astro tarot

I appologise if this has already been asked before or is in the wrong place, but a friend of mine is ken to learn both tarot and astrology and i was wondering what is the best deck for this that is suitable for a beginner?
cheers.

A big challenge

Tarot is tarot, astrology is astrology, and both systems are independant of one another. Yes, having been developed and practiced by common cultures, they do have a small amount of intersection -- but that is relatively minimal and is best left to later studies once both subjects have been learned.

The areas of intersection vary due to different schools of thought and are not, in my opinion, necessary or appropriate for most beginners to concern themselves with. Two accomplished tarot readers can use astrological tie-ins quite differently. Tarot can often be learned such that you can reach a level of reading proficiency within a couple of months to a year. Whereas astrology might take a minimum of a year to learn natal astrology to a couple of years -- and to learn a reasonable amount of the rest of astrology could take from three or four years to ten years. I'm using general impressions here based on the people I have taught and worked with over 35 years.

So, do encourage your friend to learn either or both, but also to have a realistic approach so that he/she doesn't get discouraged after investing some time and hard work. Both are greatly rewarding. Dave

Hi,
also me and my friend (he is experienced in Astrology and I am in Tarot) think that it depends on how you like to aproach things. If your friend is more one who likes to combine intellect with emotions or even are more fond of the rationalistic ways of life he might get better along with Astrology which is quite mathematic and rational in some parts. If he likes it more emotional and perceptive, Tarot would be the thing for him. If he isn't decided, he might try both and stick more to what gives him the right feeling. A lot work to learn is both, but its worthy.

Regards
Petra

For a long time, I didn't use Tarot cards at all...they sort of lost my interest, I suppose, and other issues became more important. Then I began learning astrology, and now hope to incorporate that into Tarot to expand my knowledge of it once again.

I think Astrology can be used to expand your knowledge of Tarot, but not the other way around since Tarot has no relevance to Astrology. Certain cards are ruled by certain planets, which can aid in interpretation (especially in those nasty Court Cards!). However, you can't use Tarot cards to add to Astrology, unless you're really creative with it.

I would say learn both at first. Learning basic Sun Sign astrology (if you don't know what that is, Sun Signs are based on your birthday: i.e., October 2nd would be a Libra) never hurt anyone and just that has helped me deal with people and learn about them. And just knowing that you can apply it to Tarot, especially in the Court Cards. It's easier in interpretation to know that the Queen of Wands is a Leo, for example, and also helps in imagining a person's physical characteristics: the Lion Queen of Wands would probably have a flowing "mane" of hair, for example. It also helps to know that Leo rules the card Strength: willpower and energy, but also the possibility of being tyrannical in power. Unfortunately, regarding Court Cards, the QoW is the only particular example this website gives that I could find so far.

Overall, start to learn a little bit of both and see which your friend likes best. Keep in mind that Tarot is a little more in-depth but quicker to learn, while Astrology is both logical and harder to learn, just like Dave said.

Hope my advice helped!
~Nicky

Thanks Dave,Persephone, Gemini! That is all insightful stuff. I think she might appriceiate the sun sign stuff, Gemini, but I also see your point dave. I will put these comments to her and see where she wants to take go with it.much apprieciated!

I've actually found the traditional Golden Dawn astrological Tarot attributions to be misleading in certain cases when it comes to comparison with actual astrological energies. In some cases it seems to be right on (High Priestess and Luna), but in other cases it's just...off. (e.g. Temperance and Sagittarius) So, I agree -- learn them both independently first.

I would suggest a deck with the astrological attributions written on each card. That makes it a LOT easier to comprehend and learn.

Voron said:

I've actually found the traditional Golden Dawn astrological Tarot attributions to be misleading in certain cases when it comes to comparison with actual astrological energies. In some cases it seems to be right on (High Priestess and Luna), but in other cases it's just...off. (e.g. Temperance and Sagittarius) So, I agree -- learn them both independently first.

Click to expand...

I agree w/Voron and would discourage learning astro and tarot together right away. The GD minor card associations in particular will be very different from traditional astrological meanings. The reason for this is b/c the GD is working off a Qabalistic model, which is supposed to tap into the entire meaning of the planets in the 4 worlds - while, according to Robert Wang, practical astrology only exists in one. This is why, for example, 10 of swords (Sun in Gemini - Malkuth in Yetzirah) is so catastrophic, but an astrologer would hardly consider this a poor natal placement.

Personally I think it makes more sense to learn the tarot in conjunction w/the qabalah.

Any Deck!

rebecca-smiles said:

I appologise if this has already been asked before or is in the wrong place, but a friend of mine is ken to learn both tarot and astrology and i was wondering what is the best deck for this that is suitable for a beginner? cheers.

Click to expand...

One of the happy little extra bonuses of the so-called
Golden Dawn attributions (they were a wacky bunch~
and made a complete shambles of the Court Cards too)
is the way the assignments dove-tail with the Signs:

Cardinal 2-3-4
Fixed 5-6-7
Mutable 8-9-10

Just that alone gives a nice feel for contemplating any
associations there may be in the respective energies.

For instance...
All the 3's are centre Cardinal - Queens
All the 6's are centre Fixed - Kings
All the 9's are centre Mutable - Knights

Absolutely ANY Tarot Deck works fine with Astrology!
After all~ Astrology is INTUITIVE and not a Science.

It's really a lot of fun to think about!
PS: Forget about the KCQabbalah stuff.