DIMENSIONAL TAROT – Exploring the Enneagram &
Tarot Construct
Energy
can neither be created nor destroyed – this applies itself to emotions as well.
We either process or store emotion – unconsciously and consciously. When we
experience emotion consciously, we are evocative and alive. When we store them
unconsciously, such as with stress, then we carry it in our body in the form of
tight muscles and anxiety. They are there whether we like them or not and some
of us have been conditioned into unhealthy, mostly unconscious habits that
prevent us from our fullest selves. Emotions have their own energy and the
spread above and described within this article looks for any stuck or stagnant
emotional energy. It focuses on the Enneagram Personality system, so has 9 cards
representing each type. If you look at the Enneagram, you will see how each
card directly corresponds to each point of the Enneagram. See the figure below for an
example of the Enneagram overlaid onto our spread. Susan Rhoades has performed
incredibly enlightening work within The Fool’s Journey into the Enneagram and
inspired this form of tarot. Her work can be found here, should you want to
dive deeper into the technical intricacies of this system. More articles are to follow soon.
If
you are unfamiliar with Enneagram then this system may, at first, appear
overwhelming; however, this combination opens tarot analysis to an incredible
depth. Briefly, each point numbered 1-9 are key ego constructs. Think
of each point as part of a council that comes to an agreement when trying to make
a decision or as we transition through life. It can also be fun to envision
these as the characters from the movie Inside Out – a group of nine people just
arguing in your head. We use 9 cards in this spread and each card corresponds
to the same numbered archetype. So, Card 9 is Type 9 – The Peacemaker, 1 to the
Reformer, 2 to the Helper, 3 to the Achiever, 4 to the Individualist, 5 to the
Investigator, 6 to the Achiever, 7 to the Enthusiast, and 8 to the Challenger.
- Type 1 – Reformers
- Principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic. These people desire to be good, virtuous, balanced, and to have integrity in what they do. They fear being bad, defective, evil, or corrupt.
- Reformers are
- Vice / Virtue: Anger / Serenity
- Triad: Anger / Instinct
- Type 2 – Helper
- Generous, demonstrative, people pleasing, and fear being unloved or unwanted, to find themselves alone, and desire to feel loved for who they are.
- Vice / Virtue: Pride / Humility
- Triad: Feeling / Heart
- Type 3 – Achiever
- Driven, results-oriented, image-conscious, adaptable people who fear being worthless apart from their achievements and desire to feel worthwhile, accepted, and desirable.
- Vice / Virtue: Self-Deceit / Veracity
- Triad: Feeling / Heart
- Type 4 – Individualist
- Sensitive, dramatic, self-absorbed, temperamental, and expressive. They fear having their identity lost and desire to find themselves, their significance, and to show the world their inner experience (intensity).
- Vice / Virtue: Envy / Equanimity
- Triad: Feeling / Heart
- Type 5 – Investigator
- The Mind of the Enneagram, the perceptive, innovative, secretive, and isolated investigator. They fear being useless or incapable and their utmost desire is to understand how things work.
- Vice / Virtue: Avarice / Non-attachment
- Triad: Fear / Thinking
- Type 6 -Loyalist
- These are engaging, responsible, suspicious and anxious people that fear having no support or guidance, of not being able to survive on their own, and their basic desire is security and support.
- Vice / Virtue: Fear / Courage
- Triad: Fear / Thinking
- Type 7 – Enthusiast
- Spontaneous, versatile, scattered, and enthusiastic about anything that catches their attention. They desire their happiness, satisfaction, and fulfillment. They dislike and fear being deprived or trapped in pain.
- Vice / Virtue: Gluttony / Sobriety
- Triad: Fear / Thinking
- Type 8 – Challenger
- Self Confident, Decisive, Willful, Confrontational with a basic desire to protect themselves, determine their own life course, and fear being harmed or controlled by others, or having their power/ability to be strong taken from them.
- Vice / Virtue: Lust / Innocence
- Triad: Anger / Instinct
- Type 9 – Peacemaker
- Self Confident, Decisive, Willful, Confrontational with a basic desire to protect themselves, determine their own life course, and fear being harmed or controlled by others, or having their power/ability to be strong taken from them.
- Vice / Virtue: Lust / Innocence
- Triad: Anger / Instinct
BASIC DIMENSIONAL TAROT SPREAD
9. Type 9 – Peacemaker
1. Type 1 – Reformer
2. Type 2 – Helper
3. Type 3 – Achiever
4. Type 4 – Individualist
5. Type 5 – Investigator
6. Type 6 – Loyalist
7. Type 7 – Enthusiast
8.
