Tarot and Psychology Conference
    THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

    The human psyche is as fascinating as it is complex. Understanding it is a major goal of psychologists, as well as anyone engaged in self-inquiry. There are many approaches one can take, and many tools that can help. Tarot is one such tool that is gaining in popularity as a way to support and facilitate personal understanding. As Dr. Arthur Rosengarten wrote in his classic book, Tarot and Psychology: Spectrums of Possibility:

    “The Tarot is a remarkable collection of images and symbols that picture multidimensional themes of universal human experience. With a random series of cards properly interpreted in pre-designated positions (a spread), the intuitive observer will be surprised by the amazing subtlety and sophistication with which this method facilitates self-reflection, deep insight, and spiritual wisdom.

    Contrary to an habitual Western mental reflex, in practice the placing of supreme trust in the natural intelligence that collects momentarily around events awakens a unique, non-linear, mode of perception through what we respectfully call ‘sacred’ or ‘empowered’ randomness. Loosely speaking, this is what is meant by ‘divination’ and is how the Tarot method is set in motion. Yet for all the minor fascination this arcane tool has evoked in popular culture, the correct message has not been adequately communicated to those who would put Tarot to greatest use: helping professionals.

    For Tarot to evolve on any meaningful scale into the 21st century (and beyond) it must have a stronger application emphasis, utility, and accessibility, that is, it must speak compellingly to people's lives. In this regard, clinical usage would seem a natural context for a technique which, as we shall see, offers so many psychological opportunities and benefits.”

    In this ground-breaking event, we're bringing both the psychological and tarot communities together to explore some of tarot's possibilities and techniques for deep and effective personal understanding. There are three large and important questions that psychologists and readers at the conference would like to answer:

      Can tarot help in the psychotherapeutic process?
      Can psychology help in the process of a tarot reading?
      Do tarot and psychology have something important to teach each other?

    The answer to all these questions is a resounding YES!

    For psychologists, this conference will open the door to a whole world of surprisingly powerful and helpful theory and practice they may never have experienced before.

    For tarot readers, it will be the opportunity they have been waiting for to get a real introduction to the practical psychology they can use in their professional practice.


    Three Powerful Presentations


    The Psychology of Relationships in Tarot: The Journey of The Lovers

    Relationships and love are 'bread and butter' topics for Tarot readers. By looking at the dynamics of a client's upbringing, we can see patterns from the family as they show themselves in adult love relationships. We'll explore these patterns — what to ask and what cards to watch out for — as clients (and we) grapple with such questions as "Will he come back to me?", "Why do I keep picking losers?", etc.

    Some Tarot readers use counselling skills from their formal counselling profession, as well as from experience, intuition, life wisdom and spiritual connection — sometimes unconsciously. But even with qualifications and experience, readers may reach the limit of their skills in some circumstances, finding themselves frustrated by clients or feeling out of their depth.

    This presentation will offer additional skills for working with clients around relationship issues such as:

        Childhood and adult love
        Relationship patterns in clients
        Obsession, co-dependency
        Reclaiming self-love / managing inner 'wounds'

    We'll also consider when a client may be going beyond the limits of the practitioner's ability, and needs referral to a formal counsellor.

    In this session, we'll learn and practice Tarot spreads developed by Jenne, which make good use of a psychological approach, and can help us navigate the complex 'waters' of clients, Tarot and relationships..


    Rev. Jenne Perlstein Rev. Jenne Perlstein MBBS (Medical Degree), BSW (Social Work) AASW (Accred) ,Cert IV TAE, Prof Member Tarot Guild Australia, Cert Appl Astrology, CMC (Celebrant), Grad OSIS

    Tarot reader, astrologer and counsellor, Jenne Perlstein, combines her conventional counselling practice with the spiritual and esoteric, “aiming for balance and integration of the psyche and soul” by bringing the unconscious into the light. Jenne integrates clinical and educative experience as a Social Worker (29 years) with knowledge of Medicine, and a passion for the esoteric and psycho-spiritual.

    Jenne has been in professional practice with Tarot for over 20 years and has extensively studied Jungian psychology, Wicca, Judaism, Kabbalah, Buddhism, Christianity and other spiritual traditions. Jenne is a Professionally Accredited Tarot Reader since 1995 with the Tarot Guild of Australia, and an Astrologer, having studied at the Chiron Centre in Melbourne from 1997 to 2000, including Advanced Astrology subjects. She recently graduated from the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in New York as an Interspiritual Minister. Jenne offers Tarot/ Astro psycho-spiritual counselling using a variety of counselling frameworks including psycho- dynamic, Cognitive and Person-centred.

