Beginner's in Astrology

So I haven't got any idea of astrology and I am relatively new in tarot. However I wanted to know how would astrology enrich a tarot reading, is it important to study, will it offer important insights and what does it involve? (the astrology study such as houses, planets..?)

Also when I was looking at the decks at the bookshop I met a man who as an astrologer and I asked him what book would he recommend for beginners and he said that it's not that easy because 10 years will not be enough. He also expressed some negative opinions on tarot

However I still would like to know something from astrology that might help me and I would know the basics. So which keywords shall I look up online for beginning or maybe there are any books that someone could recommend?

I would be grateful.

Hi! Astrology is kind of interesting to help with getting to know the court cards - wands - fire signs, swords - air etc. but even a basic knowledge like - which dates go with what and what elements go with what is actually - kind of enough i've found for me! Also, the major arcana cards have corresponding sun signs too - death being scorpio, temperance being saggitarius. So that's really the only time i've linked astrology and tarot together in a divinatory sense. I like astrology, but yeah i don't integrate it much into my tarot readings all that often - it's just nice to know the elements/ water - fire-earth and air for tarot.

Aina said:

So I haven't got any idea of astrology and I am relatively new in tarot. However I wanted to know how would astrology enrich a tarot reading, is it important to study, will it offer important insights and what does it involve? (the astrology study such as houses, planets..?)

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Welcome to a fascinating field of study. In my opinion, knowledge of my own astrological makeup from my birth chart and the current positions of the planets does inform my Tarot readings. Especially when cards like Knight of Disks (Pentacles) or Prince of Disks crop up in a spread. I am a Virgo, an Earth sign, and the suit of Disks, Pentacles, Diamonds is also related to the Earth element, the Knight (in the pack I use, Thoth) is described as being Fire of Earth or the active, initiating principle applied to practical matters - just one interpretation. At other times I think the Prince of Disks is more appropriate to my mode. It is Air of Earth or thought applied to practical matters. Having a Pisces Moon and Cancer rising, I also identify with some of the Cups court cards too.

Aina said:

Also when I was looking at the decks at the bookshop I met a man who as an astrologer and I asked him what book would he recommend for beginners and he said that it's not that easy because 10 years will not be enough. He also expressed some negative opinions on tarot

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You may be confronted by intolerance and misunderstanding in many situations. What works for you is important. Try things out. The Magician trump tells us to gather all the necessary tools and resources around us and have them ready to hand - to use the right one for the appropriate purpose. And, discard what doesn't work for you. Other's opinions can be worthy of consideration but make your own mind up.

Aina said:

However I still would like to know something from astrology that might help me and I would know the basics. So which keywords shall I look up online for beginning or maybe there are any books that someone could recommend?

I would be grateful.

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You have access to a very valuable resource right here in the sticky note threads of the Astrology forums. There is information there about the elements, signs, houses, planets and the many other facets of astrology. http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=15205

A valuable first move, if you haven't already got one, is to get a birth chart done and thereby know which signs your Sun, Moon and planets are in plus your Rising Sign or Ascendant. All you need to get that is your time, date and place of birth. You can then use them on a website like astro.com or astrologers here could cast a chart for you.

All the best in love and light

Aina said:

So I haven't got any idea of astrology and I am relatively new in tarot. However I wanted to know how would astrology enrich a tarot reading, is it important to study, will it offer important insights and what does it involve? (the astrology study such as houses, planets..?)

Click to expand...

If you are new to Tarot then you might find it difficult to try and learn Astrology alongside your work on the Tarot. I'd suggest concentrating on Tarot and not worrying too much about any 'astrological correspondences' till you are happy with your basic readings and understanding.

I don't think a knowledge of Astrology is essential or even 'important' though I do think it helps if you try more than one method of divination. There's no real agreement on those 'correspondences', so they tend to be personal subjective connections (which isn't a bad thing) and may differ between readers and indeed between deck designers.

Aina said:

Also when I was looking at the decks at the bookshop I met a man who as an astrologer and I asked him what book would he recommend for beginners and he said that it's not that easy because 10 years will not be enough. He also expressed some negative opinions on tarot

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Well he's entitled to his opinion but I certainly wouldn't take a negative view of Tarot, though I tend now to only use Astrology.

Astrology is not easy to learn, there are more 'rules' and more 'structures' than Tarot. However, if all you are looking for is a general overview and perhaps understanding of why astrological correspondences exist in Tarot, then you can learn more than enough in a lot less than ten years - more like ten months or for a brief overview ten weeks.

I've been studying Astrology on and off for over 40 years and I'm still learning but that is the case with Tarot readers too. There's a difference between being a skilled or professional user and having a general insight. So don't be put off by his statement but do recognise that if you are going to become an Astrologer, rather than a Tarot reader, it could take you a fair amount of time.

Aina said:

However I still would like to know something from astrology that might help me and I would know the basics. So which keywords shall I look up online for beginning or maybe there are any books that someone could recommend?

I would be grateful.

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Most correspondences cited by Tarot deck designers involve the Sun, Moon, the signs and the four elements, Fire, Earth, Air, Water. Depending on the deck designer you may well get references to the five other traditional planets, Mercury through to Saturn. There may be decks out there that use the outers but I don't know of any, off hand.

zhan.thay is right in that you have a valuable resource here, search for astrological correspondences in posts, especially those in threads that have that as a central theme.

I did a few posts by invitation in the Deck of the Month for September thread

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=201597&highlight=Astrological+Correspondences

But you will find a considerable number of threads, many will be helpful.

If you decide to take Astrololgy further then follow zhan.thay's advice and look at an introduction to natal Astrology - you will find reading and resources in our resources thread and of course you are always welcome to ask questions.

