Thoughts and Musings

I read Tarot for years before I studied Jung. So by the time I entered Jungian analytic training, I already knew the Empress. I knew the particular quality of her sovereignty, the way she could mean fertility in one reading and creative authority in another and a kind of sensual self-possession in a third. She was a figure I'd sat with. She wasn't a concept waiting to be named. Which is probably why I felt something sink when I signed up for a one-day class on Tarot and arche

While the allure of quick fixes is understandable in our results-driven society, embracing a slower, more thoughtful therapeutic process can foster deeper and more sustainable personal growth.

Earlier this year, I wrote about why AI threatens confidentiality in therapy and why I won’t be using it in my clinical work. At the time, I was hearing a lot of clinicians talking about HIPAA-compliant AI tools through their EHR systems and how these were different from consumer AI like ChatGPT or Claude because they were designed for healthcare workers. The assumption was that as long as the tool was marketed for clinical use, the confidentiality risk wasn’t a problem. Toda

Photo by Vaidas Vaicuilis If you’ve spent any time on social media, you’ve probably encountered some version of the claim that coaching focuses on the future and empowerment while therapy focuses on the past. It’s a tidy distinction, but it’s not an accurate one…and it can lead people to make uninformed decisions about the kind of support they need. The truth is that coaching and therapy are different services with different strengths, and both have a place. But the differenc

There are a staggering number of Tarot decks out there, and trying to pick one can feel utterly overwhelming. If you’re just starting out here are the things I look for when selecting a deck, along with a few of my favorite recommendations for beginners. Look for Art That Speaks to You This sounds obvious, but it matters more than people think. It does absolutely no good to pick a deck you dislike just because someone on the Internet said it was good. If the imagery puts you

Most people learning Tarot start with a guidebook. They memorize keywords, look up cards after a draw, and try to piece meaning together from what someone else wrote. It works, sort of — but the cards stay on the page. They don't come alive. There's a different way in, one that treats the deck as something to be in relationship with rather than a system to be decoded. Here are three approaches I use in my own practice and teach in my course, all of which you can start applyin

The Smith-Waite Tarot deck that I feature in my Tarot Course As a Jungian and depth psychotherapist and a long-time Tarotist, I spend a lot of time at the intersection of psychology and symbolism. There are many tools that can give voice to the collective and personal unconscious elements the reside within each of us, but Tarot is one of my favorites. It’s simultaneously systematic yet open-ended, personalized yet universal—not unlike our own psyches. But for those who aren’t

Depression is disruptive. It can feel heavy and painful—at times downright debilitating. Within a known context, such as the death of a loved one, that heavy, consuming darkness gets named “grief.” It’s not pleasant, but we give it permission to exist despite the suffering because we recognize it as an important process in the face of loss. But when that same level of malaise settles in without an apparent “good” reason, we’re quick to label it with words implying it shouldn’

Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering healthcare, and therapy is no exception. From automated progress notes to AI “assistants” that summarize sessions, the appeal is obvious, especially for solo practitioners stretched thin. But beneath the convenience lies a set of confidentiality risks that are rarely explained clearly to patients or therapists. They strike at the core of what therapy depends on: privacy, trust, and safety. As both a provider and a patient, I do not

When someone you care about joins a cult, shifts in their behavior, beliefs, or social circle can feel alarming and disorienting. The person you once knew may suddenly seem gone, replaced by someone you barely recognize. The natural impulse is to give them a wake-up call—to argue, to intervene, to rescue. But here’s the difficult truth: those action urges, however well-intentioned, can actually backfire. Rather than breaking your loved one away from the group, a confrontation

In my time at Antioch University, I had the pleasure of hearing Tim Desmond, author of Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy and The...