Within the Enneagram, there are three centers of intelligence – Heart, Mind, and Body. Body (gut) types are 8, 9, and 1. Mind (head) types are 5, 6, and 7. Heart (image) types are 2, 3, and 4. Body types operate their sense of knowing and understanding through the body, determining what ‘is’ and ‘isn’t’ and giving attention to unspoken frequencies. Mind types use their sense of awareness and questioning through their heads, actively avoiding or engaging with conceptual ideas and thoughts. Heart types monitor their sense of understanding and involvement through image, paying attention to details that are met by the eye and indications of who they are. A person’s Personality gives authority to just one of these centers, while the others become neglected or used as a secondary or last resort. Ideally, we would work on becoming present in all three centers, and allowing a flow to exist that involves a deeper aspect, such as Soul or Spirit, to guide us.
Tarot can be looked at abstractly in many different ways, but to possibly see this happen through the movement of the cards we can cut the deck into different lines. The first cycle, represented by The Fool through The Wheel of Fortune (or the Aces through the Pages), start a person off with the surface level of these centers. The cards show figures that can be mirrored in aspects of our life and the associations we have with them. The associations are the first to identify, and as we elevate through the cards, we actually fall deeper into the core of those figures. The second cycle, represented by Justice through The World (or the Knights through the Kings), is seen as the previous cycle now in alignment with Spirit. Once figuring out what separates us, we now delve deeper into where those associations came from and how it all forms back into One. The first cycle could be considered as expansion, and the second cycle as contraction, only to explode and transform the cycles to begin again.
*As a small note - the numbers/types of the enneagram do not line up or correlate with the numbers of the Tarot cards. For example, Type 5 is not meant to represent Card 5.*
The Fool
The Fool is card 0, indicating the absence of a definite number, and an infinite quality. The Fool acts as the birth of an awareness – the centers of intelligence require attention; something is causing a disturbance and is ready to be shifted. This card allows all centers to be unknowingly influenced by Spirit, taking a step into the Unknown.
The Magician (1), The High Priestess (2), The Empress (3)
Or the Aces, Twos, and Threes of the Minor Arcana
These cards can be seen as the Heart center’s energy. Placed in the beginning of the movement through the deck, there is a sense of ‘I AM’. We analyze who we are and what we’re doing in life. It’s the beginning of the journey, so everything is still existing on the surface. What qualities are acting as a spark within us? Where are our passions or energies needing balance? What kinds of actions do we allow our emotions to take? The ability to be present to what needs to be received in order to put it into action will be the main work with these cards.
The Emperor (4), The Hierophant (5), The Lovers (6)
Or the Fours, Fives, and Sixes of the Minor Arcana
This progress is symbolic of crossing a bridge, and is active in the Mind center. As we cross a bridge, the questions begin to arise with who we once were and who we are about to become. This will be more of an analytic approach – What are our responsibilities? What do we believe in? What do we want mirrored back to us? These ideas begin to break down in order to take the things we need with us and abandon what we don’t need.
The Chariot (7), Strength (8), The Hermit (9)
Or the Sevens, Eights, and Nines of the Minor Arcana
The previous concepts start to settle in the Body center with these cards. The inner sense of knowing starts to tear things apart, regain autonomy, and retreat within the internal realms. Paying attention to sensation, instinctual needs, and disturbances of frequencies without words or actions can elevate us to begin working with Spirit.
Wheel of Fortune
Or the Tens and Pages of the Minor Arcana
Wheel of Fortune now brings in the concept of working with the centers of intelligence alongside Sprit. This card symbolizes the center remaining constant as everything around us continues in movement. We aren’t going to understand the Unknown, but we have to trust its process. The Tens of the Minor Arcana indicate the completion of a cycle, only to be brought again in a transcended, different form as life continues to move on. The Pages represent the new yet naïve energy with Spirit. What is the potential? What could this energy bring? You’re just an apprentice, so the possibilities are still growing.
Justice (11), The Hanged Man (12), Death (13)
Or the Knights of the Minor Arcana
The Heart center, working alongside Spirit, elevates us to territory that hasn’t been discovered yet, but has existed within our core the entire time. This requires the breaking down, or contracting of the Self or ‘I AM’. Why are we doing what we’re doing in life? What happens when we can’t have access to the things we normally have? What needs to ‘die’ in order to change? The Heart breaks and surrenders what it thinks it is, in order to allow it to open and access what it truly feels. Knights act to propel us forward with this new alignment. Where will these feelings actually take us? What messages can we hear now that will guide us?
Temperance (14), The Devil (15), The Tower (16)
Or the Queens of the Minor Arcana
These cards are located in the Mind center coexisting with spirit. Again, something within awareness needs to break down and contract in order to understand its true essence. Where does a thought need to be examined and balanced? Where are we associating with our guilt and creating unnecessary limits? What structures have we built that need to be destroyed and rebuilt to be stronger? The Mind becomes uncomfortable and surrenders what it believes to be true, in order to allow it to become fully aware. The Queens help to bring us beneath the surface of these questions into the deep realms of the Unconscious, that in turn will help bring the true qualities back to the surface or Consciousness.
The Star (17), The Moon (18), The Sun (19)
Or The Kings of the Minor Arcana
Located in the body while aligned with Spirit, these cards break down and contract our inner sense of knowing. These energetic aspects reflect the Universe’s natural placement with Earth. Listening to how our body speaks to the energy of The Star, The Moon, or The Sun can transform what it previously understood within the Self to something beyond. What is trying to heal? What unconscious instincts demand attention? What realizations need to come out into the light? The Body retracts and surrenders to what it thinks it experiences in order to allow it to be fully present and autonomous. The Kings assume a position of stability and grounding, fully taking their place and knowing what to do by listening to this alignment.
Judgement
The Self has now expanded and contracted, only to expand again. A person realizes who they are, separate from everyone else - breaks down as if returning to a place at the core, only to realize that core exists within everyone. Judgement is a complete surrender of the centers and Spirit, acting as One to help guide into the Unknown.
The World
The World is a new sense of Self, ready and willing to be broken down yet again for the process to repeat. The Heart, Mind, and Body will continue to regenerate as different forms of itself throughout life. As environments change, so do people, so keeping this process in mind can help allow the cycle to just happen rather than resisting it. The World is similar to The Fool, ready to brace the Unknown and acknowledging its completeness and totality.