Tarot of the Unconscious

“No matter if you’re new to tarot or an old hat like me, Einhorn’s thoughtful approach will help you break away from stuffy traditional meanings and develop your own deeply intuitive relationship with the cards.” —Theresa Reed, author of The Book of Astrological Returns

Inspired by Sigmund Freud and the deep-diving talk therapy of psychoanalysis, Tarot of the Unconscious is a unique exploration of the tarot. Author Aliza Einhorn brings a rare perspective to the subject, both as a seasoned tarot professional and a psychoanalyst-in-training, probing the uncanny correspondences between the mysterious tarot and the groundbreaking ideas of Freud. Einhorn created new tarot spreads especially for this book—and offers interpretations of each, teaching readers how to interpret cards as well as how to hone and rely upon their intuition. Further, Einhorn guides readers to bravely create their own spreads.

Tarot of the Unconscious is suitable for tarot readers of any level—transforming nervous tarot novices into confident, creative tarot practitioners, while offering new thought-provoking perspectives to seasoned tarot experts as well.

About the Creator

Aliza Einhorn holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop and is the author of The Little Book of Saturn and A Mystical Practical Guide to Magic.

“Aliza Einhorn’s Tarot of the Unconscious brings Freud’s analytic ear into conversation with the tarot’s imaginal eye. It honors both rigor and reverie, science and symbol. What emerges is a work of serious playfulness and playful seriousness, a reminder that by exploring the unconscious, by listening to the cards as to our dreams, we come closer to the radiant child in The Sun card: open, joyful, and newly whole.”
—Mary K. Greer, author of Tarot for Your Self, 3rd Edition

“Aliza Einhorn’s new book taught me how to do something I’d forgotten about my tarot practice: she taught me how to play again, and for that I am forever grateful. In Tarot of the Unconscious, Aliza asks us to join her in using our imaginations and creativity to play with the cards in their meanings, as well as introducing some whimsy into what can be a quite serious thing.”
—Melissa Cynova, author of Kitchen Table Tarot

“Tarot may be associated most often with divination, but Aliza Einhorn’s Tarot of the Unconscious invites you to look at the cards when you need answers about what’s happening within you rather than what’s going to happen to you. This insightful book bridges the gap between tarot tradition, intuition, and psychoanalysis in a serious yet playful way. The real gems of the book are the seventy-eight tarot spreads—you’ll want to turn to them again and again. No matter if you’re new to tarot or an old hat like me, Einhorn’s thoughtful approach will help you break away from stuffy traditional meanings and develop your own deeply intuitive relationship with the cards.”
—Theresa Reed, author of The Book of Astrological Returns

“‘There is no single true Tarot,’ wrote Rachel Pollack. Tarot of the Unconscious offers a compelling new way to understand that truth. Drawing on the ideas of Sigmund Freud—dreams, free association, and the hidden life of the psyche—Aliza Einhorn presents the Tarot as a living language of self-reflection rather than prediction. The cards become mirrors, images become questions, and the reader becomes an explorer of their personal symbolic landscape. This book is an invitation to meet the Tarot where it has always lived: the threshold between imagination, insight, and the unconscious.”
—Amber Highland, author of The Oracle of Knotty Weave and publisher of The Cartomancer

“Tarot of the Unconscious presents an ambitious system for reading for oneself that sparks the reader’s curiosity, inviting them to step out of their comfort zone and explore what’s happening below the surface. Aliza Einhorn builds an accessible framework to understand her marriage of Tarot and psychoanalysis, as well as its uses. . . . Tarot of the Unconscious offers a deeply personal, transformative, and very intimate way of working with Tarot.”
—María Alviz Hernando, author of Tarot Tableau Revolution

“Offering a fresh and frank take on two thoroughly explored topics, Tarot of the Unconscious is both an education in Freudian theory and a revolutionary reimagining of the Tarot. Aliza is an honest and encouraging guide, and her love for psychology and magic shines on every page. With tons of accessible, theoretical applications and imaginative spreads for every card, it’s impossible not to put these teachings into immediate action. I felt inspired to pick a deck, grab a notebook, and start spending time with my cards and my unconscious!”
—Rebecca “Bee” Scolnick, author of The Witch’s Book of Numbers

“As readers, there are many ways to work with Tarot cards, and many things we think we know. It is refreshing to read a book that can take the energy of what we already work with and show it to us in a totally different light. I can honestly say that I have not given much thought to Freud and the Tarot. Usually those musings are confined to Jung! Through Aliza Einhorn’s examples and lessons, she guides us through the cards using the viewpoint of Freudian psychoanalysis. Einhorn brings clarity to complex subjects and presents simple examples on how to weave both systems together. I thoroughly enjoyed Tarot of the Unconscious and will reference it in the future.”
—Debbie Chapnick, owner of Datura Press and author of the Tarot Tip Sheet and The Journey of the Food

“Tarot of the Unconscious by Aliza Einhorn does something rather brilliant: it combines the kind and practiced hand of a tarot teacher, the clinical grounding of a formally trained psychoanalyst, and the generosity of someone who invites tarot readers to embark on the exploration of self by illustrating her own. Tarot is a natural ally for the psychoanalytic process. Einhorn has created a synthesis that engages tarot readers and lovers of Freud from any level of current understanding. She takes genuinely dense, complex material and makes it look effortless on the page, which is no small feat. I highly recommend this book if you desire to get to know the deeper, unfolding layers of yourself, where the exploration itself is the point. I cannot recommend this book more.”
—Jenna Matlin, author of The Tarot Book of the Dead

“In Tarot of the Unconscious by Aliza Einhorn, the cards are our companions in a deeply personal dialogue as opposed to fixed symbols to decode. Drawing inspiration from the work of Sigmund Freud, a perspective far less common in tarot than the more familiar Jungian approach, the author offers a method that feels both intellectually grounded and spiritually alive. What makes this work so compelling to me is its reverence for the reader’s inner landscape. Rather than imposing rigid meanings, it gently returns authority to where it belongs: within. Through free association, intuition, and trust in the unconscious, the reader becomes both seeker and interpreter, guided not by memorization but by lived experience of the tarot. At its heart, this book is an act of discovery, a remembering of what already lives inside us.”
—Mary-Grace Fahrun, author of Italian Folk Magic and Living Folk Magic

“In this unique book, Tarot of the Unconscious, Aliza Einhorn teaches us how to read tarot by calling upon Freud’s technique of interpreting dreams as multilayered stories. She shows how much more productive and personal this approach is when compared to more common approaches like Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious or rigid, traditional card meanings. Using her technique, even one-card readings can reveal in-depth, richly multi-faceted information.”
—Harold Roth, author of The Witching Herbs and The Forbidden Knowledge of the Book of Enoch