21 Templates that Run Your World
by
Sue Wilhite
Copyright © Sue Wilhite, 2007, 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any format without the permission of the author and the publisher.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover Art: “Fortune” from Voyager Tarot by James Wanless & Ken Knutson © Merrill-West Publishing
Interior Images from Voyager Tarot by James Wanless & Ken Knutson © Merrill-West Publishing
ISBN 13: 978-0-9794410-2-8
First Edition: April 2007
(available from most virtual and real bookstores)
Smashwords Edition: September 2011
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Gratitudes
Writing a book is a group effort; don’t let anyone tell you differently! In the seven year adventure of creating this book, a number of individuals and groups have made a huge difference:
First of all, thank you to James Wanless, my teacher and mentor. Your creativity, passion, humor and generosity were fantastic examples for me.
Thank you to my spiritual home at UCM, where the book got started during one of their events.
Thank you to all the great people at eWomenNetwork and eWomenPublishingNetwork, without whom this book would never have gotten finished as quickly as it did. You women are awesome!
Thank you to everyone who combed through the manuscript, making it better and better every time. Any errors or omissions herein are purely mine.
Thank you to the folks at the San Jose Metaphysical Book Shop, who cheered me on during the final steps to the finish.
And, of course, a thank you for my mother, who always knew I could do it.
Templates in Love, Friendship and Family
Forecasting with the Templates
According to Dictionary.com, one definition of a template is “a document or file having a preset format, used as a starting point for a particular application.” In human relations, psychologist Carl Jung introduces the concept of “archetypes” that serve as templates for common human experiences and images. An archetype represents a fundamental symbol of common, cross-cultural experience.
Everything in our lives is based on templates. We use them to make judgments and decisions all the time. For example, templates exist for the words “woman” and “man.” When you read or hear those words you automatically know certain things about them, because you have a template in your mind already set up with information. Some templates overlap. For instance, the template for “human” has certain common characteristics with “man” and “woman.”
Horoscopes represent a particular and popular kind of template. Everyone wants to know about and understand themselves, and, more importantly, they want to know something about the people around them. Even people who “don’t believe in that stuff” know what sun sign they were born under and something about its characteristics. More people know their zodiac Sun Sign than their blood type. Why? Because (at least until recently) their blood type didn’t mean anything to them. Our Sun Sign gives us a handle on our personality and on what to expect from ourselves, as well as from our family and friends. For example, Virgos are fussy, Cancers are moody, Taureans are stubborn, and Arians are impulsive. Also, knowing our sun sign allows us to discover what might occur in our lives. That’s why many magazines and newspapers print a horoscope for the day, week or month.
Another type of template, numerology, also uses our birthday to explain us to ourselves. Numerology is the study of the relationships of numbers with other facets of life. The ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras and his followers determined that each number has a specific attribute associated with it. In this book, numerology and the Tarot are combined to offer a new perspective on our inner workings and a way to forecast what the coming day, week or month holds for us.
I learned this technique in 1997 from James Wanless, PhD, the creator of the Voyager Tarot deck, and it quickly revealed to me that I was a Fool/Emperor. This powerful combination explained a lot about my behavior, such as why I was always haring off in different directions and why I was known as the “Queen of Non Sequiturs.” Worried about my latest new venture, one of my friends asked her father, a psychiatrist, what was wrong with me. He replied “There is a professional diagnosis for what Sue has: It’s called ‘entrepreneur.’” You’ll see that occupation listed under the section called “Fool at Work.”
You can use these templates as tools to get know yourself, your relatives, your business associates (assuming you know their birthdays), and what to expect from yourself and from others. You might also want to interact with someone you know and then try your hand at guessing his or her template. If they’re introverted, they might be a Priestess or Hermit; if they’re fabulously successful, they could have the Fortune template working for them.
Each template used here also can be viewed as an archetype, because it evokes symbols from nearly every culture on the planet. Thus, you might think of the Magician as Loki from the Norse worldview, and Coyote from certain Native American tribes, but it is still the Magician.
We all express our template or archetype differently. At a recent party, two people possessed the Balance template. One was an event planner who expressed Balance by having things go smoothly for people at an event; she hated chaos and lived by lists. The other was a CPA, whose career revolved around balancing numbers for clients. How much more Balanced can you get?
The two places our personalities get to express themselves the most – in relationships and at work –are also where we tend to experience the most conflicts and clashes. Nearly every person on the planet believes everyone else thinks as they do. However, it’s a pretty sure bet that no one thinks exactly alike. We can reduce some of the problems in our work lives and in our personal lives by recognizing different templates and knowing how to get along with them.
One last note: while I have used some gender-specific references within the Templates, any Template can be either sex. In other words, a man can be the Priestess or the Empress with no loss of masculinity, and a woman can be Emperor (I am!) and still be as feminine as she wishes.
*~*~*~*~
It is easy to find your template, even for the math-challenged!
You may have one, two or even three templates to work from.
First, add together the month, day and year you were born.
For example, if you were born January 21, 1959:
Now, add the digits of the total together.
(In the example above, 1 + 9 + 8 + 1 = 19)
Your sum-of-digits: __ + ___ + ___ + ___ = _______ (a)
If your number is a single digit (1 - 9), stop here. This is your Template. Go on to the next chapter to read about yourself.
If the number (a) is a two-digit number between 10 and 22 (as in the example, 19), this is your Primary Template - how you show up most in the world. Continue on to the next section to get your Secondary Template.
If the number (a) is a two-digit number of 23 and above, you’ve still got one more step to get to your Primary Template.
