http://www.sciencetarot.com/ (My favorite deck ;-)
OK, I know you might be thinking I’ve gone all woo-woo on you. What are the words “tarot” and “dissertation” doing in the same website?? Have I lost all desire for credibility of any kind?
But hear me out.
Let’s start with something easy to agree on - your dissertation depends on your brain, right?
The way your brain functions — what it does for you and how it does it — is dependent on its brain networks. Networks are the core organizational structure of the brain.
And those networks are constantly evolving and changing based on how you provide its care and feeding, what you do (and don’t do), what you think (or don‘t think) about, what you expose yourself to (or don’t). Your networks’ connections change as you learn, whether that learning is about your dissertation topic, your field, your advisor or committee members, or — most importantly — about you.
While there are ways to be able to “observe” the functioning of those networks in Real Life, these strategies usually take some attention and dedication of time.
For example, mindfulness meditation encourages one to watch thoughts and feelings go by. That non-judgmental observation of what follows what is kind of like watching the flow from one thought-network to another connected network to another one to another to … you get the idea. But to learn to “just observe” takes some upfront time — not everyone is willing or able to practice regularly enough to get the benefit.
Psychotherapy, IMHO, is a form of “network-observing”. Looking for patterns of thoughts in particular situations a la cognitive-therapy is one approach. Deeply delving into memories of personal past history as in psychodynamic therapies is another approach. (BTW, did you notice that name? “Psychodynamic” = Psyche + dynamic = mind + changing/in motion = the changing motion of the mind. Sounds like brain networks in action to me!)
But there are other tools I think also give access to what’s going on in those networks without quite so much investment of time and money. And that’s the tools that are commonly talked about as “divination” tools: tarot, I Ching, oracle cards.
Of course, I’m not talking about predicting the future (“when will I finish this dizzytation”?) or trying to get in Other People’s Minds (“what does my advisor really think of my work?”). That would be woo-woo beyond even my comfort level (not to mention, I think it’s unethical to even try to get in Other People’s Minds without permission).
What I am talking about is using tarot cards, for example, as a way of promoting self-reflection, almost like a projective test, letting you use the cards as a way to creatively reflect on what their images might possible mean for you in the context of greater self-understanding. It’s like one of those creative writing exercises, where you’re asked to take one topic from column A and one from column B and create a story around it: “The runner wept.”
And I just recently came across a great blog post from Emily Clare’s site Oxbow that gives an insightful example of exactly what I mean. Here’s what she says about it:
“Over the past nearly two years, my relationship with my dissertation has changed a lot, as have the daily habits that I’ve come to cultivate. I only started studying tarot recently, but lately I’ve noticed that many of the cards embody energies, ideas, and perspectives that I’ve discovered in the process of dissertation writing. … I have found out how to live while writing my dissertation, rather than being a slave to it, and these cards express some of the lessons I’ve learned.”
And since I hope I’ve made clear all over this website that I think the work of doing a dissertation is largely about using the dissertation as a tool for your own development as much as the practical exercise of contributing to a knowledge domain, this is a lovely match.
So I invite you to go to her post on Tarot Cards for Dissertation Writing and read a lovely example of what I mean. It’s old — from 2015 — which means it probably doesn’t represent her current brain networks, but it’s a thoughtful and useful example of how one can use an external tool to get a reflective look inside your own dissertation-brain networks.
Bonus points if her reflections resonate with your own dissertation experiences or help you to have an aha! Moment of your own.
Enjoy! And do let me know what you think. I’d love to hear!