Angeles Arrien designed the Preferential Shapes Test as a psychological test. So why I am I covering it as a divination method? If we accept, as one definition of the word divination, ‘discerning information not readily-available through conventional means’, then this tool arguably has a place as a divination method. One of the benefits of divination, as I see it, is using it to better understand yourself and others, and this test can definitely help you with that. The Preferential Shapes Test can also double as an intriguing party game–if people are willing to share their test results! This is also one of those tests you may want to re-take periodically throughout life, as your strengths, values, and mind-set will undoubtedly change.

The downside of this tool is, because it gives you such a good picture into a person’s internal thought-processes, the administration of this test to the unaware could be considered an invasion of their privacy. I know it was very accurate about me when I took it. So be careful to whom you give this test, and give them the option of keeping their answers private! For those who want to delve more deeply into this self-discovery tool, I encourage you to track down a copy of Angeles Arrien’s excellent book, which discusses this test and how it came about in a much more detail. For those interested, the citation is below:

Arrien, Angeles. Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam. 1998. ISBN: 0-87477-933-2.

EXERCISES:

  1. Look at the answers on your own Preferential Shapes Test. Does it accurately reflect what is going on in your own mind and life right now? Did it hold any surprises for you? Is it helpful at all in pointing the way ahead for you?
  2. Administer the test to one or more people you know, then analyze the results with them (if they are agreeable about sharing their answers with you). Did it tell you (or them) anything new and revealing about the person who took the test? Did in confirm for you anything which you already knew about them? Was the shape they placed in Position 5 no surprise to you?

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