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span class="caption" style="width: 398px;">JP/Willy WilsonWith comic-like, bright colored sketches and intriguing monikers such as The Empress, The Hermit and The Fool, there’s something enticing about tarot cards. But how these cards, which were originally created for various games in 15th century Europe, became a divinatory tool used across the world remains vague.

Is the famous 78-card tarot deck an occult property that is all about mysticism? Not for Surabaya-born, Jakarta-based psychologist and published author Audifax. The 39-year-old, who is the head of Jakarta Tarot Club, insisted that there’s always a scientific explanation to every mystery surrounding tarot cards.

Call him foolish, but he is certainly not the only intellectual who has attempted to bridge the gap between science and metaphysics. Much of his view regarding tarot has been shaped by noted scholar Carl Jung’s study on psychoanalysis.

While studying psychology at the University of Surabaya, Audifax was infatuated by Jung’s study of symbolism, which was instrumental in establishing his psychoanalysis theory.

Jung has been credited as the first scholar to attach the importance of tarot symbolism into an academic argument.

Jung believed that the symbols in tarot’s Major Arcana are the representations of different types of fundamental human personalities and situations found across culture, or as Jung put it, “embedded in the collective unconscious of all human beings”.

“I bought the idea,” said Audifax, adding, “The Empress, The Warrior, The Fool, The Magician, The Devil, The High Priestess and other characters in Major Arcana are symbols found in almost every culture and civilization. The depiction of these characters is evident in folktale and social hierarchy. Or even pop culture products such as Harry Potter.”

As such, Audifax is convinced that all human beings are somehow connected at the unconscious level. Jung coined the term “archetypes” for this phenomenon. But while the archetypes theory explains the use of certain characters in tarot’s Major Ancara, how would science explain the fortune telling part?

“The answer to the question when you talk to tarot readers comes from neither the readers nor the cards. The answer comes from your unconsciousness, which most of the time you can’t decipher when you’re aware.

“The cards that appear in your spread are mere representations of the answer you already knew deep down inside. As for the tarot readers, our job is to interpret the meaning of the symbols that appear in the cards,” he explained.

And given that the symbols in Major Ancara can be “found in almost every culture and civilization”, it is assumed that the pictorial interpretations of these symbols carry a universal meaning.

Take, for instance, the justice card, which is often associated with rationality, intellectualism, clear vision and on the opposite end, insensitivity, coldness and distance. Or the devil card, which implies egoism, obsession, temptation, physical attraction and lust. Then there’s the hermit card, which is believed to indicate self-reflection, deep understanding, philosophical attitude and solitude.

Sounds simple. But according to Audifax, it takes a certain intuition and a whole lot of practice to be able to tap into the mental maps of other people.

“For me, tarot reading is an acquired skill. I actually learned the skill. But like any other skill, practice makes perfect. In my case, I’ve always been rather sensitive to symbols and iconography since I was young – I have been told that I have a high visual skill,” he said.

As a professional tarot reader, Audifax always keeps his ideals and moral standards away from his patrons. He said that it is crucial for him not to force his opinions upon those who come to him.

Does having a psychology background help him read tarot more accurately?

“Well, tarot comes in handy in my counseling practice. Contrary to the popular belief that tarot is a mystic medium, I actually utilize tarot to help me understand my clients’ unconscious world better,” said the owner of SMART Human Research & Psychological Development, a one-stop counseling center for personal, professional, educational and developmental psychology.

Determined to provide a legitimate scientific approach to tarot, Audifax has, since 2003, learned semiotics in the context of post-modernism.

“I enjoy learning about symbols and mythologies, and I have been investigating the semiotic phenomenon in a postmodern context. I hope to develop psycho-semiotic knowledge,” said Audifax, who is also working as a research coordinator at the Bandung-based Yasraf Amir Piliang Institute.

“At the institute, I’m working on a project called Cultural Quotient & Semiotic Intelligence,” added Audifax, who has published eight books concerning tarot, semiotics and symbolism since 2005.