Does the Zodiac play an important role in Tarot?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 29 Aug 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Asura	29 Aug 2003
Hi!, I'm new here and to tarot. I'm just reading up on and gathering as much info as possible about. I'm very interested in the mystic arts ^-^. Anyway, i was wondering if there are special cards, other than the Major Arcana cards, that represent the zodiac. Like for one instance I saw a two of cups, one was pouring water right side up and the other upside dow. Between these two cups were two dolphins in similar fashion. I immediatly recognized this as the 12th zodiac Sign. Now my question is that, if the persons future i'm reading is Pisces and this card shows up, does it hold any special meaning? And are all of the twelve zodiacs hidden in the minor and court cards like this? My other question is concerning The planets and the zodiac houses? Do these play any role in the Tarot or are they simply confined to the astrological quadrant. Thank you! for even bothing to read these silly question. ^-^V

rota	29 Aug 2003
No need to apologize for asking questions, even so-called silly ones. Not around here, anyway. If a question has crossed your mind, it's probably out there in lots of minds. I wish I had an answer about the correlation of zodiacal signs with Minors. My guess is probably yes, but smarter heads than mine will have to answer. I just wanted to mention that the Majors correlate not only with the twelve signs, but also the elements and the alchemical planets, 22 in all, plus the Fool. There are lists out there for you to find (not all of them the same, by any means!), but if you wanted a list from me, I'd be glad to post one. I'd be curious to hear your list of correspondences.

Macavity	29 Aug 2003
I guess the most significant attempt to introduce astrological attributes into Tarot was due to Aleister Crowley in his Thoth deck? Some of the mechanisms and merits of these are discussed in other threads (qv). (In the instances where I unwisely(?) speculate on this, it should be largely credited to inspiration from Lon Milo DuQuette! })) But, I believe one should also be aware that there are other systems, with different card-attributes. See: http://www.tarotmoon.com/articles/Major_Arcana_I/major_arcana_i.html for a couple of alternatives for Majors - near the bottom of the page! Aside: Dolphins in any Two of Cups are potentially of interest. To my mind e.g. the Twos in the Crowley Thoth incorporate a LOT of ancient Marseille deck symbolism - Particularly with the Two of Cups. But, intrigued by the Dolphins, I note firstly, that Mr. Crowley makes a vague (as ever? ;)) reference (Book of Thoth) to an Alchemical origin! Now, I did quite a lot of searching, but only found one site - in Spanish, which I don't read, that might have been discussing this. Could be an interesting inquiry to pursue though... Macavity

Scarletpeaches	29 Aug 2003
I read in a tarot book once (must remember to look up which one it was) that the relevance of one card to a particular zodiac sign could change from deck to deck, depending on the design...I've noticed this myself, that on one deck a card could relate to a Piscean and on another deck, the same card could have a crab in the background for instance, which obviously makes me think of a Cancerian. But then I'm Taurus and clearly full of Bull!

Diana	30 Aug 2003
If you want to use the zodiac when you read Tarot, then I think the best thing is that you find a system that suits you and stick to it. Because there are different opinions on this. (Personally, I would never mix up astrology and Tarot. I think they are parallel systems, but the purpose is not quite the same.)

The Does the Zodiac play an important role in Tarot? thread was originally posted on 29 Aug 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.