The cards profiled here correspond to a woman’s personal realization of wholeness. This psychological profiling comes from the work of psychologist Carl Jung’s assistant and mistress, Antonia Wolff. Toni Wolff took Jung’s work with personality types, which he devised using the four suits of the Tarot, and expanded on it to define the psychological types of women. According to Jung, there are four personality types, intuitive (wands), sensate (pentacles, feeling (cups) and thinking (swords). All of us have aspects of each type, but are born with one dominant; another secondary, a third one lesser and a fourth that we may never develop. The fully realized individual is well balanced in all aspects of all four types.
Wolff used the 4 Queens of the Tarot 
to create the four psychological types of woman. The four types combine to form a solid structure of the feminine psyche. Wolff’s theory mirrors Jung’s in that all women will be one type dominant, with another type secondary, third type develops as they age and the forth type may or may not ever develop. The fully realized woman is solid in all four areas of feminine psyche. The four psychological types of women according to Wolff are, Mother (wands), Amazon (pentacles), Hetaera (cups), and Medial (swords).
The four types of woman further break down to two additional types: personal and impersonal. The Mother and the Hetaera woman need personal interaction to be happy. They are both more interested in developing someone else. While the Amazon and the Medial woman do not need personal interaction to be happy.
Mother (wands): A mother is not necessarily a biological mother. This woman finds fulfillment in relationships where she can physically care for someone. She is all about the objective care for growth facilitation, healing, nurturing. (She’s the chicken soup lady) The healthy forming and then setting free brings her emotional completion. The deeper psychological needs are not so often considered or protected by this type.
Mother DARK SIDE: The undeveloped Mother becomes anxious and cannot exist without this role. This excess becomes tyranny, jealousy, over protective, smothering. Mother types can be savage on other people’s egos.
Hetaera (cups) Hetaera is the Greek word for woman companion. Sexually enlightened, in the “yab yum,” kundalini, yin yang, sense. She is not monogamous, or she is serial monogamous. NOT a whore, she has connection with her mate’s psyche. She is a true facilitator of the consciousness of those she is affiliated with. The muse, the inspirer, she takes care of the internal, the talents of someone else. She becomes whole primarily by her relationship/ as she helps others grow she grows herself. She is oriented towards the subtle aspects of relationships. Prestige – social position are not particularly important to her. She can be instrumental in the growth of the world’s consciousness.
Hetaera DARK SIDE: The undeveloped or negative Hetaera is someone who stimulates the shadow side in others. People who are stimulated by her lose their focus on who they are and their inner values. She is the classic femme fatale or Mata Hari; she causes trouble and pain.
Amazon (pentacles) Just as an aside, the Spaniards named the Indians in South America Amazons because when they first caught sight of the male warriors with their long hair they thought they were women. Bet it scared them out of their wits. This woman is tough; she has a marshal psyche, the antithesis of the Hetaera. The Amazon is never the companion; she is an objective achiever, competitive with men. She wants position for the sheer power of it. She is inattentive to feeling, and sensitivity. She is an extrovert, a font of power and ability. She is an achiever.
Amazon DARK SIDE: The undeveloped Amazon is a strident pain in the neck. She is undiplomatic and blunt: an “in your face” confrontational woman.
Medial Woman (swords) The original name was Medium Woman, medium turned into medial when translated into English. This woman is not just psychic, might not even be psychic, more an inter mediate, she expresses the unconscious, the collective unconscious in particular. She is a mouthpiece for the depths of the psyche. People dislike her often because they don’t’ understand her. When a Medial Woman knows how to handle her insights then she can be an invaluable source of truth. Fully developed she is the Wise Woman.
Medial Woman DARK SIDE: The undeveloped Medial Woman is an annoying crank. She has an unconscious attitude towards the unconscious as in she is unable to consciously shine a light on what surfaces. She doesn’t question or criticize her insights, she doesn’t have mental gate keeping skills. So while what she says may be truth, she never grounds it or puts it in perspective or clarifies it in her conscious, she just spews the stuff that comes to her.
Please note:
This reading is meant for the practice of Tarot meditation designed to build fluency in the symbolism to aid in personal transcendence. People also consult the cards as an oracle. Caution is advised. An oracle opens the door to spiritual deception as easily as spiritual truth. To read more about Tarot application to the Tree of Life go to http://bit.ly/fsDury
Mary T. Ficalora, is the author of the award winning book, Choosing Honor: a philosophical treatise that applies the symbolism found on the Tree of Life to reveal an unpredictable tonic for what ails America. For more on Kabbalah and how it relates to the tonic prescribed in Choosing Honor go to http://bit.ly/f9unrX
Choosing Honor 