Who are you?

Published by Alison Cross on

Prince of Coins: Transformational Tarot
Arnell Ando

Before I get stuck in to this blog post there’s something I need to say:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!  *blows party tooter and offers every reader a small glass of sherry*

It’s a new year and we tend to commit ourselves to doing all manner of impractical things at New year.

For example, I have a friend who has vowed to do one more sit up every day with a view to being able to do 365 sit ups at the end of the year.  And have a stomach like a washboard.  We’re not even into double digits in January and she has already fallen by the wayside.

I myself have decided to throw myself into my Mid Life Crisis by asking for a Tarot Radio Show on my local community radio station (Radio Bute – Mondays 2pm GMT).  I have completed one show – pre-recorded to avoid huge chasms of dead airtime., the jangling of my bracelets and the odd inadvertent profanity.  It’s not easy, but it’s a huge amount of fun!

So, to the exercise – who are you?!

Get a sheet of paper and mark out an equal armed cross. Like this:

I am a quality artist, right? πŸ˜€
A4 size would be good, because you’ll be writing on it. Mark the top left quadrant Wands, the top right Swords, the bottom right Pentacles and the bottom left as Cups. Then draw a circle, centred over the crossing point of the cross’s arms the radius of which should be about half of the length of each cross arm. So basically you have got a cross with a circle in the middle πŸ˜€

Inside this circle represents YOU and outside this circle represents NOT YOU.

Now go and get your Court Cards – find a nice, expressive set for this exercise if you can.

Go through your court cards and write the names of those that resonate with you (ie that you recognise their energies in your life) within the circle in the appropriate quadrant. Those that do not resonate with you, write outside of the circle in the appropriate quadrant.

Once you have done this for all 16 Court Cards, take a look at the following:

1 Is there one suit that dominates within the circle
2 Is there one suit that seems to lie largely outside the circle
3 How is the circle for Suit Yin/Yang dominance (Cups and Pents are Yin)
4 Is there a rank (eg Page, King) that you notice a predominance/absence of in your circle?
5 Is there rank Yin/Yang dominance within/outwith the circle?

6  If Wands are (Yang/Yang), Swords (Yang/Yin), Pents (Ying/Yang) and Cups (Yin/Yin), so you have more cards within the circle on the left hand of the vertical axis (the Yang side) than on the left (Yin side)

Take a close look at your answers – this is how you see yourself!

Everything that lies outside of the circle are qualities that you don’t recognise in yourself
Everything inside the circle is what you do recognise
Are you selling yourself short?  
Here’s what I believe (warning – this is not scientific!).  I believe that we are ALL of the Court Cards – but (crucially!) not all the time.  If you leave those courts outside of your field of influence (outside the circle) you could be doing yourself a huge disservice.  There are lots of wonderful qualities in all the Courts – why not have access to them all?!
Tell me, what ideas do you have that could start integrating these ‘outcast’ personality traits to your circle?

Alison Cross

The Tarot's Court Cards are my specialist area.Β  They talk to me. Not LITERALLY though ....

17 Comments

Nicole · 11th January 2013 at 4:53 am

Thanks for the info Alison! I should have guessed it was that rascal Will Worthington. My friends gifted me with the Wildwood for my birthday and I fell in love hard. Just recently purchased the Camelot oracle because of his stunning artwork once again. He just has a wonderful gift for imbuing his subjects with such personality.

Nicole · 10th January 2013 at 5:40 pm

Hello – love your blog! Could you please tell me what deck the cards are from in your header photo? I love those strong-lookin' ladies. πŸ˜‰ Thanks!

    alisoncross · 10th January 2013 at 5:45 pm

    Hi Nicole *waves* These lovely ladies are from the DruidCraft Tarot by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm with artwork by Will Worthington. Published by Connections πŸ™‚

    I've got some of the other cards in this blog too – if you wanted to take a look, any of the blog posts called something like 'Meet The Wands' etc will have details of the Wands Court cards.

    Thanks for swinging by, I appreciate it!

Bonnie Cehovet · 10th January 2013 at 5:36 am

Interesting exercise! As with Nancy, I respond more to the female energy – especially the Queen's. I don't respond to the Page's at all, and the Knight's I feel that I have to keep in line! πŸ˜‰

Have fun with the radio gig! πŸ™‚

    alisoncross · 10th January 2013 at 5:42 pm

    What about the Kings?! You haven't mentioned them! Thanks for the good luck wishes for the Radio show, Bonnie – appreciate it!

    Ali x

alisoncross · 9th January 2013 at 10:11 pm

No rush – you know where to find it when you find a little window of time, Carla. Good luck with the workbook – sounds very interesting!

Carla · 9th January 2013 at 4:58 pm

Nice exercise, I will give it a go after I've finished tormenting myself trying to fill in the 'Your Incredible Year 2013 Workbook'. (Accusing frown toward Chloe at Inner Whispers). I'm trying hard not to set myself any of those one-more-sit-up-a-day type goals, but I must admit to having ordered an egg timer to use to limit my time online. It could work. Possibly.

Nancy Hendrickson · 9th January 2013 at 3:47 pm

All the Kings and all of the Pages are outside the circle.

    alisoncross · 9th January 2013 at 10:09 pm

    ….have you got ideas about what this might mean, Nancy?

Tarot By Arwen · 9th January 2013 at 2:18 pm

I really like this. I am going to try it. But what is an A4 size? Dang Over-The-Ponders! πŸ˜€

    alisoncross · 9th January 2013 at 5:22 pm

    aaaargh – again, we are divided by our common language!!! Just a standard sheet of copier paper, Arwen! Stop over-pondering and get on with your hoola-hooping! πŸ˜€

Vivianne · 9th January 2013 at 1:44 pm

Why only a small sherry ?? How stereotypically Scottish πŸ˜€

    alisoncross · 9th January 2013 at 10:06 pm

    I'm keeping the best booze for m'blog's first birthday *brandishes vintage champagne bottles and returns them to the cellar*

Bonkers · 9th January 2013 at 12:37 pm

nice exercise, and good luck with the radio!

    alisoncross · 9th January 2013 at 10:04 pm

    Thanks and thanks, Bonkers! Let me know how you get on with exercise!

    Ali x

Ruth · 9th January 2013 at 12:00 pm

Great post, as usually! And – a sinchronicity (us usually ;)), Prince of Coins have been stalking me! (And i've been cyber- stalking you, Ali – i just saw the link to the new post on twitter and here i am! πŸ˜€ )

    alisoncross · 9th January 2013 at 5:19 pm

    I think we just cyber-stalk each other, Ruth! I wonder which cards lie outside your circle? Not many, I'm thinking!

    Ali x

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