They represent the outcome of a much more profound doctrine--a secret and  forbidden doctrine--a doctrine that was condemned from almost every pulpit in Christian Europe of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. . . .the cards were condemned from just about every church pulpit in the land as some sort of evil influence. Priests dubbed the set of Tarot cards "The Devil's Picture Book" and forbade their use for any purpose in most towns and villages.

Tarot Psychotherapy
The Tarot cards can also be used in conjunction with psychotherapy. Occultist Alfred Douglas describes some of the card's esoteric principles in The Tarot: The Origins, Meaning and Uses of the Cards. In his citation below, we can observe the potential use of the cards for many schools of psychology as well as the possible risks involved in Tarot meditation*. The potential for the Tarot deck to incorporate spiritistic contacts can also be seen via the Tarot characters "coming alive" in the consciousness through the personification of the "inner self" as a guardian angel and in the ritual "dismissing" of occult powers (cf., Inner Work*). We quote at length:

The Tarot cards display a powerful array of psychic images, and it can be surmised that they were used not only as teaching aids but as focal points of consciousness during individual meditation. . . .The twenty-two cards of the Tarot major arcana have been used extensively by Western occultists during the past century as an important part of their Qabalistic "Tree of Life" meditation system. . . .The aim of Tarot meditation is to project oneself in the imagination into each card in turn, exploring its imagery, getting the "feel" of its symbolism, uncovering its meaning in terms of one's own psychic structure. . . .Step in your imagination over the threshold of the card as if through an open door, and stand with the characters in their own world. . . .But gradually you will find that new ideas regarding the significance of the images appear in your mind. These may take the form of abstract thoughts which suggest fresh lines of enquiry. . .or the characters might move and perform various actions or even speak in which case you should listen and try to catch what is being said. Visualise the characters as strongly as you can. . . .It is important when you have finished your meditation that you "close down" properly. The powers which can be invoked during the visualisation process must be dismissed thoroughly before you return to everyday consciousness. . . .By building up a detailed account of your progress and discoveries over a period of weeks, months or even years you will gain a true and valuable insight into the inner significance of the mystical quest and its relevance to meditation not only has a harmonising and therapeutic effect, but can lead in time to what some mystics have called the Knowledge and Companionship of the Holy Guardian Angel, which is the living presence of the inner self.

Some writers actually view the Tarot as being a form of "esoteric psychology," and so it is not surprising many psychologists have turned to the cards as an alleged method to spur client self-insight. Angeles Arrien, Assistant Professor Anthropology at the New Age oriented California Institute of Integral Studies asserts, "Basically the tarot is an esoteric psychology, a science that symbolically represents through visual symbols a record of known possibilities of experience. . . .Currently, there is a resurgence of interest to use the tarot as a therapeutic and transformative tool. An effective therapeutic model utilizing the tarot could be devised by looking at esoteric-exoteric systems that have been developed by Eastern cultures."
The use of the Tarot in psychotherapy is also illustrated by Dr. Genie Z. Laborde, an authority on "Neuro Linguistic Programming" in charge of John Grinder's "Executive Excellence" program and an educator who received her Ph.D. in the controversial "confluent education" program from the University of California at Santa Barbara (See New Age Education*). She points out how easily "Psychological processes can be taught and illustrated using the images of the Tarot deck. The Tarot is used to elicit and dramatize the psychological process of projection, as evidence of a long tradition of archetypes and symbols which can evoke affect, and as visual examples of potential images available from the "undiscovered self," Carl Jung's phrase denoting the unconscious of the human psyche."
For example, she proceeds to incorporate insights from the Aleister Crowley Tarot deck, Freud's super-ego theory, Jung's archetypes, Fritz Perls' introjects and occultist Roberto Assagiolo's system of psychosynthesis.
Dr. Laborde has taught this Tarot "therapy" to numerous groups of individuals, including corporation presidents, school and university teachers, psychologists, stock brokers, editors and housewives--all of whom personally benefited from the sessions. She observes, "The more I worked with the Tarot the more convinced I became of its rich potential for evoking responses in my own unconscious and in the unconscious of my students."
In conclusion, when people freely dabble in Tarot magic and divination, or in other forms of the Turn the page