The Lifetime Cards - Personality, Soul and Year - how do we use them?

Moongold

Hey Sarah, I just read your PM. I reckon the one of challenges for you will be about how you have relationships and how you define yourself in them.

If I can say so, you're at stage of life where all of us learn about relationships. It's just part of normal development. And I think that if the Emperor is your year card that could be about claiming your own authority in relationships as well. Doing what you think is right but have fun too.

Of the top of my head, the soul card is who I am, deep down. The personality is how I present to the world, how others see me.

Have to go to work now,

Moongold
 

Ariana

Very interesting thread Moongold.
I will try to look for this book you mention, but not sure If I will find it here. Which is the name of it again?

My personality card :Death, Soul Card: Emperor, Shadow Card (Teacher Card): Death ... again.
Pls correct me if I am wrong.

My life is based in very distinct periods. I seem to be born and "die" again and again and again. I feel like I am leaving behind and learning a lot, really a lot from every experience in my life. When I look back at my life it is like it is a totally different "me". I really mean it, I have changed so deeply in many aspects along my life... and It seems I will go on doing that. Right?

Emperor... Ahhhh! My favourite number.. 4!
I was born 4/4. I am aries, and it seems that may be to achieve all those changes I really need deep strenght self assurance and motivation to go on. It is the eternal fighter within me.

Ariana
 

Celtic_Dragon

posted by Ariana
My life is based in very distinct periods. I seem to be born and "die" again and again and again. I feel like I am leaving behind and learning a lot, really a lot from every experience in my life.

I believe the purpose of this thread is to go beyond applying the traits of the cards to your life and perhaps give examples showing how you've succeeded in living out the card. Perhaps you'd like to share an occasion where you were born, died and born again becoming a different person.
 

Moongold

WolfSpirit said:
Moongold - that book of Greer you were referring to, is that "Tarot for yourself" ? Maybe I should get that, maybe it would make things clearer for me.

Greetings WolfSpirit,

The book is “Tarot constellations” by Mary Greer, Newcastle Books, 1987. I believe it is still in print because Dark Eyes in Australia has managed to obtain a copy. It is worth seeking out because it has a wealth of interesting material. I think I remember hearing that Mary Greer had incorporated some of the material in the latest edition of “Tarot for Yourself” but I’m not quite sure of that.

Angeles Arriens, a well-known American tarot scholar, developed the concept of Lifetime Cards and and tarot constellations in the 1970’s. Mary Greer later extended the concept to include the Hidden Factor/Teacher card. I think this system is simply a framework based on numerology and it associations with tarot which we can use to enrich our lives. Both numerology and tarot add some mystical validity to the framework. Greer teaches by doing and there are exercises right throughout the book which make the concepts very easy to learn. I have only been able to brush the surface here, hopefully to provide enough information to get people going, to whet their appetites for more.

Wolfspirit, to address you first query, Arriens defined both cards as follows: “The personality card shows “………your expression in the outer world, your talents, gifts and resources and how others see you”. The soul card “……shows the deepest core of who you are”. Does that make it a little clearer? Personality outer: Soul inner to put it quite simply.

The beauty of this process is that it gives a conceptual means of understanding our lives’ journey. I m pretty sure this concept is not completely strange to you. Keep in mind that this is just a framework. There are other ways of understanding the tarot journey; this is simply one, but a rich one. I think its usefulness is very much increased by the personal meanings we attribute to the tarot symbols. For me, these have changed over the last 9 months.

The Magician as Soul Card? For me, he represents focused consciousness and will. He also represents creativity and a certain innocence. I know many people would not agree with the latter. What does the card mean to you? Perhaps it would be useful to study the image and think about its applicability to your life. I you look at the RWS image of the Magician you see a figure with all the tools of the tarot at his disposal, a powerful image for anyone’s’ life journey. The Sun as personality card can represent wholeness, achievement and the peace and joy which comes with openness. My personality AND soul card is the Chariot and the meaning of this card is now part of my consciousness and helps me understand how I can act in my life. The Tower as teacher helps me understand a little more.

Does any of this help, WolfSpirit? The images in this framework help me understand the major themes in my life. I hope to catch up with you another time but please sing out if you’d like further discussion. Others here may have other experiences to share and I hope they do.

There is an excellent Magiician thread here:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13162

Blessings,

Moongold
 

Moongold

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. :laugh:

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
 

Moongold

Ariana said:
Very interesting thread Moongold.
My personality card :Death, Soul Card: Emperor, Shadow Card (Teacher Card): Death ... again.
Pls correct me if I am wrong.

Greetings Ariana,

I don't think that it is possible in this system to have Death as Personality card and Teacher card.

Could you PM or post your birth details so that I can check?

Blessings,

Moongold
 

Ariana

To Moongold

I think you are right ..
04 / 04 / 1968

Is it "Hierophant" then right? For my Soul and Personality card?
And the Shadow card would be... Temperance?

LOL What a shame! And I gave a full description of the incidence of Death in my life.

Oh my.............. stupid me...

Thanks Moongold for the correction. Tell me if I am right now.

Ariana
 

Moongold

Hello Ariana.

Yes, you're right this time. Hierophant is your Personality and Soul card and Temperance is your Hidden factor or Teacher card.

You're currently in the year of the Emperor. There are some interesting challeneges for the Hierophant and the Emperor together. I suspect the year may have been an interesting one and you may havehad to cal on Temperance a little,

Some grand themes here.

Moongold
 

raeanne

Hi all,
How's this for a strange combination:
Personality Card = Fool
Soul Card = Emperor
Shadow Card = Death
Year Card = Justice (or Strength, depending on what 11 is)

No wonder I'm confused most of the time! My personality card clashes with my soul card. I can't decide if I want to be carefree and independent or if I want security and structure! ha, ha, ha. I haven't been able to tell if this year is a justice year or a strength year yet.
 

Moongold

Hi Raeanne,

Greer comments that people with your constellation always live with the paradoxical nature of wisdom and foolishness. Your job is to establish self-control and set the standards in your field, yet you must be prepared to admit ignorance, cast your fate to the winds, and make wild leaps of inspiration. You must play the Fool with grace and wisdom.

Fools can be quite different at different stages of their lives. When you're young you can be totally the fool. Whe you settle down you become the Emperor, organised and practical with the occasional foray into Fooldom.

Moongold