AUTHOR’S NOTE: Not long ago I read a psychological article that described personality as being innate or instinctual, while character develops gradually over time through repetitive experiences that eventually solidify into a Pavlovian “conditioned response.” In astrological terms, personality is the purview of the natal horoscope while the emergence of character can be shown by major transits and progressions over the ensuing years. We’re born with one and must learn how to master the other. I decided to see if I could shoehorn that premise into a simple tarot snapshot. A single card was pulled from the top of three designated sub-packs after shuffling and cutting.

Because the natal horoscope is essentially an archetypal blueprint of the individual that relies on the symbolic qualities of the planets and signs, I used the trump cards for the personality component of the spread after separating my deck into Major Arcana, Minor Arcana and court cards.

Due to their utilitarian nature, the Minor Arcana seemed to work best for the middle position that is intended to show adaptive attitudes and behaviors that can be brought to bear on integration of the personality and the character.

In The Book of Thoth, Aleister Crowley presented his thoughts on the court cards in what I’ve dubbed “proto-psychological vignettes” that expressed his vision of their characteristics as “moral qualities.” This struck me as a serviceable model for my purpose here.

I chose my own status to practice on because I know my birth chart inside-and-out.

I’ve never owned up to being an unprincipled minion of the Devil, but the tarot certainly seems to think so. In fact, I have a powerful Capricorn Moon in my birth chart that could stand in for this keynote feature. Years ago I told an astrological colleague that it means “I learn by doing.”

The 5 of Disks (Mercury in Taurus) is interesting as the mediator between the Devil and the Knight of Disks. Mercury is highly adaptive and Taurus is almost criminally insecure, so the 5 of Disks is trying to appease the Devil while nervously offering its apologies to the Knight of Disks for being so inconstant, all the time looking over its shoulder to make sure the former isn’t getting miffed by its vacillation. I’m not inclined to worry but I am prone to critical self-reflection, and here that tendency to second-guess myself is caught between two taskmasters.

In practical terms, Earth is security-oriented by nature and Taurus is doubly so, leaving Mercury “dancing a jig” trying to stay in step with it. In addition, Taurus is an agricultural sign and the Knight of Disks is the “Lord of the Wide and Fertile Fields,” but the Devil sows and reaps nothing but discord, which in the realm of personality can mean being at war with oneself. In this case I think of Mercury as the Knight’s “field hand” who does all the menial labor and complains about it to upper management.

The Knight of Disks is a worthy avatar for my character even though I have a Cancer Sun and Scorpio Ascendant to go with that Capricorn Moon. I’ve always been an extremely pragmatic type in most ways although I’m not nearly as bucolic as this Knight. Suffice it to say that I’m not easily moved when I’ve finally made up my mind.

This triptych with its prominent Earth emphasis hangs together quite well as a composite profile of my typology since my horoscope is almost entirely Water and Earth. The cards precisely reflect how I normally conduct my business in that I can be sly when it suits me but never totally dishonest (Devil); I’m clever, crafty and detail-oriented to a fault (5 of Disks/Mercury in Taurus); and I’m a faithful steward (Knight of Disks) of the acre of ground I “own” (although “lease from the government with my property taxes” is a more accurate description).

When asked what I do in retirement, I say “I’m a yard-warden and a honey-doer” (in that order). But one of my old bosses once told me I would make a good corporate lawyer. (It must have been that Devil he was seeing.) I’m pretty sure he had two ulterior motives: he was going to law school himself and wanted someone with whom to share the driving on the 150-mile round-trip he had to make twice a week; and he was almost certainly getting a tuition kickback for any new students he brought in. (I get cynical when it comes to lawyers.)