Reader Personality Poll Spread

Amanda

I've been re-reading Professional Tarot - The Business of Reading, Consulting, & Teaching by Christine Jette and she lists 5 different "types" of readers to help assess your personal style and voice as you enter the professional realm of reading the cards. So... wishing I could take a personality test of some sort to see what types I lean towards... I decided to ask the cards and came up with a quick Reader Personality Poll Spread. I think it was pretty accurate for me, and would like to hear others thoughts once you try it. I will include the author's descriptions of the types at the bottom of this post.

First, I've established key cards for the types of readers that Christine Jette describes:

1. Teacher = Hermit
2. Interpreter = Magician
3. Healer = Empress
4. Mystic = High Priestess
5. Alchemist = Temperance

You shuffle the deck as you normally would, and start laying the cards down in a pile. Once you get one of these cards you stop. That is your primary reading 'type'.

For instance, I shuffled the deck and laid down 16 cards before I came to the Empress. This says that primarily, I am a 'Healer' type of reader in my readings. So, I moved that pile up to the left and started laying more cards from the deck. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Temperance. There was my secondary 'type', the Alchemist. However, this was a very short pile, with only 5 cards underneath it... so it must be the type that I need to work more on. I moved it up to the right of the Empress and continued on.

I laid down 6 more cards and came to the Hermit. Another short pile, the Teacher also suggested to me that I incorporate more of his qualities in my readings. Maybe even, I need to consider teaching some classes to round out my expertise. I moved the pile of the Hermit up to the right of the pile of Temperance and continued on.

14 cards later, I arrived at the High Priestess, the Mystic. Another relatively strong pile with that many cards, I took this as a good 'back up' pile to my Empress pile. Perhaps it is strong, but not used as often. 26 cards later I finally arrived at the Magician, the Interpreter. The biggest pile of them all, it says I'm loaded with tons of tarot knowledge and that is the thing primarily backing me in all this.

Looking at the piles next to one another, I now had myself a 3-D vertical bar grid and could now see my primary reading styles (of importance from left to right) and how much emphasis I placed on them (vertical raising of the piles). I'm sure if you're made for mathematics you could take this a step further and even find yourself some percentages to base this on if you really want to, but this will suffice for me. :D

I did have 6 cards left-over that did not go into any of the piles. I suppose this could be taken as a personal message for improvements or what-have-you, but if you have much more left-over than that, I wouldn't even consider it, it would be too much to read.

Now, the interpretations, as written by Christine Jette:

The Teacher - (Hermit)

The teacher loves giving information, dispensing knowledge, and increasing a client's ability to help herself. She is articulate and communicative. The teacher asks questions, is interactive and jovial, but with friendly detachment. She solves problems through logic and imagination.

If you are a teacher, you respond to client questions by asking your own questions, rather than offering direct advice in a reading. You see your role as teaching people how to learn about themselves and solve their own problems through self-understanding. You would rather teach a person how to fish than invite her to a fish dinner. If the Ace of Pentacles turns up in a reading, the teachers asks, "Do you believe conditions are favorable for taking the next step in any projects you are considering? How does work contribute to your feelings of security?"

Your strengths include working with small, informal groups. You love one-on-one interactions. Marketing is easy for you because you excel in communication skills. You have the ability to empower people through their own efforts and know how to laugh at life's absurdities. Challenges for the teacher include the tendency to become a nag or know-it-all, and to possess a detachment that lacks empathy for your client's emotional pain.

The Interpreter - (Magician)

Interpreters have no intent to control and they accept the cards at face value. They play with the information that is already there, building upon it in new ways by elaborating. An interpreter improves the original plan because she tends to work on what's there, rather than creating something new. Interpreters don't make the product, they make the product better.

In a reading, the interpreter can envision an outcome but is patient enough to work on an outcome detail by detail. If the Ace of Pentacles appears, you not only see the positive financial outcome of a client's situation, but can also suggest detailed steps to get there. You will be able to rattle off a pertinenet "list of things to do" to carry your client to her goal.

The interpreter's greatest gift is her ability in the role of consultant, because she combines intellect with visionary genius. Interpreters excel at elaborating on possible outcomes and are able to see how a situation will evolve. They don't want to change the existing idea or plan, but want to make the existing plan better. If a current situation needs to be scrapped, it can become a problem for the interpreter because there is a tendency to resist letting go and starting over.

