Psychiatrists have been using a number of techniques to probe the depths of a person’s psyche for quite some time. Some turned to the abstract forms floating inside inkblots while others embraced the subconscious connections derived from free word association.
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Anthony Louis of Orange favored something even older: tarot cards.
Louis began practice as a psychiatrist in 1975 and through his practice developed an interest in tarot cards as a form of active analysis with his patients.
“Basically, there are different ways to really look at the tarot cards, and one of them is in a very psychological manner,” Louis said.
He likens the images and meanings of the cards to the concepts of archetypes championed by Carl Jung, a contemporary of Sigmund Freud. Jung believed that certain symbols had an inherent, almost instinctual meaning, and could be useful in interpreting the meaning behind dreams.
The tarot itself dates back to the early 1400s. By the mid 1500s it was being used by fortune tellers and self-proclaimed psychics to divine people’s futures. The cards themselves depict images with associations not unlike Jung’s concepts of archetypes.
Louis said using the cards as a way to help draw out personal insights proved quite useful in his career. Over the decades he became so familiar with the cards he’s now written a book, Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Tarot, published by Llewellyn Publications.
The book is aimed at those who want to familiarize themselves with the tarot and how to spread and read the cards. Readers can discover religious and astrological associations as well as learn about tarot as a psychological and spiritual practice.
Louis considers the book somewhat of a reference manual.
“The purpose is really an overview of tarot; the history and where the ideas and concepts come from and how it is used today,” he said.
As far as finding his own symbolism and meaning within the cards, Louis said he thinks at this point in his life he most connects with “the Hermit.”
“It depicts an older man,” he said, joking that his own advancing age helps him relate.
Outside of psychiatry and tarot, Louis considers astrology to be his avocation and wrote a book on horary astrology in 1991. It was republished in 1996.
Horary astrology attempts to answer questions based on a horoscope constructed at the time the astrologer receives and understands the question.
To that end, Louis maintains an astrology blog at tonylouis.wordpress.com.
Amazon.com carries more than 15 books by Louis covering various topics from astrology to tarot, including Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Tarot. He’s also been published in American Astrology, The Mountain Astrologer and The Horary Practitioner.