Self-Help with Tarot Cards: EXSTATICA Tarot Guide

Tarot cards can be used for many purposes: fortune telling, esoteric, magic, alchemic, psychological, art, story telling, etc. And to find one’s life purpose. EXSTATICA focuses on this aspect of the Tarot: on identifying what matters for a person; expanding awareness about the spheres of cognition, emotion, behavior; aligning all these spheres to live a harmonic life.

This approach has illustrious precedents. For example, Carl Jung was aware of the power of Tarot cards as a psychological tool for individuation. To explore our unconscious, both personal and collective, and integrate different aspects of ourselves. He considered having his colleagues to test if using Tarot, I Ching, Alchemy, etc. all together would have lead a client to receive compatible messages from each of this methods. 

The Tarot book “EXSTATICA” brings a fresh perspective to the personal and transpersonal use of the Tarot for self-help. As a tool to explore how these spheres apply to us, EXSTATICA uses the Mantegna Tarot. Its 50 drawings were made during the Renaissance in Italy, and with the passing of time, they became cards. The first ten cards of the Mantegna Tarot belong to the Sphere of Behavior. The cards from 11 to 20, belong to the Sphere of Emotion. From 21 to 30, to the Sphere of Cognition. And the outer Sphere of Meaning includes the cards from 31 to 50. EXSTATICA has been authored by Shanti and Frank Ra. It is available at independent bookstores and online.

You do not need to buy a Mantegna Tarot deck to use this book. The Tarot cards are printed inside the book, on regular pages. If you like, you can cut them out, glue them to cardboard, and cut out each card. Back-pages were intentionally left blank, to ensure cards can be cut without affecting the text of the book.