Curious about AStrology

[Zechariah13]

Hi everyone!

I actually don't know a darned thing about astrology, and up till recently i was never interested. But when i read the book that came with my first Tarot set, i was shocked to see just how much my Cards were connected to Astrology. Like the Hierophant is the Trump of Taurus and the Lovers are the Trump of Gemini, while the 9 of Grails is under the moon, which i think is the Trump of Pisces.

Needless to say i find all of this confusing. I kind of understand all the 'what's about it. I get that since I am an Aries, with the Moon in Pisces, i am fiery, passionate and extremely emotionally sensitive, almost on the psychic empathic side. I don't understand why that is though. I was wondering if someone could tell me a little bit more about how the 'planets in the zodiac' thing works, and possibly how it relates to tarot.

I hope im not asking too much for a simple post, but still, any input would be AWESOME


ps I DO have a Birth Chart printed up from Astrolabe, but i cant figure out how to attach the .gif pic to a post

 

[WolfyJames]

It can be fun to learn about astrology. One thing that is important though to know is that golden dawn tarot decks only use the "old" planets, so those that have been recently discovered like Uranus are not included in their charts. So by "old" planets I mean the sun, the moon, mercury, saturne, jupiter, mars and venus. The astrological signs can be helpful to give an idea about the personality of the court cards.

The minors have the 36 decans on the cards (12 X 30 = 360 degrees) from the 2s to 10s. Each astrological sign has three decans that are 10 degrees each so that means that each astrological sign will be on three minors (30 degrees in all). There are 12 astrological signs.

The cards 2, 3 and 4 are cardinal so that means that in the Wands it's Aries, in the Cups it's Cancer, in the Swords it's Libra and in the Coins Capricorn.

The cards 5, 6, 7 are fixed so that means that in the Wands it's Leo, in the Cups it's Scorpio, in the Swords it's Aquarius and in the Coins Taurus.

The cards 8, 9, 10 are mutable so that means that in the Wands it's Sagittarius, in the Cups it's Pisces, in the Swords it's Gemini and in the Coins Virgo.

So that means that when you see moon in taurus per example it means moon is in one of the cards that are taurus, it could be the Five, Six or Seven of Coins, and when you check you see it's the Six of Coins.

The Kings are fire and mutable so that means Sagittarius for Wands, Pisces for Cups, Gemini for Swords and Virgo for Coins. The Queens are water and cardinal so that means Aries for wands, Cancer for Cups, Libra for Swords and Capricorn for Coins. The Princes are air and fixed so that means Leo for wands, Scorpio for Cups, Aquarius for Swords and Taurus for Coins. The Princesses are earth, they embody the foundation of the universe, the throne of the Aces.

This is really short here but you'd learn more about the planets, the decans and signs if you were to buy a book or two. One that I like which is perfect for beginners is the one called Parkers' Astrology by Julia Parker and Derek Parker. I've heard some dummies books are actually quite decent, you could try that too.

 

[Minderwiz]

Hi everyone!

I actually don't know a darned thing about astrology, and up till recently i was never interested. But when i read the book that came with my first Tarot set, i was shocked to see just how much my Cards were connected to Astrology. Like the Hierophant is the Trump of Taurus and the Lovers are the Trump of Gemini, while the 9 of Grails is under the moon, which i think is the Trump of Pisces.

A variety of decks have tried to give astrological correspondences. This might prove useful (though more on a thought provoking level) if you have a knowledge of Astrology but it can be a pain if you don't know much at all.

The issue then becomes do you learn about Astrology, so you can (hopefully) use the deck more 'correctly' or do you simply ignore the correspondences and read it as though those correspondences were not there. Astrology is rather demading in terms of learning, so really you have to do it for it's own sake. Yes it can be fun, but if you're just trying to see how it fits the cards, you may be in for a massive disappointment. At best such a system of correspondences can act as a trigger or stimulus to thought, they should never ever be treated as though they were 'facts' or in a slavish way. They can give you some insights by making mental connections and intuitive leaps but that's about it (and actually that's quite a lot).

Needless to say i find all of this confusing. I kind of understand all the 'what's about it. I get that since I am an Aries, with the Moon in Pisces, i am fiery, passionate and extremely emotionally sensitive, almost on the psychic empathic side. I don't understand why that is though. I was wondering if someone could tell me a little bit more about how the 'planets in the zodiac' thing works, and possibly how it relates to tarot.

I hope im not asking too much for a simple post, but still, any input would be AWESOME


ps I DO have a Birth Chart printed up from Astrolabe, but i cant figure out how to attach the .gif pic to a post

One problem you will have, is that which WolfyJames alludes to. There are different schools of Astrology and deck designers may well incorporate their own view of Astrology (which itself may not even be an accurate reflection of the school they think they adhere to)

For example your own self astrological description is based on a modern psychological approach and the 'sun sign' approach introduced by Alan Leo at the end of the 19th Century. If the deck designer has used this approach, they you already have some idea of what he or she means by 'Aries' or 'Pisces' However, if the deck was designed much before 1900 or even a few years later, the meanings intended may not be those that you draw from the deck. Some Tarot readers would argue this doesn't matter, it's how the cards are seen by you - the deck designer's 'message' is irrelevant. But curiosity may still make you want to find out.

If you want Astrology simply to support the deck readings, then I'd suggest you find out what approach to Astrology the designer had and learn something about that approach, then you and deck are at least communicating with each other.

If you want to find out about Astrology for it's own sake, then have a look at some of the resources

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=15205

If you want to explore your own chart a bit, in this thread, then don't worry about the upload, it's much easier for us and you to give three pieces of information:

Your Date of Birth in MM/DD/YYYY format
Your time of birth (as acurately as you know it)
Your place of birth (place & country or state)

This is much easier for us to enter into a computer program and generate the chart and any necessary additional data.

 

[Zechariah13]

Sorry i havent responded earlier. Somehow i forgot i did this thread.

NOw, thanks for everything so far, and i have one more question for the moment.

Elements are labeled as being Fixed, Mutable, or Cardinal. Im not terribly sure i understand what these terms mean in regards to the elements or how those meanings relate to the cards in anyway, althought i HAVE heard them referenced in a reading once. Something about the Hierophant being fixed becuase Taurus is, and i got really confused by that. Any help please?

 

[Minderwiz]

Signs have two characteristics;

By element - and you're familiar with Fire, Earth, Air and Water - these are referred to as the triplicities because there are three signs of each element

By 'mode' and these are the Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable that you refer to. As there's of each type for each element, there are four groups of three and therefore they're referred to as the quadruplicities

They are derived from the seasons - each season has a beginning - it's onset - and these are the Cardinal signs, Aries for Spring, Cancer for Summer, Libra for Autumn and Capricorn for Winter.

As the season takes hold we move into the Fixed signs, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius respectively and then finally the season begins to ease and give way to the coming season, and these are the Mutable signs, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces respectively.

So Cardinal signs signifies change and new beginnings (and in many modern interpretations initiation, dynamism, and leadership. Fixed signs signify constancy, staying power, and therefore human characteristics such as stubbornness or obstinacy. Finally mutable is a blend between two seasons and as the properties of both, so it's seen as adaptable, loosening of ties, repetition. In terms of speed, Cardinal signs signifiy fast things, Mutable sign medium speed and Fixed signs, slowness.

Modern Astrology sees the Mutable signs as changeable (as the name implies) traditionally they were called Common signs, which suggests more sharing than changing, so there's some changes in perception of these two types over time.