Who Are You In The Tarot?

The Deck and Book Nook – Who Are You In The Tarot?
Posted on
October 19, 2011 by Theresa

“Who Are You In The Tarot” by Mary Greer is actually a reprint of “Tarot
Constellations” which has been out of print for a long time. When Weiser Books
approached Greer to republish this book, she did an extensive revision of the
original.
I never had the original. So I am not quite sure what the revisions were –
but I will say this: if this is the end product – bravo!
I purchased my copy shortly after attending a class on this subject with Mary
at SF BATS (San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium). I was very intrigued by
the subject, so I thought I better get the book and study deeper.
Although many of us use tarot for divination and self development, this book
allows us to look at our personalities through the lens of tarot. By combining
simple numerology with the cards, you end up with a clear and informative
snapshot into your potential, strengths, weaknesses and more. This gives the
reader a road map into their destiny and a powerful tool for self
understanding.
Let me show you how it works with my own birthdate (June 11, 1965). You add
up your date as follows:
6
11
1965
_____
1982
Then add up the end results like this: 1 + 9 + 8 + 2 = 20
Now you take that number and find the card that corresponds to that number.
In my case, it would be the Judgment card (part of the 2/11/10 Constellation).
This would be my Personality card. Greer provides a detailed description of
how this plays out in the personal makeup. For example, Judgment’s theme is
Cosmic Understanding and Spiritual Truth. The Judgment personality is “aware of
how they can transcend personal limitations and they seek to transform and take
control of things around them”. This card also has a connection to Pluto and
the Moon, which creates a highly psychic aspect as well.
Each card also has a “Hidden Factor” card which acts as a “teacher”. In my
case, it was the Justice card (very interesting as themes of justice often
figure prominently in my life). My combination of cards indicates “a devotion
to world harmony” and “psychic ability”. Intriguing.
This follows with a list of famous people who have the same personal cards
which was fun to look through. I loved seeing who shared similar traits (lots
of presidents in my case!).
This is the main meat of the book but there is so much more here: name cards
(a cool way to discover the significance of your name and how it affects your
personality), techniques for working with the cards (I loved the dialoguing),
Soul cards, yearly cards, minors (lessons and opportunities) and more.
Greer even takes time to address the 8-11 controversy. (Strength and Justice
were switched in the Rider Waite deck. The Marseilles deck had Justice as 8 and
Strength as 9 originally.)
One thing I would like to add is this: her method of adding up your birthdate
is different from other methods. For example, I have also seen in some texts
that you should add it up like this: 6 +1 + 1 + 1 + 9 + 6 + 5 = 29. If I reduce
that, I come to 11 instead of 20 for my Personality card – and this would change
the outcome and I would end up with the High Priestess instead of Judgment for
my Personality Card. I only point that out to show that there are other schools
of thought regarding the numerology part. For this book, I am sticking with her
method and interpretation, which seemed to work out fine.
This book is a great addition to any tarot collection and I had lots of fun
discovering information about myself and my loved ones. I would recommend this
to anyone who has an interest in learning how to use the cards to uncover more
about their personality.