Think you know yourself? Think there’s nothing new left to discover? You’d be wrong. And I mean that in the best possible way.
We change and grow throughout life, it doesn’t stop at adolescence. Some of my most significant and dramatic changes occurred for me after I turned 40.
I’m definitely not the woman I used to be. I think differently than when I was 30. I look at the world in a different way, I have different opinions.
You don’t always recognise these changes as they happen over the years. It leaves you with one very large question…
Who am I exactly?
Good question. I never stop thinking about that one, but not so long ago, I was caught off guard. I was having a wonderful surf on the internet when I came across a tarot spread that grabbed my attention. Always one to be interested in myself (blame the Leo Rising…) I was astounded at what I was discovering, through one simple tarot spread and my beloved deck of tarot cards.
There was obviously plenty left to discover about little ole me and I spent some time absorbing the information before I shared the spread with my Tarot Elements Team of Writers for their verdict and they were bowled over too.
You shouldn’t keep things like that to yourself…. and so if you’re ready to open a few doors you didn’t know were there, get your favourite tarot deck out because you are about to go on a journey of self-discovery that will surprise even you.
The Personality Tarot Spread isn’t just great for finding out about you – it’s also a great tool for finding out about those around you, that you want or need, to understand better. They could be your children, your partner, your family, your friends, your new work colleagues… Now, before you start shouting Third Party Readings & Permission, and Tarot Ethics, consider the reasons why you may want to do a tarot reading like this. You’re not looking into anyone’s future, you’re not spying on anyone. You’re actually trying to understand them better so you can have better relationships with them. Subtle difference in terminology, huge difference in reality.
The Personality Tarot Spread
First taught to Lucas Ardwolf Beith, author of Clarity on the Path, more than twenty years ago, this tarot spread has the ability to shine a light on often-neglected areas of your life which include:
- Personality 1
- Personality 2
- Source of Stability
- How Tenacious the Person is
- Long-Term Potential
- Short-Term Opportunity
- Type of Spirituality
- Strong Negative in the Personality to Overcome
- Strong Positive in the Personality to Use
The layout is a a favourite of mine, the 3×3 grid. It lends itself well to elemental dignities, card counting, pairing and also reading non-sequentially across the grid, finding groups of cards as you go. The Tarot Elements Past, Present, Future Spread is great example of this type of reading using a grid layout.
But onto today’s action as I know you’re itching to get going…
Customising the Spread
Lucas admits to tweaking this spread over the years and anyone who knows me well enough will tell you I love to do exactly the same. In its own right, and as it stands, the Personality Tarot Spread is an excellent friend on the journey to knowing yourself. With a little customisation though, it can become even more personal to you, which is the point really.
There are nine positions in all, which is enough tarot cards for anyone. However, Lucas suggests that you can use three cards per position for greater depth and understanding, and I would agree with him. If you’re comfortable using 27 tarot cards in one reading then go for it!
Changing the Positions to Suit Your-Self
My first thoughts are with Positions one and two – Personality 1 and 2. They could quite easily become the Conscious Mind and the Unconscious Mind. They could equally become the General Personality and the Personality’s Greatest Influences.
Long-Term Potential and Short-Term Opportunity sway a little away from the personality and dip into external forces and factors. To keep this purely about the personality, we could use Motivations and How Well You Use Your Opportunities; or Aspirations and Energy Levels.
For me personally, and at this time, I wouldn’t look at changing anything else (for now….) When it’s all about me, I’m all ears and the Personality Tarot Spread all by itself satisfies that need and is pretty amazing. Go try it. And let me know how you get on with it and what changes you may have made with it!
Well, I just did this – and I did it with passion :) And I have to say – wow! I am so adding this to my arsenal, for whenever I really need to know something of myself ( or others..only occasionally) and to remind myself of who I really am. My results were outstanding – at one point I even was startled by a couple things, so so so spot on and yet revealing. Thanks very much for posting this – I dont know if youd want details of my reading, cos its all about me, woo go me, but I can say that I now call the Queen of Pentacles my ME card :)
thanks
Annastacia
Hi Anastacia,
I’m so happy you had such a great experience with this spread – though I’m sooo not surprised! Everyone I know who’s tried it are blown away by it. Let me know if you change any of the spread positions to suit yourself – so I can try it for myself ;)
Thanks for your comment!
