I read Celtic Dragon's latest post ans thought it might be useful to give some examples from my own life of living out the personality, soul and hidden actor cards.
My cards: Chariot: Personality and Soul; Tower: Hidden factor/ Teacher.
In my 20's the Chariot energy was directionless and a little bit out of control LOL. With analysis, the Tower as hidden factor was a frequent experience. I could spend some time regaling you with stories, some funny, some tragic, but you probably all have plenty of your own. Believe me, at times it was bad. In retrospect I see the Chariot 'determination' keeping me afloat.
With Greer's system, the formula for calculating personality and year cards gives me a base number of 1978. You can see how I get the Chariot as personality and soul card. Greer also sees this number as a base year for determining your tarot birthday. And she uses a chart, wherby you can work out what she calls the tarot cycles of your life. Like astrology, this exercise can provide some quite interesting insight into life themes and patterns.
In Greer's system 1978 is my tarot birthday. It was also a major turning point in my life. I was drifting in a sea of chaos and was lucky enough to be able to hold on to the floating log of fate that drifted by one day. Had that not happened I am sure that I would have died around that time. One cannot live so chaotically unchecked. That put me on a different path. There are many paths to spiritual understanding and the one that I found was not tarot but a very rich one nonetheless.
Something was still missing though, and I found the tarot last year. It has provided another window of understanding that is also very rich. The Lifetime cards - personality, soul and year - provide a perceptive and intuitive framework for understanding and reframing my life, even retrospectively.
Moongold in her 20's was on a Chariot running wild, kept afloat by the steely will and determination I see as characteristic of the image. Moongold in her 30's and learned to take the reigns of the Chariot and steer a steadier course through a really good and funny life. The Moongold of the present is learning something new about faith and insight, and letting go the reigns, guided by faith and a better sense of balance. If you look at the Charioteer, she doesn't hold the reigns. My faith is not perfect so sometimes it is a nervous ride.
The Tower? In my 20's some experiences not unlike the literal image on the card. LOL. In my 30's a deliberate and thoughtful breaking down of the old ideas, sometimes precipitated by the the odd threat of a fateful demolition job. The old ideas were joyfully and purposefully upgraded.
I am still learning folks. The Charioteer has to keep an eye on the road and remember to nurture and attend to her spiritual development; keep her driving skills honed. If you get distracted you can run off the road, take a wrong turn. Also sometimes one just runs into stormy territory and can be swept away. Life, I think it is called.
I've been through a storm on and off over the last 18 months. It came upon me in the hills so it has been a little rugged. I have been using the new insights and skills gained through tarot and my past experiences to keep going. All the characteristics of the Chariot have been important to me at this time, particularly the determination. It is my Hermit year as well so there is a lot of internal work happening. I'm hopeful Hermit and I might be able to park unfearfully in the shadow of the Tower eventually and do some renovation work on that ancient structure.
Perhaps this account gives more a sense of the application of this particular framework to a life? I certainly have found Greer's (initially Arriens') work a useful and ironic framework.
Moongold