Why an Occupational Therapist and Fortune Teller Believes Verbalizing Intuition is the 'Ultimate Brain Training'✨
I am Yuki Rione, a guide at the Moonlight Library.
In my work as an occupational therapist interacting with people,
'What do people rely on to live?'
'How does the heart find meaning?'
I have been thinking about these things for a long time.
In this place,
I write about what I have felt in rehabilitation settings,
what I have seen from the world of tarot and symbols,
and the small lights I have found in daily life.
1. Processing Visual Information and Intuition (Right Brain)
Tarot card designs range from the classic Rider-Waite or Marseille decks to modern versions that use various motifs and are expressed as freely as art (though the symbols remain almost the same).
Furthermore, cards are overflowing with non-verbal information such as color usage, composition, and the expressions of the figures depicted.
* Catching 'what you feel' or 'what the atmosphere is' when looking at a card is primarily a function of the right brain's visual and spatial cognition. While this alone stimulates the brain, fortune-telling requires taking it a step further.
2. Verbalization and Logical Construction (Left Brain)
The task of converting the images you perceive into words that can be conveyed to the querent is precisely the job of the left brain's language function.
* For example, when constructing a specific sentence like 'This is a sign that a change of △△ will occur regarding the problem of 〇〇 in your current situation' from an intuition of 'something feels ominous,' information is intensely exchanged within the brain through the 'corpus callosum' that connects the right and left hemispheres.
3. Linking Episodic Memory and Semantic Memory
The task of reading by linking the basic meanings of cards (semantic memory) with the events in front of you, your own experiences, or the other person's story (episodic memory) makes full use of the prefrontal cortex, which is the core of cognitive function.
* Elements of dual-tasking: Because you are simultaneously 'looking at cards (input),' 'speaking (output),' and 'watching the other person's reaction (judgment),' it becomes effective training for maintaining cognitive function.
* Utilizing fingertips: The act of shuffling and laying out cards yourself becomes a fine motor exercise for the fingers, promoting blood flow to the brain.
* Social interaction: Fortune-telling for someone involves communication. Preventing loneliness and interacting with others is a major preventive factor against dementia, even from a mental health perspective.
Also, meditation and grounding, which are often performed as exercises to calm the mind before a reading, count as 'self-conditioning' to control the autonomic nervous system.
In this way, I believe tarot is a tool that keeps the brain youthful and creates a place for the heart to belong.
And the work of diligently weaving words with my left brain is like an important form of ascetic practice for someone like me who is not good at output.
I may continue to stand at crossroads in life.
Each time, I will turn the cards,
weave words,
and listen to someone's story.
By doing so,
I feel like I can see a small light
in my inner world.
From the Moonlight Library
If you have come to want to read the continuation of this page.
'Moonlight Reading Notes',
which chronicles the stories I encountered at the crossroads of life.
And,
a book that chronicles the reasons why I use tarot as a tool for organizing my thoughts.
Both are books in the collection just a little further ahead from this story.
The story of when I started my fortune-telling activities while working as an occupational therapist.
🌙 Moonlight Reading Notes Series
The reason why I, an occupational therapist, use tarot as a tool for organizing my thoughts.