augursWell

I apologize if this has already been gone over someplace, I did a search and found a little bit but thought I should just ask.

I wasn't sure if I should post this to the Astrology forum or one of the other forums as well, I will probably add a short post directing people here to one of the other forums.

I've seen a few ways of assigning the Zodiac Signs, or Houses, to Tarot cards. The most prominent seems to be taking the three top Court cards from each suit and assigning one of the twelve signs to each of these.

What are the various ways that those on this list assign the Zodiac signs to Tarot cards?

__________________
My Tarot cards said to me the other day, "Come on, you know what I'm talking about."
Wherever You Go, There You Are, And There You Are, Wherever You Go, And There You Go Then, So Be Here Now.
If you're not wearing a Fedora then you're not wearing a Hat.

Thirteen

Quite right that the Knight (Prince), Queen and King (Knight) are the ones that get the Zodiac signs. But which ones are up for debate.

Here's how you can do it. Crowley wise, you can say that the Kings (Knights in Crowley type decks--riding on horses, moving forward, leading) are elementally "fire" (in other words, the King of cups would be the "Fire of water") and thus are the sparks, the spirit, the Cardinal or motivator signs. The idea being that the "King" is the motivator, the creator of the kingdom. So they're Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.

The Queens are "water" elements (so queen of swords would be "Water of Air") and, thus, the "fixed" signs--the ones that sit on the throne and act as the heart of the Kingdom--they put into practice the ideas sparked by the fiery King, provide their thirsty kingdom with nourishing water. That's Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius.

And the Knights (princes) are "air" signs, this being mutable--they fly here and there, waving the flag of the kingdom. Gemini, Virgo, Sag. and Pisces.

Pages, by the way, are "earth," the root or seed of the kingdom.

HOWEVER--and this is a big HOWEVER, most decks tend to assign the court cards their own Zodiac signs. This means that if you get a deck where the Queen of Pentacles has a crown of ram horns, then, guess what? She's Capricorn. Or if you see the King of Cups with two fish on his throne, he's Pisces.

Be warned that deck creators often decide for themselves which court card should get which sign. And while you can ignore it if you like, it's probably a good idea to just go with the flow. Whatever the deck creator decided, that what you use.

And, finally, you can always decide for yourself. Some folk feel very strongly about which court card should be which zodiac sign. If that's the way it is, go with the feeling.

That help?

Minderwiz

I have seen attributions which have the King as the fixed, sign, Queen as the Cardinal Sign and Knight (Prince) as the Mutable sign - Thus the King of Cups is Scorpio, Queen of Swords is Libra, Knight of Wands is Sagittarius.

That being said, I must agree with Thirteen, there is no 'correct' assignation only a link by analogy done by the deck designer o by the reader. Thus one designer may feel that the King of Cups is a Scorpionic figure, whereas another may feel that he is more a Pisces figure. I tend to go with what the figure 'says' to me - and if I can't make an association then I don't. The alternative is to buy a deck where the designer's associations and your feelings from the representation coincide.

Perhaps I ought to point out that analogy is a strong source of meaning and I'm not trying to suggest that because there is no absolutely correct link that therefore the link must be weak. If you get a strong feeling of association then go for it!

__________________
Minderwiz

Wer meines Speeres
Spittze furchtet
durchschreite das Feuer nie!

Wotan, Die Walkure, Act III, Scene 3

augursWell

Thanks for the replies. I don't use Astrology much so I was a bit confused about how to relate it to Tarot.

By the way, when you talk about "Cardinal", "Fixed", and "Mutable" signs, is that an aspect of Astrology itself, to define/group the signs that way or is this something imposed by correlating them with the Tarot?

__________________
My Tarot cards said to me the other day, "Come on, you know what I'm talking about."
Wherever You Go, There You Are, And There You Are, Wherever You Go, And There You Go Then, So Be Here Now.
If you're not wearing a Fedora then you're not wearing a Hat.

Thirteen

It's an aspect of Astrology. But you'll have to ask others more about it. I only know that those are the groupings and their meanings.

Minderwiz

Cardinal Signs mark the beginnings of the four main Seasons - Spring (Aries), Summer (Cancer), Autumn (Libra) and Winter (Capricorn).

The Fixed signs mark the seasons when they are at their strongest Taurus (Spring), Leo (Summer), Scorpio (Autumn) and Aquarius (Winter).

The Mutable signs mark the start of the change from one season to the next - thus Gemini marks the beginning of the transition from Spring to Summer, Virgo from Summer to Autumn, Sagittarius from Autumn to Winter and Pisces from Winter to Spring.

Cardinals therefore start something - they initiate
Fixeds consolidate things
Mutables are able to change and adapt.

Best wishes

__________________
Minderwiz

Wer meines Speeres
Spittze furchtet
durchschreite das Feuer nie!

Wotan, Die Walkure, Act III, Scene 3

Thirteen

Hey, thanks Minderwiz! I didn't know that but I should'a figured it out. Would've if I'd been paying more attention.