Type 8 – Challenger
Information below summarizes the key information you will
need for a Dimensional Tarot reading. This system can be profoundly
insightful and this article is merely presenting the system. More information
will be coming soon in the form of articles and youtube tutorials for analysis
combining these two systems. For a further introduction to Enneagram, please
check out the enneagraminstitute.com, as they have helped pioneer and modernize
Enneagram theory. You can also take a test to determine your Enneagram type and
you are sent a detailed packet that really helps you understand yourself in
terms of this system. But let’s dive into understanding this type of tarot
spread.
TRIADS
The Anger / Instinct Triad
The Anger / Instinct Triad is made of the Challenger, Peacemaker, and Reformer. These are the gut type of people. They are instinctual and operate from a facet of anger. There are differences in how each handles and experiences anger. The Peacemaker will disconnect from anger, the challenger will embrace it, and the reformer will suppress it. There is anger still felt directly by the reformer and challenger, but the peacemaker can be the most out of tune with this instinctual and anger triad – which is why they are the center of the triad.
At the center and crowning the entire spread, we have the Peacemaker. They are the most out of touch with their instinctual energy and anger due to their gentle heart. They may repress aspects of their emotionality and self, finding themselves to be a hallowed shell of who they hoped they could be. They are the most malleable type and can embody any type that they wish, but due to a passion that they are afraid of containing, they can spend many years of their life subdued into a life they have passively accepted. This is not to say that they do not have their positive traits, passions, and strong stances – as once they balance this aspect of themselves, they are a powerhouse and embody fair, kind practice and just opportunities. With the influence of both the Reformer and the Challenger on either side, the Peacemaker acts as a regulating force between these two more rambunctious types.
The Feeling / Heart Triad
**Updating**
The Thinking / Fear Triad
**Updating**
INTEGRATIVE TRIANGLE
Next, at the center of each Enenagram is the triangle formed
by the Type 9 – Peacemaker, Type 3 – Acheiver, and Type 6 – Loyalist. **Updating**
Peacemaker to Achiever.
There is the first pattern of the Enneagram, which will be
the Hexad – seen in figure 1.3 above. We will be going through those points and
how they move together.
Position: |
Movement: |
Enneagram |
Type 4 / The |
The The |
|
The Reformer |
The Reformer, |
|
The |
Observing the If there is a Even tracing |
|
The |
The The fear that |
|
|
The |
The Challenger |
|
The Helper / |
The Helper |
Wings
Process Enneagram /
Process Reading
There are two ways to interpret the
Dimensional Tarot spread. We’ve gone through the first by going over the
integrative pattern. Now, we will move through the Process Enneagram. The
system starts at point 9, but on the initial point of the journey, it is also referenced as zero because it’s the beginning of the journey. You start at the
peacemaker, which crowns the spread and is the most transmutable type, and it
goes clockwise through each card as they journey through the spread. Go
Peacemaker, to Reformer, to Helper, to Achiever, etc, etc. This is where they
build to the 9 from ‘zero’. We recommend clarifying with another deck for the
Process Enneagram spread.
EXPANDED SPREADS:
INTEGRATIVE TRIANGLE:
The Integrative Triangle in the center of each point
The Integrative Triangle is
formed by the Peacemaker, Achiever, and Loyalist dynamic. Each the respective
core of their types – i.e – the anger/instinct triad (Type 9), the feeling/shame triad (Type 3), and the thinking/fear triad (Type 6), expanding on
these key types can provide the reader with an understanding of what is ground
behavior witnessed in the main triad. Think of the influence of the wings and
radical shifts in behavior indicated in these cards or confirmed by the querent
when focusing on these points as well. Taking this into account when looking at
the behavior patterns of the hexad types can help to clarify what elements of
the psyche may be troubled or what type of work could be necessary for
improvement.
Full Dimensional Tarot Spread:
Add past, present, and future to each point and the system
allows immense complexity. Time is also variable in the system. As the system cycles
upon itself, so what was once a consequence of action from another type
suddenly becomes the motivation for action when you complete an integrative loop
through the system. Adding in the Process Enneagram cards on top of the full
dimensional reading will also provide massive insight – which is where you lay
cards down in-between each point to see the connecting energy, or energy that’s
being carried forward throughout the process; for example, you may find Death
to be the rebirth for the Individualist / Type 4 and when you look at the
connection between The Reformer / Type 1 and The Helper / Type 2, then if you
clarify with another tarot deck and see Death again, then you know that this
rebirth energy could have been strongly
carried through the reading and may hold a powerful influence for the Reformer,
or to wherever else in the spread the energy has been carried.
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