An Introduction to Tarot as Therapy
Steve Hounsome began reading tarot as a teenager, drawn by something he could not quite name in the image of the Hermit card. Over the 35 years that followed, his practice evolved from memorizing card meanings into something fundamentally different: working with the cards as living energies rather than fixed definitions. In this foundational class, he shares the complete framework that emerged from that evolution, a way of understanding the entire 78-card deck as a map of human experience, read through feeling rather than reference.
The core distinction is between predictive reading and therapeutic reading. Predictive reading tells clients what will happen to them, creating dependency and anxiety. Therapeutic reading names the energies at play, creating self-awareness and empowerment. In Hounsome’s approach, every card is a frequency, not a dictionary entry. The same card expresses differently depending on context, surrounding cards, and the querent’s state. This makes the tarot a living, responsive tool rather than a static system to be memorized.
Hounsome walks through the entire deck structure to demonstrate this energetic lens. The 22 Major Arcana represent deep archetypal forces, the soul-level energies encountered on the journey from innocence to wholeness. The four suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles) map to four fundamental dimensions of experience: creative, emotional, mental, and physical. The number sequence from Ace to Ten traces a universal energetic arc: pure potential at the Ace, partnership at the Two, disruption at the Five, momentum at the Eight, and completion (sometimes overflow) at the Ten. The Court Cards represent four stages of mastery within each energy, from the curious Page to the authoritative King.
Rather than asking students to memorize 78 definitions, Hounsome invites them to feel the energy shift as they move through each suit from Ace to Ten. The teaching is methodical without being dry, always connecting structure back to lived experience. He positions fortune-telling not as wrong but as a different use, making space for students who come from predictive traditions to explore the therapeutic alternative without judgment.
Hounsome is also the creator of the Tower of Gnosis and the Tarot Therapy deck, a unique deck using only images from nature, designed to work purely with energy without cultural or symbolic overlay. For students who sense there is something deeper in the cards than prediction, this class provides the philosophical foundation and practical framework for a more empowering approach. It pairs naturally with Hounsome’s companion course, Reading Tarot without Spreads, which applies the energetic method to an evolved, spread-free reading technique.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
What you get
- Approximately 60-minute recorded video class
- Complete 78-card deck walkthrough through an energetic lens
- The Ace-to-Ten energetic arc for all four suits
- Therapeutic vs. predictive reading framework
- Sample therapeutic readings demonstrated
- English subtitles
- Downloadable PDF transcript
- Full PDF transcript
- Community forum access
- Lifetime access to all class materials
- 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
