Tarot and Astrology
January 16th, 2010By Dave Campbell
I have studied the Tarot since the age of fourteen back in 1978. Early on in the Tarot books I kept seeing references to the signs and planets. Since I didn’t know astrology yet, it made me curious to learn about astrology, which never ended. After learning astrology going back and reviewing the tarot correspondences with my current knowledge some of the correspondences no longer make sense.
There can be several reasons for this, one being that Tarot is a system in itself outside of astrology. The other is that the Golden Dawn and the other occult secret societies did not want the secrets written down for commoners. They purposely switched some of the cards associations to keep the secrecy that only members would know. Another reason is that the archetypes are very universal and ten different astrologers will have ten different opinions about which card goes to which sign or planet.
I am going to give you my associations for food for thought, as it seems that what has been started and accepted as fact keeps going without question even from seasoned astrologers. I do believe that the tarot is a combination of many different disciplines, astrology, numerology, esoteric teachings, and an overall book of life. The tarot is a great tool to increase your psychic ability, and with knowledge of astrology I think you become a much better tarot reader.
Tarot consists of four suits which correspond to the four elements in astrology.
- Wands- Fire element. Action, inspiration, activity.Summer.
- Cups- Water element. Emotions, feelings, intuition. Spring.
- Swords- Air element. Thoughts, mentality, ideas. Fall
- Pentacles- Earth element. Money, physicality, tangible. Winter
There are two major parts to the tarot; The Major Arcana which is twenty two cards. Ten Planets, and twelve signs= twenty two. The minor arcane is the remaining fifty six cards, Which are the four suits, an Ace through ten, then a page, knight, queen, and king.
The major arcana is what I am going to discuss in this article.
| Number | Card | Astrological Association | Dave’s Key Words | (Others association) |
| 0 | The Fool | Gemini | Young, naiveté, curious, risk taking, adventure, restless | (Uranus) |
| 1 | The Magician | Mercury | Multi-skilled, magician, trickster, learning | (Mercury) |
| 2 | The High Priestess | Pisces | Intuition, Spiritual hidden forces, looking within | (Moon) |
| 3 | The Empress | Venus | Love, harmony, fertility, abundance | (Venus) |
| 4 | The Emperor | Mars | Masculine, battle, courage, strength, assertion, military | (Aries) |
| 5 | The Hierophant | Sagittarius | Higher knowledge, spiritual teacher, guidance, wisdom. I also think of Chiron master teacher, healer, who was turned into Sagittarius | (Taurus) |
| 6 | The Lovers | Taurus | Love, sensuality, marriage, physical union, commitment. Values. I think of Venus which rules over Taurus | (Gemini) |
| 7 | The Chariot | Aries | Taking the reins, conquest, power, triumph, success, charging full speed ahead | (Cancer) |
| 8 | Strength | Leo | Courage, strength, good health, vitality, self mastery, lust | (Leo) |
| 9 | The Hermit | Virgo | Going within, meditation, healing, reflection, planning | (Virgo) |
| 10 | The Wheel of Fortune | Jupiter | Growth, opportunities, abundance, good luck | (Jupiter) |
| 11 | Justice | Libra | Fairness, balance, equality, court, law, harmony | (Libra) |
| 12 | Then Hanged Man | Neptune | Pause, uncertainty, going within, limbo, spiritual | (Neptune) |
| 13 | Death | Scorpio | end of situation, transformation, death and rebirth, irrevocable change | (Scorpio) |
| 14 | Temperance | Cancer | moderation, alchemy, balancing emotions, balance of spirit and matter | (Sagittarius) |
| 15 | The Devil | Saturn | Restraint, bondage, negativity, fear, control, feeling chained | (Capricorn) |
| 16 | The Tower | Uranus | Disruption, sudden, and unexpected, lightning striking, crisis | (Mars) |
| 17 | The Star | Aquarius | Hope, wishes, dreams, friendship, luck, fruition, astrology | |
| 18 | The Moon | Moon | Instinct, the mother, feelings, emotions, change, female | (Pisces) |
| 19 | The Sun | Sun | Vitality, success, recognition, masculine energy, joy, leadership | (Sun) |
| 20 | Judgment | Pluto | Judging or being judged, major transformation, resurrection, regeneration | (Scorpio) |
| 21 | The World | Capricorn | Success, fulfillment of goals, achievement, karma | (Saturn) |
For those who use tarot, try these rulerships for the major arcana and see if they work for you and give you more insight into your tarot, and maybe even vice versa. If you haven’t explored the tarot perhaps this will inspire you to do so. I think astrologers can make great tarot readers.