The Leadership and Authority Spread
Leadership is one of the most complex interpersonal arts — it requires vision, communication, emotional intelligence, and the ability to inspire others without controlling them. This spread is designed for anyone who leads — in a formal organizational role, as a parent, as a community organizer, or as the person others instinctively turn to. Six cards examine your current leadership strengths, where your leadership has blind spots or shadow elements, how others are experiencing your leadership right now, the leadership challenge most pressing for you, the quality most needed to develop, and what your leadership looks like when it is fully expressed.
Step 1: Instructions
Use when taking on a new leadership role, when team dynamics have become strained, when you feel uncertain about your leadership approach, or when feedback has suggested that your leadership is not landing as intended. Also valuable for people who resist the leader label but find themselves in that position regardless — this spread meets the reluctant leader with honesty.
Step 2: Card Positions
- #1Your current leadership strengths
- #2Where your leadership has blind spots or shadow
- #3How others are experiencing your leadership now
- #4The most pressing leadership challenge you face
- #5The quality most needed for you to develop
- #6Your leadership fully expressed
Step 3: Interpretation Advice
The Emperor in any position is significant but especially in position six (leadership fully expressed) — it is the archetype of mature, grounded, boundaried authority. The High Priestess in leadership spreads often appears in position four (the pressing challenge) for leaders who need to develop more listening, intuition, and receptivity alongside their directive strengths.
The Leadership and Authority Spread
Total Cards
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