    Jenne has presented on Tarot and Gestalt at the Tarot Guild of Australia, and was also a featured speaker at its conference in 2013. On several occasions, she's presented at the Victorian Astrological Association. She has written articles in the TGA's Magician, and teaches courses on Counselling and Mental Health for Tarot Readers, The Secret Ingredients of Relationship readings, and Difficult Clients, via Global Spiritual studies and in live seminars in Melbourne Australia. Jenne has been a guest blogger about Tarot Counselling with Biddy Tarot and has been interviewed on USA Tarot Radio by Kooch Daniels and 'Psychic Access Talk Radio' New York.

    Contact:
    Email: enneperl@gmail.com
    Website: www.tarotastrocounselling.com.au



    What's Up? Where to Begin? Try the Tetragrammaton.

    Clarity and awareness of an issue is half the problem solved. One of the Tarot's finest uses is as a mirror of our inner process. The Tarot reflects us back to ourselves so that we may use any feeling or event as an opportunity for centering, growth and evolution. Our feelings are our emotional weather barometer. They let us know when something is amiss, but we may need to look deeper to see find the root of those feelings. The Tarot is the perfect vehicle to show us where our work on ourselves is needed. It allows for a deeper view of ourselves, reveling where our strengths lie, as well as our weakness, areas of fear and denial.

    With our thoughts we make our world, said the Buddha. Christ echoed this when he declared, “As a man (or woman) thinketh in his heart, so shall he be.” Behind every feeling we have is always a belief system; thoughts about ourselves, judgments on how we are, or think we ought to be. Some of these may be very old, and so ingrained that they are swift and subtle. Some are only in passing. Yet their effect is so powerful that it affects our entire experience of life. Seeing our inner identification process can open a level of awareness that leads to healing. We are allowed to change our mind the moment it becomes clear.

    At any given moment, we are functioning on three levels of consciousness simultaneously. This is called Triune Consciousness, and is reflected in the Major Arcana card, The Lovers, (ruled by Gemini) that superb mandala depicting how the mind operates. The three figures in the Lovers, the Angel, Man and Woman represent The Super-conscious (Angel), Self-conscious (Man), and Sub-Conscious (Woman) aspects of the mind.

    In this session we will discuss these Three Levels of Consciousness, the process of Identification, and learn a simple, yet profound, four-card Kabbalistic layout, The Tetragrammaton, that enables the Tarot to show you the inner workings of your heart (Sub-conscious), mind ( Self-conscious) and soul, (Super-conscious). The Tetragrammaton gives us a picture of the current state of our being and revels the meaning of the lesson we are encountering in any situation. We can use this layout for helping others therapeutically, or for self-therapy.

    The Rider-Waite Deck will be used as the basis of discussion, but the material can be applied to any favorite deck.


    Ellen Goldberg Ellen Goldberg is both a psychotherapist and a mystic. In her own journey towards wholeness she has investigated many paths, and this has made her a rich resource for others. Ellen has been a long time student of both Eastern and Western spiritual philosophies, including Buddhism, the Tao, Kabbalah, the Western Hermetic Tradition, Spiritual Alchemy, Nature, Mindfulness Meditation, and the mystic sciences of Palmistry, Tarot and Astrology. She's combined these studies with years of psychotherapy, meditation, psychic development and contemplation, and loves giving readings that combine all the mystic arts.

    Ellen's counseling work began as a Social Worker for NY State Family Services in 1968. She has worked as a counselor for over 40 years. After achieving an M.A in Psychology (Goddard College, 1985), she opened her private therapy practice, evolving a synthesis of her psychological, spiritual and philosophical studies.

    For over 26 years Ellen has been part of the faculty at the New York Open Center, teaching Tarot and the Western Hermetic Tradition. She's also been teaching Palmistry for over 35 years, both privately and at the School of Oracles. Her book, The Art and Science of Hand Reading: Classical Methods for Self-Discovery through Palmistry has been recently published by Inner Traditions.

    In addition, Ellen has presented at the Open Center Esoteric Quest Conferences in Granada, Spain; Prague and Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic; Florence, Italy; and in Weimar, Germany. She was the first exchange teacher sent by the N.Y. Open Center to Prague, after the iron curtain lifted, to teach an intensive class in Tarot and Hermeticism at their new holistic center.

    Contact:
    Websites:
    http://www.schooloforacles.com
    http://www.wisewomantherapist.com





    The Two Wings of a Bird: An Integrative Approach to Resolving Polarities

    It is common, and self-evidently reasonable, to seek out and accentuate what we feel to be positive in our lives. What we think of or experience as negative is generally consigned to the wasteland of the ignored, suppressed and rejected. This workshop will use the special qualities of tarot to demonstrate the principle that literally all experience, and all of our responses to it, modify the shape and unfolding of our essential selves.

    What each of us likes best and least in our lives and ourselves can be readily discovered with a simple, effective tarot technique. Then the wasteland becomes unexpectedly and suddenly fertile. The best and worst in our inner and outer lives becomes a single, simultaneous force for moving each of us consciously where we need and want to go.

