Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, and Anne Tyler have all dealt with spiritual journeys
and card reading in their writings. In his book “tarot readings Revelations,” Joseph Campbell
discusses his first association with cards, dating from 1943, when he was
introduced to the symoblism of playing cards by his friend and mentor, Heinrich
Zimmer. Carl Jung was interested in working toward an expanded consciousness.
Although professors, both Campbell and Jung were interested in going beyond academic
knowledge and were not limited to academic ways of pursuing knowledge. In “Searching
for Caleb,” a contemporary novel about family relations, Anne Tyler shows the
ancient and metaphysical routine of reading cards for guidance, counseling, and
predictions.
The novel provides a history of three generations of the Peck family,
from before 1900 to the early 1970s. Grandfather Peck is searching for his brother
Caleb who had left home 61 years earlier. The female protagonist of the novel uses
card reading to help Grandfather Peck in his search. Tyler presents tarot card reading in
a positive light, as does Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman in her novel, “The
Fortune Teller.” Mainstream literature reflects a new and positive approach to card
reading. In “Searching for Caleb,” the cards were a useful, positive,
unconventional, and liberating part of the character’s spiritual journey and the
adventure of life.
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