A useful website to get brief descriptions of planets and signs is:

http://www.skyscript.co.uk/

Aina said:

So I haven't got any idea of astrology and I am relatively new in tarot. However I wanted to know how would astrology enrich a tarot reading, is it important to study, will it offer important insights and what does it involve? (the astrology study such as houses, planets..?)

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My simple answer to this is NO. I've grown up with all sorts of cards and other tools for manipulating the energy and the surroundings and didn't study astrology at the time which didn't prevent me from doing well enough. I started with astrology many years later. I still let astrology speak through my cards (or the other way around) very very rarely as I prefer to keep all my tools clean. My readings are much more influenced by quotes of books or movies, or musical pieces which make me think of a particular card, as well as by my studies of history, religion, ethnography and ethymology.

Aina said:

So I haven't got any idea of astrology and I am relatively new in tarot. However I wanted to know how would astrology enrich a tarot reading, is it important to study, will it offer important insights and what does it involve? (the astrology study such as houses, planets..?)

Also when I was looking at the decks at the bookshop I met a man who as an astrologer and I asked him what book would he recommend for beginners and he said that it's not that easy because 10 years will not be enough. He also expressed some negative opinions on tarot

However I still would like to know something from astrology that might help me and I would know the basics. So which keywords shall I look up online for beginning or maybe there are any books that someone could recommend?

I would be grateful.

Click to expand...

I think, depending on your own interest/gut feeling about this it could be complementary. Any two forms of divination can be complementary. For me, I started studying animals when I was a kid and in my first study, then Human culture in university, then astrology as a science and now tarot as my intuition tells me this is something new and interesting for me. I can see overlap in all of these fields. But then again, everything in human life does have overlap. It's all patterns. You could find overlapping patterns in your readings with your astrology (natal, transits, progressions etcetera).

I would advice anyone to trust their instinct. When it tells you now is the time for astrology, then study it. If you feel it's too much, then don't. We are capable of knowing when the time is right for something without knowing exactly why. Trust that.

DitisJenn said:

I think, depending on your own interest/gut feeling about this it could be complementary. Any two forms of divination can be complementary. For me, I started studying animals when I was a kid and in my first study, then Human culture in university, then astrology as a science and now tarot as my intuition tells me this is something new and interesting for me. I can see overlap in all of these fields. But then again, everything in human life does have overlap. It's all patterns. You could find overlapping patterns in your readings with your astrology (natal, transits, progressions etcetera).

I would advice anyone to trust their instinct. When it tells you now is the time for astrology, then study it. If you feel it's too much, then don't. We are capable of knowing when the time is right for something without knowing exactly why. Trust that.

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Thank you for this great advise! I love the planets and astronomy to be more precise. I have never really been very much into astrology because it reminds me of those cheap daily horoscopes in daily papers. As if the whole Earth population can be divided into 12 types and their week would be predicted in the same way. It doesn't make sense for me. Same with a tarot reading. How can 1 tarot reading predict the week for everyone? In the same way? It might be though that everyone relates differently with the same info.

I still feel that what annoys me the most about my tarot readings is that "am I doing it right"? As if there is one right way. Now I read many blogs and posts here and everyone seems to have their own style, their own philosophy and their own experience. Now I haven't discovered "mine" and then the tarot readings don't feel as good as they could be. Even my husband notices that "I don't feel comfortable with this or that deck or that I keep repeating the same phrases". So I know it does overlap, I closely study The Law of Attraction and some other stuff and for me tarot is just "a mirror" that shows where is my mind now, what are the thoughts creating now and where would it lead if not changed. So that's all that tarot is for me. A mind mirror, lol. So thanks for telling to trust the intuition again!

Aina said:

Thank you for this great advise! I love the planets and astronomy to be more precise. I have never really been very much into astrology because it reminds me of those cheap daily horoscopes in daily papers. As if the whole Earth population can be divided into 12 types and their week would be predicted in the same way. It doesn't make sense for me.

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LOL, They annoy me too but there's far more to Astrology than simple Sun sign types. They are only a crude approximation. That being said, they still contain more personality types than in most developed theories of psychology.

I think DitisJenn is right, go with your feeling here, if you think it's the right time then dip in but I would suggest that you learn it as a complementary method of divination and as you get into it you'll begin to make connections.

Aina said:

So I haven't got any idea of astrology and I am relatively new in tarot. However I wanted to know how would astrology enrich a tarot reading, is it important to study, will it offer important insights and what does it involve? (the astrology study such as houses, planets..?)

Also when I was looking at the decks at the bookshop I met a man who as an astrologer and I asked him what book would he recommend for beginners and he said that it's not that easy because 10 years will not be enough. He also expressed some negative opinions on tarot

However I still would like to know something from astrology that might help me and I would know the basics. So which keywords shall I look up online for beginning or maybe there are any books that someone could recommend?

I would be grateful.

Click to expand...

I would suggest specializing in either tarot or astrology. I don't think that astrology would necessarily enhance your tarot readings. I think about astrological symbolism every day, basically, and I don't know anything about tarot symbolism (and I have Tad Mann's deck and use tarot occasionally). I would suggest, I have had a local person who is apparently popular trade readings with me (a mistake) and she obviously doesn't understand the symbolism of the cards she used.

All learning that enlightens you is good. Tarot to me is very holistic, it is another tool that enables me to work with the life I am living. I use numerology, astrology and intuition in my readings and card study, but not always all together.

My daughter started reading Tarot encouraged by me and has now become totally fascinated with Astrology, which she is studying every spare moment she gets.

The fact that you have even asked this must mean there is some attraction so I would follow that to where it leads