Add the two digits together (in the example, 1 + 9 = 10)
Your sum-of-digits: ___ + ___ = ___ (b)
If the number (b) is now a single digit (1 - 9), stop here. If (a) was between 10 and 22, this is your Secondary Template. If (a) was 23 or above, this is your Primary Template.
In certain cases (as in the example), (b) is still a two-digit number, then your final template number will always be 1 (1 + 0 = 1).
If your Primary Template was 22, that’s special! Instead of following the laws of mathematics, your Primary Template number actually becomes 0 (The Fool). The Fool has been assigned the number 0 for centuries.
If (a) was 23 or higher, continue on and use result (b) as yourPrimary Template.
*~*~*~*
Let’s work through a few more examples:
November 17, 1961
This number is higher than 22, so we just add them together one more time:
2 + 7 = 9 This is the only Template for this birthday.
December 31, 1999
The sum is between 1 and 22, so we stop here. This is the only template for this birthday.
One more:
August 24, 1986
The sum is less than 22, but it’s still a two-digit number.
The Primary Template is 11; we go on to add those digits
together:
1 + 1 = 2
2 becomes the Secondary Template.
*~*~*~*~
The Fool represents the risk-taker, the one who goes where angels fear to tread. The Fool has the unshakeable confidence that everything will work out all right in the end. The Fool sees everything as an opportunity, and every recent acquaintance becomes a new best friend. The Fool creates success, because in the Fool’s mind no possibility or concept of failure exists; the Fool always finds the silver lining in every cloud. The Fool serves as the Path Finder simply by going forward. The Fool is fascinated by anything new – an object or an experience - and will move toward them by sheer instinct. But the Fool also easily is distracted and can be led off the path at any time. The path forged by the Fool is unlikely to be a straight line, but it may be the simplest and easiest path to his destination. The Fool is incapable of sustained effort since sustained effort just isn’t “fun.”
The Fool’s motto: “What’s that over there?”
The Magician creates, transforms, manifests, and manipulates. The word “magic” comes from a root meaning “to create with word or hand.” The Magician, therefore, possesses the power to change his environment, using words or by direct touch; when the Magician feels the creative urge, mountains move, tall buildings are as candles, and making something out of nothing becomes child’s play. Most of all, the Magician has a silver tongue with the power to convince others of his or her ideas and visions, thus bringing them into reality. The Magician can make others believe in his dreams or in anything at all. So beware of playing the shell game with him!
The Magician’s motto: “Make it so!”
The Priestess represents that deep inner knowing of purpose, order and the rightness of the Universe. If the Priestess had a sound, it would be the whale song, that only is heard by those prepared to listen in an extraordinary way.
The Priestess sees through things, above things, below things, behind things. She may, however, miss what is right in front of her, for she is focused somewhere else entirely. The word “insight” was created for her. Little can ruffle the smooth waters of the Priestess – except perhaps being wrong. Depending on her degree of spiritual or emotional development, the Priestess may cause tsunamis or whirlpools to drown the unwary one who points out her error, or she may offer sincere thanks followed by a withdrawal to reset her inner compass and take account of her bearings.
None are better than the Priestess as supporters for any cause or to boost your confidence, and none are worse as opponents or for delivering sheer scorn for anyone daring to pick the “wrong” point of view.
The Priestess’ motto: “I know what I know.”
The Empress embodies love in all its aspects. Fruitful and abundant, she symbolizes love of the Earth and all that reside on or within it. Full of compassion, she comforts and protects all those who need it. She is the source of all instinct to nurture and to care for self and others. The Empress serves as the “Keeper of the Way” (sometimes known as the Tao).
The Empress cares nothing for differences in appearances or in opinions but works to find the correspondences and similarities in all things. The Empress is in touch with all that lives, and believes at a very deep level that all things are alive in their own unique way. The Empress represents growth, health and vitality. She can give too much and, therefore, must take care to maintain both internal and external boundaries.
The Empress’ motto: “What do you need?”
The Emperor is out to conquer the world and may just charm you into letting him do it! The Emperor has a plan, an idea, a goal. Although sometimes others inspire it, the Emperor always puts his own unique twist on that plan. With a grasp on the big picture and the grand scheme of things, he leaves it to others to take care of the small petty details. If too many details exist and too few people are available to take care of them, the Emperor gets bogged down and frustrated and goes off to the next fresh idea that captures his imagination.
The Emperor’s projects tend to involve matters of the material world and improvements of one sort or another. More than capable of starting a spiritual crusade of his own if so inspired, the Emperor doesn’t just rule, he leads. You’ll always find him at the forefront of any group.
The Emperor may be completely unaware of the needs of others, but, to be perfectly fair, he also ignores his own. Many Emperors suffer from burnout. The Emperor has a practical, utilitarian nature and only is interested in solutions, not problems. His focus tends to be so laser-like and his enthusiasm so high that he forgets delegation as an option.
The Emperor’s motto: “Me first!“
The Hierophant or “Light Bringer” represents the spiritual teacher, the one in touch with the divine. Unlike the Priestess, the Hierophant prefers to share this gift with others.
The Hierophant constantly seeks knowledge, and compulsively shares knowledge. The creator and/or keeper of ritual or process, the Hierophant can get bogged down with dogma and feel confident in the rightness of his or her beliefs. The Hierophant is concerned with making sure everyone shares his “true” vision and can be intolerant or impatient with those who have a different path or belief system. However, his stubbornness can serve as a great asset, since once he is set on a completing a task very little moves him from accomplishing it.