you begin the program to see if a professional counselor may be needed instead of the shadow work process offered in her book. The book takes a very careful and slow baby step approach to identifying the shadow areas, recovering from this darkness, learning from the shadows and growing from the experience. Through ritual, journaling , grounding, centering and meditation, the author keeps the reading in a constant self-monitoring mode.
This book is a deceptively quick read; however, to truly implement the program into your life could easily involve several years. Thank you Christine Jette for taking some very complex psychological concepts and feeding them to us in an easy-to-understand format. Her early discussion of Carl Jung under the heading of "Why Bring Up a Dead Psychiatrist?" immediately set the tone of the book and let me know that here was a person who could finally unravel some of the Jungian theory. She did a wonderful job of it and I went on to read the book in one sitting. I have since gone back and "chewed on" the information by enjoying two more readings and I am currently half way through my first practical shadow work for myself. It has been a truly liberating experience and cheaper than therapy.
"Tarot Shadow Work" (ISBN 1-56718-408-1)
is a new offering by Llewellyn Publications in St. Paul, Minnesota. This
information packed book offers a guided system for clearing out that subconscious
closet we all have. This is one of the finest examples I have seen of
using the Tarot as more than a one-way informational tool. This is a book
that I will personally work through many times as I continue to clean
out my psychological closet.
"TAROT SHADOW WORK ",
by Christine Jette
© Llewellyn Publications
Images used by kind permission from Llewellyn
Publications.