Ruby Jewel
Deleted as it was a duplication of my previous post.
Also, Barleywine, I beg to differ on the mutable signs. I never underestimate them. Their defense systems are different, but they always seem to prevail. In fact, I am an Aries, and most of my friends are Leos....but I have never forgotten when I was studying astrology with the greatest astrologist I know, John Marchesella, now head of NCGR, told us all that Sagittarius is the strongest of the fire signs.....we all looked at each other as if to say "huh?".... In fact it irritated the Leo so much she got up and left (laugh). That was back in the 80s. Since then I have observed them as I do all the signs.....and I can say, unequivocally, that he was correct. Pisces is like water....they slip through your fingers....Virgo....is like saying the Hermit is a enervated and weak....strength comes in many forms....like the Oak....the strongest are bendable.....flexible.....even mutable.
Assuming your commitment to Crowley, it is possible that you have "The Crowley Tarot" by Akron-Hajo Banshaf. If so, may I refer you to pp. 27-28 and the Lutz Mueller quote. Also, if you have never read "Two Essays on Analytical Psychology" by Carl Jung (Baynes translation if possible).....you have missed what I consider to be the most brilliant book ever written...and I have seen evidence that others agree with me. In it, he describes the "mana" personality (I'm wondering if mana is an etymological derivative of "mania.") which is basically a "split personality" who has never "differentiated" the ego from the demon archetype in the unconscious. The Rx of the Magician is the dark side which is on a power trip....the negative use of the Magician's power. This energy was not a part of The Fool, who is still naïve, or egoless. The Magician has two aspects: one good and the other evil. From the highest perspective he seeks spiritual truth and employs his powers to that end (ie Shaman); however, he can become a mere trickster (Mercury....remember Appollo's cows), a cunning distorter of the truth, and in the worst sense, the servant of Satan. He is sometimes depicted with a girdle round his waist, and a girdle was the Zoroastrian symbol of dualism. (Most of the foregoing is a quote but don't know the source....just my notes.).
That would be the modern, psychological perspective. The traditional perspective is somewhat less "empowering." Avelar and Ribeiro describe Mutable signs as "characteristically ambivalent and variable . . . they vacillate between rapid impulses (characteristic of the moveable mode) and the tendency toward inertia (typical of the fixed mode)." Although he has much good to say about Mutable "flexibility and adaptability" and the ability to facilitate the completion of any activity or event, Kevin Burk reiterated: "Mutable signs . . . also have a tendency to be too flexible, too easily influenced by external forces, and too scattered to effect any kind of change. When a mutable sign is confronted, its first response is to change its nature, to adapt, to avoid, to do anything it can, in fact, to avoid an actual confrontation."
I began my study of astrology at the "dawn of the New Age" (around 1970), and followed the psychological model for many years. But in the last few years I moved on into the traditional (or "classical") approach to astrology and have pretty much sworn off the psychological stuff as a bit too "starry-eyed." I also no longer do much natal astrology, preferring horary as an adjunct to my tarot work. Anyway, we're drifting away a bit from the focus here.
Rather than dive deeply into this, I'll just note that - like my transition away from psychological astrology - I've begun to see less value in tarot as a psychological tool. Most of what I do now is intentionally action-and-event oriented. It's probably why Lenormand has gained such a strong hold on me in the last two years.
Astrologically speaking, then, the Trumps fall in line this way:
Aries = Emperor (Fire) (IV)
Taurus = Empress (Earth) (III)
Gemini = Temperance (Air) (XIV)
Cancer = Wheel of Fortune (Water) (X)
Leo = Sun (Fire) (VIII)
Virgo = World (Earth) (XXI)
Libra = Justice (Air) (XI)
Scorpio = Death (Water) XIII)
Sagittarius = Hierophant (Fire) (V)
Capricorn = Hermit (Earth) (IX)
Aquarius = Star (Air) (XVII)
Pisces = High Priestess (Water) (II)
Sun = Sun (Fire) (XIX)
Moon = Moon (Water) (XVIII)
Mercury = Magician (Air) (I)
Venus = Lovers (Earth) (VI)
Mars = Tower (Fire) (XVI)
Jupiter = Chariot (Fire) (VII)
Saturn = Devil (Earth) (XV)
Uranus = Judgement (Fire) (XX)
Neptune = Hanged Man (Water) (XII)
Fool = Pluto (Spirit as an extension of Air) (0)
I'm going to have to lay this all out with the cards and ponder it.
I'm no astrology expert and have never dealt with it outside of tarot. But The Priestess as the moon makes more sense to me, (1) because the moon represents something far less forthright to me than the sun, so there's a sense of rightness in having it shift elsewhere; it's the obviousness you pointed to in having the moon as the sign of The Moon that bothers me. The Moon not being itself tells me something fundamental about the nature of that card and about the differences between what moon and sun represent. And because, (2) with the moon at the Priestess, we get the sun at the center in Tiphareth with the moon mirrored above and below. I read something a while back that alluded to that, and I'm racking my brain trying to remember which book it was, but it was an aha moment for me. ...Not trying to change your mind, of course, if the other way works better for you, but I couldn't make that change.