The Moon & the Priestess: Accessing the Creative Unconscious with Tarot’s Archetypes (Hardcover) by Paull Blakeman

The Moon & The Priestess is an analysis of the Tarot deck through the lens of Jungian psychology, specifically Carl Jung’s theory of ‘Archetypes,’ and sets out a path for reimagining the Tarot to access the creative unconscious. Using and understanding Tarot’s archetypes allows you to work with unconscious material, opening your potential for personal and artistic development.

The author introduces the history of the Tarot deck and its evolution over the centuries, while spotlighting the Rider-Waite-Colman design on which this study is based. The author expands on Jungian Archetypes – what they are and how they are used – and their relationship to the Tarot cards, as well as a rationale for reading the deck in this way. The idea at the heart of the book is that Archetypes surface unconscious thoughts and feelings that can lead to artistic growth, self-knowledge, and a plan of action for the future.

The major section of the book covers the Tarot deck which is analysed from this perspective. Though there have been other studies of Tarot’s Archetypes, this book is unique in its analysis of the entire 78 card deck. With each card, the author discerns the archetype depicted, examines the rich symbolism of Colman’s design, offers examples of where this archetype appears in culture, and discovers what practical outcomes it can have on your creative life.

The book finishes with a guide on how to do a nine-card spread that best utilises storytelling through Archetypes, while the final chapter is a personal story of how the author used the Tarot to overcome artistic sterility, demonstrating how rich and powerful such readings can be.