Astrological Attributions of All Cards

rachelcat

I just signed on as a subscribing member, and I want to try attaching a file, so I thought I would share an information chart I put together of the Golden Dawn astrological attributions of all cards.

I pulled the information together from Paul Hughes-Barlow's Supertarot site and DuQuette's Understanding Crowley's Thoth Tarot and Tarot of Ceremonial Magick books. For you purists out there, I am aware that Crowley says the princesses and aces are attributed to sectors of the sky, not dates, but these are the dates/seasons DuQuette uses. I also used "new" planet attributions, making the Fool Uranus, the Hanged Man Neptune, and Judgment Pluto. This way, ALL the cards have some date/astrological attribution.

DuQuette also recommends (in T of CM) that you spread all 78 cards out in an astrological circle (there has to be a more elegant name for this--I'm astrologically impaired!). I did the spread and it really does help me to see and remember the relationships between cards.

I put the aces in the center with the princesses "crossing" them. Then the zodiacal majors with the planetary majors crossing the signs they rule. Then in the next circle out, the courts, and then in the outer circle, the minors. (This would work best with a mini deck. I did it with my Liber T. Good thing I have a LARGE table!)

So here's the chart. (If I attach it correctly . . .)
 

Attachments

  • Tarot Astrological Attributions.doc
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caridwen

I don't know that much about astrology - but just wanted to say I read your work with interest. Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to post it, I'm sure it will help many people:)
 

Grigori

Bless you Rachaelcat. You have just taken all the effort out of my next project. :)
 

Fulgour

a rare and unique graphic

Thanks rachelcat... here's a little something else:

Chaldean Decanates and the Wheel of the Zodiac:
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/heritage/im/decans.gif

I have printed this out a few times, and coloured
in all the various bits. It makes a nice posterette.
 

rachelcat

Hey, I hope you can use the info. Thanks for the great chart, Fulgour. I'll have to study it a bit. Coloring it, what a good idea!
 

Fulgour

10+20=30 degrees

Corresponding Court Cards Between Decks
by Joan Schraith Cole (Lelandra):
http://www.lelandra.com/tarotbook/courtcorres.htm


Llewellyn Journal
"Hidden and Secret Meanings: The Court Cards Part II"
by David Allen Hulse
http://www.llewellynjournal.com/article/387

There is a more complex zodiacal attribution for these Court Cards in the Golden Dawn system of magic. This aspect has each court card bridge 2 zodiac signs. This complexity has been missed by many commentators. For the Golden Dawn system, the zodiac was further divided into 36 decans for these astrological attributions.

Each sign of the zodiac is 30 degrees of a 360 degree circle for the complete zodiac. Each sign of is subdivided into three decans, each decan ruling ten degrees of that particular sign. A decan equals about ten days, as a zodiac sign equals about 30 days of the year.

Each Court Card represents a zodiac sign spanned between two signs, the last ten degrees of the preceding sign plus the first twenty degrees of the current sign.

Thus, Knight of Wands represented the last ten degrees of Scorpio and the first twenty degrees of Sagittarius, though the card is predominately Sagittarius. With this system any person who was born on a cusp (i.e. straddling between two signs) could easily be classified as a specific court card.
 

rachelcat

Paul Foster Case

I'm sharing the fruits of my labors on Saturday. Attached are the astrological attributions for all cards given by Paul Foster Case in "Oracle of the Tarot," available at http://www.tarot.org.il/Library/PFCase/Oracle of the Tarot.pdf.

Same as Golden Dawn:
Astrological attributions of majors
Hebrew letter attributions of majors
Element attributions for minors
One-decan set-off for court cards. Each court is assigned from 20 degrees of one decan to 20 degrees of the next. (But the actual assignments are different.)
Aces and Princesses (Servants for Case) are the seasons (but, again, different seasons!)
Pips are assigned to same decans, but planets for decans are different.

Different than GD:
Kings are cardinal, Queens are fixed, and Warriors (princes, knights) are mutable.
Servants and Aces (thus, the seasons) are assigned with the cardinal, not the fixed. In other words, summer is Cups (cardinal water, Cancer). (For GD, summer is Wands (fixed fire, Leo)).

Let's see if I can explain the planets ruling the decans. Each sign is divided into 3 equal decans (approx. 10 days each). The first decan of any sign is ruled by the ruler of the sign. The next is ruled by the planet that rules the next sign of the same element. And the third is ruled by the planet that rules the remaining sign of that element. Example: First decan of Aries is Mars in Aries (Mars rules Aries). Second decan of Aries is Sun in Aries (Sun rules Leo, the next fire sign). Third decan of Aries is Jupiter in Aries (Jupiter rules Sagittarius, the last fire sign).

Ok, this is the last point! I have modernized the planets.
Case: Saturn and Uranus = me: Uranus
Case: Mars in its Scorpio aspect = me: Pluto
Case: Jupiter and Neptune = me: Neptune

So, I wonder, did Case not know the details of the Golden Dawn system, or did he feel he was updating/correcting/improving it? Any historians know?

Without further ado, here is the table:
 

Attachments

  • Case Astrological Attributions.doc
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Shula

You guys are the best

Just printed your attached contributions to the forum. So cool!!!
Thanks!!
 

redfairy

Thanks

THANKS SO MUCH for your very needed contributions!
i was looking out for this for a long time, to complete my existing "incomplete" list of the same!
thanks again!
it was much appreciated!
hugz
red
 

rachelcat

C.C. Zain/Brotherhood of Light/Egyptian

Thank you, shula and redfairy, for your kind comments. I seem to have this organizing urge, and I have been indulging it. It's nice to know someone else can actually use it! I kind of feel like a little kid coming home from school, saying "Look what I did!" So please, put these on your fridge!!!

On to the next table: This time for the Brotherhood (sometimes Church) of Light Egyptian Tarot, according to the Brotherhood leader, C.C. Zain, in his book, Sacred Tarot. Titania's Star Tarot is based on these cards and attributions (without giving any credit, as others have noted).

All attributions are different than Golden Dawn's.

Most importantly, Coins are Air, and Swords are Earth! (Sceptres are fire, and Cups are water.)

The Majors are completely different.

10s instead of Aces are the odd pips out for the decans. And Horsemen (presumably knights) instead of pages/princesses are the odd men out for assigning courts to signs.

Similar to GD, the pips are assigned to decans by the element of each sign (except they go Ace through 9 instead of 2 through 10). The planets ruling the decans are the same as in Paul Foster Case.

I still need to double-check that the Major attributions are the same as is given for other Egyptian style decks. And Sacred Tarot says something about planets assigned to each number. And I need to check into the exact meaning of the various star constellations on each card. I'll let you know!

Here is the table:
 

Attachments

  • Zain Tarot Astrological Attributions.doc
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