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Sometimes it’s hard to name what’s really going on beneath the surface. You might keep getting stuck in the same kinds of situations, or repeating the same patterns in relationships, without fully understanding why. It can feel like you’re going in circles. Like something underneath is shaping your choices, but you can’t quite see it clearly.
That’s the kind of stuckness I love helping people explore. I’ve started to explore using the Enneagram as another tool alongside tarot in the work I do with people. The Enneagram is a personality framework made up of nine types, each describing a core motivation and set of patterns we tend to fall into. And so far, even just scratching the surface, I’m discovering so much. Tools like the enneagram and tarot work together in such a powerful way.
What I want to explore in this post is how the Enneagram and tarot can complement each other. How knowing someone’s Enneagram type can make a tarot reading more powerful, and how using a tool like tarot can help bring a deeper understanding of your type into focus. As I’ve been refreshing my knowledge of the nine types, I’ve started to see them show up in the way people talk about their lives during readings.
If you want to read more about my personal journey with the Enneagram, you can check out this post. This post is about what happens when you start listening to people’s stories with both systems in mind, and how tarot and the Enneagram can deepen each other when used together.
The Enneagram as a Lens, Tarot as a Mirror
Different Tools, Shared Purpose
The Enneagram offers a map of long-haul personality patterns. It helps people understand what tends to drive them beneath the surface and how they respond to stress and growth. There’s a depth to it that can take years to really get to grips with. But once you start to see your core type clearly, everything starts to shift.
Tarot works on a different layer. It speaks to the present moment and opens up the emotional landscape you’re currently in. It doesn’t explain why you are the way you are, but it helps you tune in to what’s going on right now. It can name the inner conflict you’ve been avoiding or highlight the opportunities that feel just out of reach.
Together, they offer a fuller picture. One gives you language for your lifelong patterns. The other helps you interpret the moment you’re in. Both invite you into awareness and choice.
Spotting Patterns as You Read
When I’m working with someone and I’ve got the Enneagram in mind, I start noticing little things. The words they use. The metaphors they reach for. The kind of stories they tell. I might not know someone’s type for sure, but I can see the patterns.
That awareness helps me approach a tarot reading with more nuance. I’m not reading for a label. I’m tuning in to how someone makes sense of the world, how they’re defending against what they fear, and where there might be space for movement or softening.
Even when someone doesn’t know their type, or hasn’t explored the Enneagram before, those patterns still show up. They’re baked into the way we speak and think and process things. And having a working knowledge of the Enneagram helps me see those patterns more clearly. It gives me a kind of shorthand for how someone might be experiencing their situation and what kind of support or challenge might be helpful.
Recognising a Type Mid-Reading
A Real-Life Example: Working with the Enneagram and Tarot
I was reading for someone recently, and as they were speaking, I started to sense a strong Type 2 energy. The drive to help. The fear of being unwanted. The way they downplayed their own needs. Even though we hadn’t done a typing session, I had a sense of what might be going on beneath the surface.
That awareness changed the way I read for them. I didn’t say, “You’re a Type 2,” or try to put them in a box. But I was able to speak to the deeper story that might be playing out. The cards showed a need to set boundaries, to come home to themselves, to stop pouring all their energy into others without receiving care in return.
Because I had a sense of how Type 2s tend to behave in stress and in growth, I could meet them with more empathy. I could also challenge them gently. Not just say, “This card means you need rest,” but, “It sounds like there’s a pattern here where your worth gets tied up in how much you do for others. What might it look like to do something just for you?”
That’s the kind of nuance that Enneagram awareness brings. Not certainty, but context. A way of listening more deeply and offering something that actually helps.
Working With the Pattern
Understanding the Enneagram means I’m not just interpreting cards in a vacuum. I’m paying attention to how a person’s inner world might be shaping their response to the reading. If someone’s stuck, their type might be pushing them to double down on what’s familiar. But the cards might be inviting them to do the opposite.
For example, a Type 9 might avoid conflict to keep the peace, but the cards might be showing a need to assert themselves. A Type 3 might be pushing themselves too hard, chasing success, while the cards are pointing toward rest and reflection. Knowing the type pattern doesn’t replace the reading. It adds a new layer to it.
This kind of insight also helps me shape the questions I ask during a reading. If I have a sense that someone might be operating from a particular pattern, I can ask things like, “What feels risky about saying no?” or “What’s the story you’re telling yourself about what makes you valuable?” Those questions come from understanding the deeper drivers of behaviour, and they tend to land more powerfully.
Readings That Go Deeper When You Know the Type
Typing and Tarot Together
I’ve done typing sessions with a few people recently, and what I’ve noticed is how much more focused and useful the tarot reading becomes once someone has a clearer sense of their type. The Enneagram gives a framework. Tarot gives a mirror. Together, they help people understand both the map and the moment.
Knowing your type brings clarity to why you react the way you do, why certain patterns repeat, and what your blind spots might be. Then when you bring tarot into the mix, you’re not just analysing yourself. You’re reflecting on where that type pattern is showing up right now, in your real life, with all its mess and complexity.
It’s helped people feel less overwhelmed. Less like they’re being dragged around by their habits, and more like they’ve got tools to understand and shift them. The cards don’t give answers, but they do highlight choice points. And when you understand the deeper motives behind your choices, it’s easier to make different ones.
Tailored Insight That Sticks
Once I have a sense of someone’s type, I find myself choosing different metaphors, different language. A Type 6 might respond better to grounded reassurance than big-picture visioning. A Type 4 might need help naming what’s real, rather than disappearing into what could be.
It’s subtle, but it matters. It’s the difference between advice that sounds good in theory and insight that actually lands. I’m still reading the cards, still listening for what’s being said and what’s not. But having that Enneagram lens helps me read in a way that feels more attuned to the person in front of me.
What This Might Look Like
A Growing Approach
One of the ideas I’ve been playing with is combining Enneagram typing interviews with tarot deep dives. Start with a session focused on exploring your core type, and then move into follow-up sessions where we look at how your type shows up in different areas of life: relationships, career, self-worth, decision-making.
These wouldn’t be formulaic sessions. They’d be collaborative. We’d look at what’s coming up for you, and we’d use the cards to reflect on it through the lens of your type. The Enneagram helps us name the pattern. Tarot helps us explore it in the present.
This is something I’ve been testing quietly with a few people I know, and it’s already sparked some really rich insights. I’m still learning what works best, and I imagine it’ll evolve as I go. But the combination of these two tools feels full of potential.
Try It For Yourself
If you’ve already got a sense of your type, and you’re curious how tarot might help you work with it more consciously, that’s something we can explore. And if you’re new to both systems, that’s fine too. You don’t need to be an expert in either. You just need to be willing to reflect.
This isn’t about fixing yourself. It’s about seeing yourself more clearly. Understanding why you do what you do. And finding ways to soften some of the patterns that are keeping you stuck.
Seeing Yourself More Clearly
In the end, that’s what this is all about. Not finding the perfect system. Not memorising labels or card meanings. But learning to live with more clarity, compassion, and choice.
If you want to explore your type, or see how tarot might help you understand your patterns, I’d love to work with you. And if you’re curious about my own Enneagram story, you can read about it here.
