1.4. Magik as social psychology

1.4.1. The big question: Is there anything in it? Some might decry divinatory systems as being nonsense. However, a modern approach of psychology is taken in assessing what it is that is in the Tarot. This psychological view aligns with information science and is focused on the benefits that the Tarot can practically provide.

1.4.2. Systems reasoning. Fundimentally, humans are complexed, living, information processing systems, which gives rise to theories of mind and the psychology thereof. Our minds can be considered in terms of attemspts to meet our needs and solve problems presented by life. A compartmental model of the mind and its systems, is presented to modernise and repurpose older occult systems such as the Tarot.

1.4.3. Altered states of conscousness. Hypnosis and trance are much maligned words, and very much prone to common misunderstanding. They are very much connected to our mental lifes: psychology, communication, imagination and thinking, and are essential to our everyday experiences. The preferred term, however, is that of an altered state of consiousness, which denotes dynamics and change. Much of what constitutes the pre-modern understanding of magik and religion can be recognised now as altered states. Tarot, in a sense, overlaps with what we think of a hypnotherapy.

1.4.4. Metaphysics of the Occult. Revising pre-modern understanding of magik and the occult, in the light of science, systems theory and psychology, requires an understanding of how the occult was previously conceptualised. The Tarot and its major and minor archana, particularly employ alchemaic and esoteric symbolism and the language of dreams and altered states of consiousness. Modern approaches to magik can be correlated with the modes of psychotherapy – especially that of Ericsonian hypnotherapy.