Catherine
Hey Catherine,
This spread looks awesome, SO going to go do it right now. On the amendment/tweaking front… In my work as a Chinese Face Reader I make a distinction between your “Personality” (who you think you are/who you present to the world) and your “Nature” (who your soul is/the full, authentic You). I think I would put those in place of Personality 1 and Personality 2…
Yours,
Megan
p.s. I love all your spreads…
Hi Megan,
Thanks! I love the chnages to Personality 1 and 2, particularly who you think you are/who you present to the world, as it’s rather like your sun sign and ascendant in astrology and would be good positions for those two slots, not just for your Personality. I can see I’m going to be busy over the next few weeks trying out new positions in this spread…. ;)
Catherine
Catherine –
Great spread! Before I was done reading the article I had already redefined the positions to suit myself. ;-) Wonderful tool for those that are serious ab out understanding themselves, acknowledging their shadows, and acknowledging their strengths!
Blessings,
Bonnie
Thanks Bonnie – glad you enjoyed it, though I thought you would ;)
Catherine
Heyla Catherine :)
You asked me to post on here what I changed about the spread when I used it. I went ahead and posted the entire thing with a few images and interpretations. Feel free to let me know what you think. Hope it turned out the way you expected. :)
http://mizerae.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/the-personality-spread/
Hi Garnet,
Thanks for sharing your version of the Personality Tarot Spread with us – I checked it out and left you a comment too – your reading was very enlightening :)
Thank you for your comment, and welcome to Tarot Elements
Catherine
This sounds great. I was just passing through. Will be back to find out more.
wow, stumbled over your lovely spread … and did it right now. especially the postions “Long-Term Potential”
“Short-Term Opportunity” hold very valuable information for me. beeing a tarot maniac one never stops learning … thank you for your good work!
Hi Christarot and welcome to Tarot Elements!
This is a really good spread but I often modify it to fall in line with where my thoughts are about myself, or if I’ve read an interesting and/or relevant article that led me to incorporate its message into the spread.
I’m happy you got a lot out of it :)
Warm wishes,
Catherine
Great spread, but I have a question, do you use reversals with this spread? I used this with a friend and most of her cards came out reversed. It wasn’t very encouraging. Your thoughts would be helpful.
Hi Posey,
Thank you for trying out the spread and for reaching out. I wouldn’t worry too much about the reversals. It may seem unfortunate and unpleasant for your friend but sometimes it takes something shocking to make us take notice. Another way to view the reading is that it caught your friend on a bad day. Some people believe a tarot reading is only a snapshot of time, while others believe it is undeniable truth. It is also helpful to say that reversals aren’t necessarily a bad thing. It could be that your friend is having a few problems in one or two areas and this is refelected in the reading. Not everyone sees reversals as a 180 degree change in the meaning of a card, it can also be seen as a blockage to the upright version. Part of the process of learning to read tarot is overcoming cards in positions that show themselves as problematic. I had this myself the other day and with all my experience I am still pondering the negative card in a ‘reward’ position from a different spread. It takes time to get this. If for example the Empress reversed showed up in the Source of Stability position, we could say that your friend doesn’t have a very good or solid source of stability. S/he may come from either a fractured childhood home which still informs their decisions and impacts their life negatively. We might also say that s/he harbours deep mistrust for a mother figure who s/he believes let her family down. S/he may currently live in this environment, whether it is the family home or marital home. Either way, the Empress reversed in that position tells us that your friend has work to do in healing their past in order create a more stable base in the present. This kind of past may also inform the other reversed cards in that there is healing required in order to progress positively through life.
I hope that helps,
Warmly,
Catherine
I am happy my gut told me to search Google on my “Who am I” question because this was an amazing spread!! Thank you!!
Thanks for posting! Using this for a client! Will use for myself later too, I love it!
Fiery K