The Healer - (Empress)

Healers have an impulse toward service and giving. They want to console, nurture, and fix things. They are intuitive rather than logical and have a strong sense of their own code for living. Many healers have had tumultuous experiences that lend special insight into life's complexities. You take your emotional pain and make sense of it for the benefit of others.

Readings slant toward the physical body or psychological/emotional/spiritual healing. Healers can't look at a tarot card without seeing its healing potential. When the healer sees the Ace of Pentacles in a reading, her immediate response might be, "You're on the road to recovery. You can speed things along by consulting an herbalist. It also suggests you are on the first step to a more satisfying attitude about work."

The healer's greatest strength springs from sensitivity to emotional pain. They are empathetic listeners and reserve judgment because they have "been there." After a reading, the client may well believe she has finally found someone who understands and is willing to listen.

Of course, healers can have big challenges in a professional setting because of an increased emotional sensitivity, there is a risk of job burnout or depression. In teaching, a healer may want to do everything for the class, which doesn't allow for personal exploration. She can be smothering or controlling because she wants to "fix" everything and make it all better. Marketing can be difficult for her because of sensitivity to criticism.

The Mystic - (High Priestess)

Like healers, the mystics engage their personal code of ethics and spiritual beliefs. Mystics understand the relationship between spirituality and creativity. They live a life of simplicity and are independent thinkers driven by a burning spiritual search. You are comfortable alone in silence and your hunger for a better world colors your everyday actions. Your favorite saying is, "As above, so below." If the spiritual search is your highest value, you can bet you are a mystic.

During readings, mystics create moods and ambience. They may have an exquisite amethyst crystal on the table with fresh flowers, heady incense, glowing candles, and soft music. And you can be assured that each item has a spiritual purpose. They deal with small, detailed observations and feelings. Mystics are ephemeral, constantly processing all experiences (both mundane and magical) through the lens of a spiritual eye.

If the Ace of Pentacles shows up in a reading, a mystic will ask about the relationship of the card between the personal and the universal. What is its larger focus? The mystic might ask, "How will your new work endeavor benefit you spiritually? Will your new projects be spiritually fulfilling?"

The mystic's strengths include the ability to give equal attention to intuition and logic. They can see the grand scheme and the small details at once because mystics give each equal time. There is no difference between the two. They possess purity of vision and strength of conviction. Mystics can connect to clients in intimate, creative ways and excel in past-life readings.

Mystics, as well-intentioned as they are, can get caught up in the trap of blaming, New Age style. Because everything has a cosmic reason to the mystic, there is a tendency to discount the pain of immediate suffering. For example, a mystic reader may tell a rape victim that she was raped because she is paying back a karmic debt. This does nothing to help the victim's immediate pain and actually makes the situation worse: "Oh, the rape was my fault." Not only does this disempower the rape victim, but it also offers no practical solutions to the current suffering except assigning blame.

Mystics also can fall into the trap of being "feel-good" readers. Because everything is impossibly decided by fate, don't worry about it. It will all work out in the end. It's for the best, according to cosmic reason. Telling a client that her breast cancer will be okay because it fits into a karmic plan is not altogether useful. It does nothing to help the client now and, once again, does not empower a client to take action on her own behalf. Nothing in tarot is preordained and mystics must work hard to remember this.

Because mystics do not value conventional categories, they are often unwilling to work the system. Marketing is difficult for them. Mystics detest networking and schmoozing because it feels dishonest. They may indeed have a tendency to cut off their nose to spite their face due to fierce independent thinking. Mystic readers should start small with any marketing endeavor and only advertise what they believe to be true. They could meditate for creative ideas about their business and write them down. They would do well to be true to themselves above all.

Mystics do best with a gentle work environment. They thrive on lots of privacy and a pleasant ambience. They need to develop rituals that feel right to them. Mystics do not enjoy the limelight and do not need positive strokes as much as some. Their sense of self-worth is an inside job. If you are a mystic reader, try treaching one-on-one or through mail correspondence. Keep personal contacts at a minimum and cherish your alone time. Consider online tarot consultations to match to your personality and specialize in past-life readings.

The Alchemist - (Temperance)

The alchemist is a careful blending of all types and represents an ideal. She takes the friendly detachment and ability to empower from the teacher, the logic of the interpreter, the intuitive nurturing of the healer, and the mystics's ability to see the big picture through the details. The alchemist is able to respond to the needs of a client by working on all levels.
 

