Minor arcana and astrology?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 10 Jun 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Lady Maria	10 Jun 2005
Hello! More questions for all you wise ones.... Has anyone noticed a correspondence with astrological signs and the minor arcana cards? For me, the Knight of wands reminds me of Leo, and the Queen of Cups, Cancer... But just wondering if there's a system already developed for this? And not only the court cards, but also the others? Many thanks in advance, Maria

rainwolf	10 Jun 2005
You should read Johnathan Dee's book "Tarot secrets"--it has astrological attributions explained. Also try Sylvia Abrahams book "How to read the tarot" because it has it in the court section. Try these links: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=1402&highlight=astrological+court+correspond http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=41386&highlight=astrology+court+cards

Moongold	10 Jun 2005
Lady Maria ~ Another bok with all the astrological correlations in it is Burger and Fiebig's Complete Book of Tarot Spreads , Sterling Publications, New York, 1997. You're right with Cancer = Queen of Cups. Knight of Wands = Sagittarius in this book. Leo is a fire sign too, however.

wizzle	10 Jun 2005
The Thoth deck has astrological correspondence printed on every card.

Fulgour	11 Jun 2005
The Courts of the Zodiac Wands Fire Spiritual Cups Water Emotional Swords Air Mental Pentacles Earth Physical Kings are Fixed (rigid) Signs Wands Leo-Sun-5th House Cups Scorpio-Mars-8th House Swords Aquarius-Saturn-11th House Pentacles Taurus-Venus-2nd House Queens are Cardinal (initiating) Signs Wands Aries-Mars-1st House Cups Cancer-Moon-4th House Swords Libra-Venus-7th House Pentacles Capricorn-Saturn-10th House Knights are Mutable (flexible) Signs Wands Sagittarius-Jupiter-9th House Cups Pisces-Jupiter-12th House Swords Gemini-Mercury-3rd House Pentacles Virgo-Mercury-6th House Pages may be seen as Moon Phases Wands Waxing Moon, Vernal Equinox Cups Full Moon, Summer Solstice Swords Waning Moon, Autumn Equinox Pentacles New Moon, Winter Solstice * Autumn's Waning Moon, The Page of Swords, loosening, giving, ebbing. Winter's New Moon, The Page of Pentacles, original, fresh and unbounded. Spring's Waxing Moon, The Page of Wands, awakening, gathering, becoming. Summer's Full Moon, The Page of Cups, generous, strong, and fulfilled.

Fulgour	11 Jun 2005
On the Compass of the Zodiac the directions are: NORTH Cancer (Water) Summer SOUTH Capricorn (Earth) Winter EAST Aries (Fire) Spring WEST Libra (Air) Autumn The Zodiac Compass of the Astrological Lodge of London: http://www.amrep.org/images/pericles/Zodiac.gif The Chaldean Decanates of Le Tarot de Marseille: http://www.skyscript.co.uk/heritage/im/decans.gif Aries: Queen of Wands and 2 3 4 of Wands Taurus: King of Pentacles and 5 6 7 of Pentacles Gemini: Knight of Swords and 8 9 10 of Swords * Cancer: Queen of Cups and 2 3 4 of Cups Leo: King of Wands and 5 6 7 of Wands Virgo: Knight of Pentacles and 8 9 10 of Pentacles * Libra: Queen of Swords and 2 3 4 of Swords Scorpio: King of Cups and 5 6 7 of Cups Sagittarius: Knight of Wands and 8 9 10 of Wands * Capricorn: Queen of Pentacles and 2 3 4 of Pentacles Aquarius: King of Swords and 5 6 7 of Swords Pisces: Knight of Cups and 8 9 10 of Cups * PS: This graph was hard to find. I have it "saved" and have even printed it out and hand coloured it. http://www.skyscript.co.uk/heritage/im/decans.gif

Arcana	11 Jun 2005
Most books on tarot I've read in the past couple of years had their own (and usually different) opinion on astrology connecting tarot. Some authors don't even agree on the elements corresponding to the suits! (Really frustrating!) It makes me think that maybe there aren't any fixed correspondences, and that everyone needs to figure them out for themselves. If you are looking for a complete system on this, I can recommend Gerd Ziegler's book:"Tarot: Mirror of the Soul". If you're using Crowley's deck, that is. You can find a review of this book here on Aeclectic.

rainwolf	11 Jun 2005
The thoth deck has all of the astrological attributions on the cards actually. If you look close, you will find a planet and a sign on each of the minors.

Fulgour	12 Jun 2005
One of the pleasures of contemplating the Decanates, which are the attributes also seen on the Thoth Tarot, is how challenging it is to ponder the Chaldean order. Yet these 36 alignments are 3000 years old ~or more. And yet as applied to the Tarot "pips" 2 through 10 how appropriate to arrange the correspondences: Cardinal 2 3 4 Fixed 5 6 7 Mutable 8 9 10 If this was the work of The Golden Dawn, it probably was contributed by one very savvy member and then picked up by the Ascended Masters. How wonderful to imagine a Mrs. McGuillicuttey raising her hand one day at a meeting to offer "a little something" special.

Lady Maria	13 Jun 2005
Thank you to everyone who answered my question. I have some books to find, now! Fulgour, your breakdown of the courts of the zodiac is very helpful. I'll try incorporating that system and see how it works for me. Blessings, Maria

WalesWoman	14 Jun 2005
I just gave this link on another thread about physical attributes, but here are a few dealing with astrological correspondences... I hope it helps, although it doesn't seem to cover all the cards... http://www.supertarot.co.uk/astro/timing.htm http://billheidrick.com/works/tarottbl.htm http://www.worldtarotnetwork.com/Astrology/astrotarot.htm http://www.kenaz.com/notes/astrologyandtarot.htm http://www.geocities.com/tarot_r_us/Astrology_and_Tarot.html I'm sure this ought to keep you busy, plus there are links to other sites as well I believe.

Lady Maria	14 Jun 2005
Wow, thanks WalesWoman, The world tarot network seems to have exactly what I'm looking for. I'll be adding those to my journal. Yes, this will keep me very busy-- on top of house reno's, kids, dogs, a husband and 100 pounds of soap to make! LOL. Ah but those few precious minutes of learning are much appreciated by the end of the day! Thanks again, Maria

The Minor arcana and astrology? thread was originally posted on 10 Jun 2005 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.