Announcing the Final Examination of Ms. Tori Thibault for the degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology.
Date: July 6th , 2021
Time: 10:00am EST
Virtual Defense Via Zoom
https://ucf.zoom.us/j/96394998818?pwd=VVFzazhGMXU4QmNlTmxKYXFKbE5XZz09
Join Zoom Meeting: Meeting ID: 963 9499 8818
Passcode: 173716
Thesis title: An examination of Tarot Cards and their Relationship with Healing
ABSTRACT
This thesis examines the use of Tarot cards as a means of healing among individuals in Western divination culture. This research examines how biopolitical discourses affect individual agency when engaging in healing as a form of self-care, it also addresses the ways in which subjects negotiate their own subjectivities in contexts of self-care. I analyze social media discourses about Tarot cards and healing to examine the motivations for using Tarot cards as an alternative route for healing. This research finds that practitioners use Tarot as a means of therapeutic healing similar to talk-therapy. Another finding suggests that, practitioners make use of Tarot in spiritual and secular worldviews. Research findings also provide that practitioners create and reinforce identity through the use of Tarot. Finally, research findings suggest that most participants were able to create a community through the use of Tarot that establishes their own definition of self-care. These findings illuminate the ways in which a divination practice supports self-care and must be reconsidered in contexts of emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing. I argue for a reconsidering of what it means to be a Tarot practitioner in a Western biomedical context in which methods of care are not always accessible. A better understanding of how Tarot practitioners use Tarot cards as a method of self-care can contribute to a better understanding of alternative methods to healing in a Western biomedical context.
Outline of Studies:
Major: Anthropology
Committee in Charge:
Dr. Beatriz Reyes-Foster
Dr. Nessette Falu
Dr. Edward Gonzalez-Tennant
Approved for distribution by Dr. Beatriz Reyes-Foster, Committee Chair, on June 24, 2021.
The public is welcome to attend.
Read More