KMilliron

Is it the order or get the cards, or the number of cards in the pile that determine where the personality ranks in your reading?

No joke I got
Empress 6
High Priestess 2
Hermit 1
Temperance 52
Magician 9

So am I a healer or an alchemist? :/
 

Amanda

Is it the order or get the cards, or the number of cards in the pile that determine where the personality ranks in your reading?

No joke I got
Empress 6
High Priestess 2
Hermit 1
Temperance 52
Magician 9

So am I a healer or an alchemist? :/

I'm reading the very first one that comes up as the most prominent of your 'types', but having such a high number for the Alchemist seems to suggest you've mostly got a good balance going on between all of them for your level of expertise. And I would take your Hermit and your High Priestess as areas to work on improving for now, since they were the lowest.
 

KMilliron

And I would take your Hermit and your High Priestess as areas to work on improving for now, since they were the lowest.

Haha, understatement much? ;D 1 and 2 compared to 52, yeah there's some lacking.

Much thanks, worked pretty accurately for me ^-^
 

Carla

The cards I turned over, in order, with number of cards:

Empress 2
Hermit 1
High Priestess 23
Temperance 10
Magician 29

Pondering these, I can see this might actually be true of me. I'm interpreting it to mean that my actual strengths as a reader, though I don't place a high premium on them myself (possibly because they come naturally to me) are as Healer and Teacher. This is because they turned up in first and second place in the draw, but the card stack underneath is not very high.

On the other hand, I most value, for my reading style, my knowledge of the cards (Magician/Interpreter) and my intuition (High Priestess/Mystic). Because the stacks of cards are very high, I take that to mean that these are what I perceive as my strengths or value most in my own readings, while not noticing my 'actual' strengths of Healer and Teacher (which turned up first in the reading).

I may have got your instructions all wrong, though. :) It could mean that I am not a very good Healer or Teacher at all because the stacks or so short, but then, why would they come first in the draw? *frown*

Please could you tell me how you would interpret this draw?
 

Amanda

The cards I turned over, in order, with number of cards:

Empress 2
Hermit 1
High Priestess 23
Temperance 10
Magician 29

Pondering these, I can see this might actually be true of me. I'm interpreting it to mean that my actual strengths as a reader, though I don't place a high premium on them myself (possibly because they come naturally to me) are as Healer and Teacher. This is because they turned up in first and second place in the draw, but the card stack underneath is not very high.

On the other hand, I most value, for my reading style, my knowledge of the cards (Magician/Interpreter) and my intuition (High Priestess/Mystic). Because the stacks of cards are very high, I take that to mean that these are what I perceive as my strengths or value most in my own readings, while not noticing my 'actual' strengths of Healer and Teacher (which turned up first in the reading).

I may have got your instructions all wrong, though. :) It could mean that I am not a very good Healer or Teacher at all because the stacks or so short, but then, why would they come first in the draw? *frown*

Please could you tell me how you would interpret this draw?

No, you did beautifully interpreting that I think! I would still consider the Empress and Hermit as your primary and secondary styles but perhaps it simply needs more development in a professional sense? I think that's really great though, that the Temperance pile fell in between the Magician and the High Priestess like it did- it implies to me that you've got a really good balance of logic and intuition going on there! Lots of knowledge and information in that regard. :)
 

Stormdancer

Ok...this is a kinda "Marking my spot to come back" kinda posts....

I drew from the Ironwing....

The Hermit was the 22nd card....( this is SO appropriate, but later)

The Magician 15 cards later.

The High Priestess 4 cards after that.

Temperance after another 15 cards.

The Empress 9 cards (Months??? lol) later.

Ohhhh, I think this will be fun.
 

Muir Aingeal

The very first card I pulled was the Empress-Healer :bugeyed:
 

Amanda

Ok...this is a kinda "Marking my spot to come back" kinda posts....

I drew from the Ironwing....

The Hermit was the 22nd card....( this is SO appropriate, but later)

The Magician 15 cards later.

The High Priestess 4 cards after that.

Temperance after another 15 cards.

The Empress 9 cards (Months??? lol) later.

Ohhhh, I think this will be fun.

LOL

I'm surprised somebody didn't get the Empress for once! :p (Not that that's a bad thing :D )