Messages from the Archetypes is Toni Gilbert's revealing study of how to use Tarot as a therapeutic method and means for self-realization, utilizing well-known principles from transpersonal psychology. Using case studies and fully illustrated descriptions of the Tarot deck, Gilbert offers a profound guidebook for personal and professional use.
Excerpt From the Book Excerpt from "Chapter 7: Tarot Case Stories Guidelines at a Glance"
Getting Started
1. Work with the cards at a personal level gaining knowledge and insights about your traits and behaviors as you see them mirrored in the cards. 2. Search for a mentor with your values and ideals. 3. Remember that the archetypal imagery of the cards represent the universal laws that we experience as thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
a. Cups or Water represent feelings, heart, or emotions. b. Wands or Fire represent will, activity, and intuition. c. Swords or Clouds represent the mind or intellect. d. Pentacles or Earth represent the body or the material world.
4. Look for imagery on the cards that resonates with you. 5. Become familiar with the levels of each archetype by identifying them in yourself. 6. Be able to visualize each image, so you will be able to guide clients in this kind of exercise.
Endorsements In Messages from the Archetypes, Toni Gilbert defines the meeting point between modern medicine and Tarot with enlightening results. Balancing her intuition and intellect against her solid grounding in holistic nursing, she shows us how the traditional imagery of Tarot can spark interior associations leading to new realms of meaning and healing for both client and practitioner.
— Christine Payne-Towler, author of The Underground Stream: Esoteric Tarot Revealed
For those not familiar with the Tarot archetypes, Toni Gilbert's descriptive writing makes them easy to understand. She lends credibility to Tarot's capacity to reveal emotional and psychological information from the level of the psyche. Her real life stories are alive and insightful.
— Susan Ezra, RN, HNC, founder of Beyond Ordinary Nursing