    Tarot is unique as a tool for rapid discovery and resolution of our deepest issues. Taught by Ruth Ann & Wald Amberstone, who are well-known for their work in Tarot Psychology, and by Dr. Elinor Greenberg, world renowned for her expertise in personality disorders, this hands-on workshop will be an example of the special value of tarot in the therapeutic process.


    Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone Ruth Ann & Wald Amberstone are co-founders of The Tarot School which they began in 1995. Together they teach, write, speak and publish about tarot on all levels from divination to psychology to esotericism and magical practice. They are perpetual pioneers of new tarot techniques and remain lifelong tarot students.

    They are authors of The Secret Language of Tarot (Weiser) and Tarot Tips: 78 Practical Techniques to Enhance Your Tarot Reading Skills (Llewellyn). Articles by the Amberstones have also been published in most of Llewellyn's Tarot Reader almanacs. Their Tarot School Correspondence Course and many audio courses have been enjoyed by students all over the world.

    Tarot psychology has been and remains for the Amberstones an original investigation into magical self-awareness that has spanned many decades and been taught continuously in telecourses, in live intensives, and at Readers Studio.

    Ruth Ann & Wald also wrote poetic card interpretations included in Gateway to the Divine Tarot, the book accompanying Ciro Marchetti's Legacy of the Divine Tarot. They worked with Schiffer Publishing to bring The High Deck into the world — the symbolic system and set of cards created by Wald's father, Arthur Amberstone, in the 1950s. They also created Tarot of the Name, an alchemical and intuitive deck.

    The Amberstones have taught numerous workshops at tarot conferences nationwide, as well as producing continuously successful tarot events of their own. The New York Tarot Festival, presented in June 2002, was the first international tarot symposium to be held on the East Coast. The Readers Studio, which the Amberstones began producing in 2003, is an annual tarot conference providing cutting-edge practical techniques to intermediate and advanced students, professional readers, teachers and authors.

    Contact:
    Email: tarot@tarotschool.com
    Website:
    http://www.tarotschool.com/



    Dr. Elinor Greenberg Elinor Greenberg, PhD, CGP, CPTR is a licensed psychologist and Gestalt therapist in private practice in New York City. Dr. Greenberg is an internationally renowned Gestalt therapy trainer who specializes in teaching the diagnosis and treatment of Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid disorders in a lively, practical, and easy to learn way. She has lectured on this topic in Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, and Mexico and next summer she will be presenting in Cardiff, Wales and York, England. Dr. Greenberg has been a featured speaker at many conferences, including the New Jersey American Psychological Association, the American Association for Gestalt Therapy, and the European Conference of Gestalt Therapy. She is a teaching member of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, adjunct faculty to the Gestalt Center (New York); and is on the editorial board of the Gestalt Review.

    In addition to her extensive Gestalt therapy credentials, Dr. Greenberg is also a graduate of and former faculty member of The Masterson Institute, a post-graduate training institute, where she taught and supervised students in a psychoanalytically-oriented Object Relations approach to the theory and treatment of personality disorders. She is also a certified Ericksonian hypnotherapist and is in the National Registry for Certified Group Psychotherapists. Her hobby is studying pre-psychoanalytic systems of personal growth.

    Dr. Greenberg is the author of numerous papers on the diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders, including: Healing the Borderline; Undoing the Shame Spiral: Working with a Narcissistic Client Trapped in a Self-Hating Depression; Love, Admiration, or Safety: A Gestalt Therapy System for the Diagnosis of Borderline, Narcissistic and Schizoid Adaptations; and The Many Faces of Narcissism. She is currently at work on her book, A Brief Guide to Borderline Adaptations.

    Dr. Greenberg has impressive tarot credentials as well. She has been studying tarot intensively since 1995 and has been Psychology Consultant to the Tarot School since 2002. She holds a Tarot School Third Degree and is also a Certified Professional Tarot Reader. She has been a featured presenter at two Readers Studio conferences, where she taught her own blend of tarot and psychotherapy that she calls “Tarot Counseling.” Her tarot articles include: “The Bad Cards”: Turning Straw into Gold; On Tarot and Psychotherapy; Tarot Counseling; How to Read a Querent's Nonverbal Behavior; The Elemental Array and Psychotherapy: How to Move a Card and Change Your Life; and Tarot Psychotherapy with the Birth Cards. Dr. Greenberg is a member of Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.).

    Contact:
    Email: elinorg@mac.com



    Cocktail Reception

    You are cordially invited to an after-conference cocktail reception, where you'll have a chance to meet the presenters and relax with the other attendees. There will be a cash bar, fruit and fresh veggies, cheeses, passed hors d'oeuvres — and of course, lots of lively conversation!



    Details, details… Attend the Tarot & Psychology Conference alone for $200 — or combine it with The Readers Studio and save $100!

    Look to the navigation bar on the left for answers to all your questions about practical matters such as the schedule, hotel, travel, costs (including our payment plan), and the 201 Readers Studio!


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