– Ken James is a favorite teacher of mine. With a PhD in psychology and a diploma in Jungian analysis, and a tarot card reader of 50 years, he brings most of my favorite topics into one powerhouse of a teacher. In this podcast interview, he explore the Jungian concept of synchronicity and how it applies in individuation and psychotherapy, as well as tarot. Synchronicities are “meaningful coincidences that cannot be explained by cause and effect,” according to Jung. They are more than coincidences, such as seeing the same type of car many times in one day, in that they have deep meaning for the person having them. For instance, thinking of an old friend whom you’d had a falling out with 10 years ago and feeling forgiveness in your heart and then they call you out of the blue the next day. This can not be explained other than seeing the interconnectedness of all things on a non-physical level. Synchronicity occurs based on Jung’s principle of the psychoid: the nondual level on which matter and psyche are one and the same. This has always struck me as quite similar to the tantric nondual śiva-śakti, consciousness and energy which are two qualities of the seamless whole. Tarot cards function as a way to harness, or as they say in this podcast, domesticate synchronicity, so that we can evoke it with our intention, ritual, and the chaos of the shuffled tarot deck. For further reading on synchronicity and divination, see below.
Jung, C. G. 1952. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
von Franz, Marie-Louise. 1980. On Divination and Synchronicity: The Psychology of Meaningful Chance. Toronto: Inner City Books.