Interesting Discovery

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 23 Oct 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

mercenary30	23 Oct 2003
While reading a book on tarot, the subject of archetypes in tarot arose. Now understand I am a College graduate, but I have only been seriously studying tarot for about a year. I have not delved into too much recent history, just the stuff that you all have recently talked about, or the general histories that show up in the few books I have read...... Anyway, back to my main topic, after talking about the archetypes I immediately realized that there was a matching typing process used in the business world, called Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. So I found that Carl Jung's work was the backdrop for this process that the Myers-Briggs family developed. Somehow that name seemed familiar to me, and then I discovered he was into many 'new age' ideas. (Astrology.) When I typed in his name on AT I got 40+ threads that mentioned his name. Of the number of articles and things I have read about Mr. Jung in the last week, I find that people either respect his work or consider him a complete crackpot. I really have to laugh at the irony. Capitalist/Business America, (the whole world actually), who stereotypically thumbs their nose at most alternative spiritual thought and theory, used the MBTI almost exclusively in the late portion of the 20th Century. It maps almost directly to Astrology, Tarot, Numerology..ect.ect. So we should congratulate Carl for figuring out a way to institute Astro-tarot into mainstream world business. And the next time someone wants to chastise you on your tarot beliefs, you can use this world wide accepted derivation of the basic tenets of Tarot as an argument.

Rusty Neon	23 Oct 2003
Yep, it's encouraging that the MBTI has been used to classify the court cards of the tarot deck. This contrasts with the often dysfunctional characteristics that the OGD and later, Crowley, have applied to the court card persons.

Requiella	23 Oct 2003
Oh wow!!! Here I've been a fan of MBTI for a long time now and never knew of its connection to tarot. But, it makes sense, given the Jung connection. Interesting... So let me see if I can guess the court card connections: Page = NT Knight = SP Queen = NF King = SJ Or am I totally off-base here? (which I'm assuming I am since this is a wild guess! haha) How do the court cards relate to Myers-Briggs type?

Rusty Neon	23 Oct 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Requiella How do the court cards relate to Myers-Briggs type? There are at least 3 systems of MTBI-to-court correspondences around: Riley, Greer and Walters. See: http://members.cts.com/king/s/saoirse/TarotCourtCards.html That link gives Walters' system. But if you look around the internet using www.google.com you can find the other two systems.

jmd	25 Oct 2003
I think it occured in the 1980s, when a wad of popularisation of the MBTI occurred, that a number of people independently 'discovered' ways for the courts and the inventory to co-relate. For what it's worth, the 'system' I came up with back then is posted in the thread Choosing a significator?. You will find that there are a variety of correlations which have been made, as mentioned earlier. Each has its merit. The importance is, in my view, that the Tarot remain true to itself. Though the MBTI can be useful in a particular context, the very card as, for example, King of Swords (ENTJ) also transcends its MBTI assignation.

Nevada	25 Oct 2003
I've attended business meetings -- such as a two-week strategic planning meeting with twenty or so people from upper and middle management -- where the first thing the facilitator did was have everyone take a Meyers-Briggs test and then go through a training session as to the meaning of the test results. We had name tags that showed our results. (I'm an INFX--and I find that I relate very well to the Queen cards.) It was intended to help us communicate through some touchy issues more effectively. It works. Even the most skeptical eventually saw that it was helpful. Nevada

Cerulean	25 Oct 2003
I think it's called Discovering Your Self Through the Tarot: A Jungian Guide to Archetypes & Personality On Amazon.com you can read little snippets to see if it's of interest. Crowley Thoth descriptions and the 16 archetypes. I've had the book for quite awhile: it came out in 1993 and I enjoy it. If you like to balance your strength and weaknesses, it gives suggestions for tapping into different aspects of expression and personal styles. I seem to pick it up once or twice a year for refreshing views. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Wang's Jungian Tarot and book set might be of interest as well. Thanks for the note, as you reminded me that I wanted to explore finding it. There may be some information also in the Dance of Life Tarot, which was given to me in a trade, but I've not had time to look at it. If I find a purchase link, shall I post it here? Nice topic, Best wishes, Mari Hoshizaki

The Interesting Discovery thread was originally posted on 23 Oct 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.