Imaginal Ecotherapy – How Nature Speaks Through Images
The final issue in our special 4-part series closes with Imaginal Ecotherapy, how nature speaks through image, dream, and synchronicity. Tarotpy is a path home to ourselves, each other, and the Earth.
The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature. ~Joseph Campbell, from “Reflections on the Art of Living”
Theodore Roszak, a pioneer in the field of ecotherapy, stated that “just as it has been the goal of previous therapies to recover the repressed contents of the unconscious, so the goal of ecopsychology is to awaken … the ecological unconscious.” Reconnecting with the timeless, reciprocal bond between humans and nature is essential for our physical and mental well-being and for the health of the planet.
Rooted in depth psychology, Imaginal Ecotherapy is a profoundly healing modality that seeks to awaken the ecological unconscious through dreams, images, and synchronicity. These imaginal practices go beyond a materialist worldview, inviting us to reconnect with the soul of nature as a living, embodied presence. The closer we draw to the imaginal realm, the more attuned we become to an ecological way of seeing—and the more we loosen our grip on an ego-centric perspective. Tools like Tarotpy help us match our heartbeat with the archetypal rhythms of life—birth, death, and renewal—and rediscover our place in the great web of life.
Imaginal practices make incorporating ecotherapy into clinical settings easier. Outside of the therapy session, imaginal practices such as Tarotpy help us to slow down and find resilience from within, by attuning ourselves to layouts that reflect nature’s harmony and balance.
Seeking Home: Sylvia’s Story
In a world plagued by multiple ecological crises and increasingly seduced by the digital realm, the disconnection between humans and nature has left many feeling adrift and homeless.
Integrating Imaginal Ecotherapy practices such as Tarotpy can become a sanctuary for individuals seeking to find their way home in this fractured world. Tarotpy can reawaken our sense of belonging—to ourselves, to each other, and to the Earth.
I invited workshop participants to randomly pick two cards in response to a question or concern.
Sylvia lived in a temporary dwelling, and it had been many years since she felt settled into a home. She drew two cards in response to her question: "Where is home for me?" As Sylvia turned over her cards, we heard a gasp from her corner of the table. Tearfully, she shared the images with the group.
The first card, aptly titled "Home," depicts a welcoming image of a home nestled within a majestic tree deep within a forest. Sylvia revealed that her true home lay in her profound connection with nature.
The second image, called “Listening,” is an elephant leaning his head toward notes of music. Sylvia was again moved to tears.
Sylvia expressed her love for all animals and a particular affinity with elephants. She envisioned touching her forehead against the elephant’s bowed head to commune with its wisdom. These images affirmed that she always felt at home in nature, both physically and within herself. Sylvia realized that as long as she could preserve her connection to nature—through these images as well as in natural settings—she would always feel at home, even in the absence of a permanent dwelling.
In a culture that promotes a solely materialistic view of 'real life,' denies the living spirit of nature, and dismisses the dream as mere fantasy, imaginal ecotherapy practices like Tarotpy offer vital pathways to healing the illusion of separation that wounds both the individual and the collective soul.
Like dreams, Tarotpy supports healing and the evolution of consciousness, both individually and collectively. As we gather and reflect on Tarotpy layouts across individuals and groups, a message emerges: our path forward lies in recognizing and nurturing our interconnection. Healing the world requires a shift in consciousness—from fragmentation and individualism to wholeness with nature and the global community.
True healing requires a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of all things. ~James Hillman, from “The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling”
Integrating Tarot and Psychotherapy: A Soulful Practice for Healing and Transformation
Saturday, May 17th, 2025
10 AM to 3 PM PST
Online via Zoom
Join us for an experiential presentation of Tarotpy, a groundbreaking method of Tarot therapy developed in 1983 that integrates Depth Psychotherapy with the evocative power of image, imagination, and synchronicity. Drawing from family systems, archetypal psychology, hypnotherapy, and dreamwork, Tarotpy is both a highly effective clinical tool and a contemplative practice for reconnecting with Soul.
In honoring its ancestral roots, we integrate the work of James Hillman, Joseph Campbell, Marion Woodman, and other luminaries of Depth Psychology as we explore how reconnecting with Soul and “aliveness” is the purpose of psychotherapy and our life journey.
Psychotherapy is, by definition, the healing of Soul. Yet too often, Soul is neglected in both educational and therapeutic settings. The integration of Tarot and psychotherapy (Tarotpy) restores that connection by speaking the language of the unconscious and of Soul—the language of images.
Importantly, Tarotpy is not fortune-telling, nor is it about memorizing the symbolic meanings of tarot cards. By inviting clients to choose from a rich variety of decks, including tarot, oracle cards, SoulCards, and dream cards, they encounter a “living image” that feels uncannily precise and personally meaningful. Through this encounter with image and intuition, the unconscious stirs, the imagination awakens, and insights and creative solutions emerge spontaneously. Tarotpy functions both as a powerful projective tool and as a mysterious bridge between psyche and matter. It appears that there is an invisible mastermind in the “random” selection of images.
Synchronicity—those extraordinary moments when an image perfectly mirrors the client’s inner world – is a “glitch in the matrix,” dissolving the illusion of separation between self and world, dreaming and waking, ordinary life and the enchantment of Soul. Synchronicity evokes awe, a deep sense of wholeness and interconnectedness.
Tarotpy reveals the heart of the issue and promotes profound transformation in a few sessions that would take months to years of traditional psychotherapy. The presentation will also address the issue of burnout among healthcare practitioners, especially with the epidemic of anxiety and depression, and show how Tarotpy can sustain and rejuvenate both therapists and clients.
This workshop is presented in two parts: the morning will introduce the wisdom and healing power of Tarotpy and the magic of synchronicity. Participants will learn the foundations of the method and are encouraged to bring a deck to select cards in response to a personal question or concern. Breakout sessions will offer opportunities to reflect meaningfully on the images using simple yet powerful techniques borrowed from dreamwork practices.
In the afternoon, clinical cases will illustrate how Tarotpy supports clients—and therapists—through loss, upheaval, and transformation, both personal and collective. We’ll also explore how Tarotpy, like dreams, awakens the ecological unconscious—our inherent connection to the natural world. This is Imaginal Ecotherapy. Tarotpy initiates both client and therapist into an imaginal realm where the world is no longer seen as inert matter but animated by Soul. This alchemical process cooks us all—therapist and client alike—rekindling inspiration and reinvigorating therapy with a sense of enchantment.
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Laurie Zemelman Schneider, MFT (dba Lauren Z.) is a spiritual psychotherapist, lecturer, trainer, and author. A board-certified continuing education provider, and Certified in Advanced DreamTending and Certified Embodied Imagination Practitioner, Lauren offers workshops, trainings, and ongoing groups for both healthcare professionals and laypeople around the world.
She is the creator of Tarotpy®, an integrative approach to psychotherapy that blends tarot, image, and depth psychology. Her award-winning book, Tarotpy® – It’s All in the Cards: A Pathway to Inner Wisdom, Divine Guidance, and Profound Healing, has received three Gold Medals from the Living Now and Next Generation Indie Book Awards, as well as a Silver Medal from the Nautilus Book Awards.
To learn more, visit dreamsandtarotpy.com or contact Lauren directly at laurenz@dreamsandtarotpy.com.
