Tarot and astrology: the planet and sign behind each card

Every tarot card has a partner in astrology. A card belongs to a planet, a sign, an element or a ten-degree slice of a sign. This link lets you read the meaning of a card a second time, in the language of astrology.

In this lesson you learn where these correspondences come from. You see how they work for the Major Arcana, the number cards and the court cards. By the end, you find the cards that match your own Sun sign and Sun degree.

Where do the correspondences come from?

The system that ties the cards to astrology comes from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This English esoteric order built it at the end of the nineteenth century. Its members paired the 22 Major Arcana cards with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

That alphabet has 3 mother letters, 7 double letters and 12 simple letters. The mother letters go to the elements. The double letters go to the seven classical planets, and the simple letters go to the twelve signs.

Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith were both members of the order. The Rider Waite Smith deck, printed in 1909, follows this pairing. The card pages in this glossary list the same correspondences.

Major Arcana: the twelve sign cards

Twelve Major Arcana cards belong to the signs. They run in zodiac order from Aries to Pisces, so the sign moves forward as the card number rises. The Emperor is Aries, the Hierophant is Taurus, the Lovers is Gemini and the Chariot is Cancer. Strength is Leo, the Hermit is Virgo, Justice is Libra and Death is Scorpio. Temperance is Sagittarius, the Devil is Capricorn, the Star is Aquarius and the Moon is Pisces.

Death carries the Scorpio habit of ending something completely, such as an arrangement that no longer works. The card does not mean physical death or illness.

In the old Marseille decks, Justice is card 8 and Strength is card 11. The Golden Dawn swapped the two, so the Leo card comes before the Libra card. The Rider Waite Smith deck uses this new order, and the Moon Shine AI deck follows it too.

A sign card shows how the sign behaves in everyday life. Virgo is the sign of order and detail; the Hermit thinks a matter through quietly, one step at a time. When you read the card with the glossary page of its sign open, you see where the two meanings meet.

Major Arcana: seven planets and three elements

Seven Major Arcana cards belong to the seven classical planets. The Magician is Mercury, the High Priestess is the Moon, the Empress is Venus and Wheel of Fortune is Jupiter. The Tower is Mars, the Sun is the Sun and the World is Saturn.

A planet card shows the work the planet does in your life. Mercury rules speech and skill; the Magician picks up the tool in front of him and turns an idea into a task. Saturn rules time and responsibility; the World is the result that arrives after long, steady work. The Tower shows Mars as a sudden break in a plan, and it does not mean a disaster.

In the Golden Dawn system the remaining three cards belong to elements. The Fool is air, the Hanged Man is water and Judgement is fire. Modern readers give these three cards the planets discovered later. The Fool pairs with Uranus, the Hanged Man with Neptune and Judgement with Pluto. The card pages in this glossary list the modern pairing in the key facts of each card.

Number cards: the ten-degree decans

The Minor Arcana holds 36 number cards, from the Twos to the Tens. The zodiac has 360 degrees. The Golden Dawn splits each sign into three slices of ten degrees, called decans, and gives each of the 36 decans one number card.

The suit sets the element of the sign. Wands go to the fire signs, Cups to the water signs, Swords to the air signs and Coins to the earth signs. The number sets the type of sign. Twos, Threes and Fours sit in the cardinal sign; Fives, Sixes and Sevens in the fixed sign; Eights, Nines and Tens in the mutable sign.

Each decan also has a planet. The planets follow the Chaldean order: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. The order starts with Mars in the first decan of Aries and keeps cycling through the signs. The last decan of Pisces is Mars as well, so the end of the zodiac and its start meet on the same planet.

Wands. Aries: Two Mars, Three Sun, Four Venus. Leo: Five Saturn, Six Jupiter, Seven Mars. Sagittarius: Eight Mercury, Nine Moon, Ten Saturn.

Cups. Cancer: Two Venus, Three Mercury, Four Moon. Scorpio: Five Mars, Six Sun, Seven Venus. Pisces: Eight Saturn, Nine Jupiter, Ten Mars.

Swords. Libra: Two Moon, Three Saturn, Four Jupiter. Aquarius: Five Venus, Six Mercury, Seven Moon. Gemini: Eight Jupiter, Nine Mars, Ten Sun.

Coins. Capricorn: Two Jupiter, Three Mars, Four Sun. Taurus: Five Mercury, Six Moon, Seven Saturn. Virgo: Eight Sun, Nine Venus, Ten Mercury.

The Aces do not belong to a decan. Each Ace is the element of its suit in pure form: the Ace of Wands is fire, the Ace of Cups is water, the Ace of Swords is air and the Ace of Coins is earth.

Reading a decan together with its card

The Two of Wands sits in Aries from 0 to 10 degrees, and the planet of this decan is Mars. Aries is the sign that starts things, and Mars is the planet that gets you moving. The card shows you weighing two routes before you begin a project. Once you decide, you take the first step right away.

The Three of Swords sits in Libra from 10 to 20 degrees, and the planet of this decan is Saturn. Libra is the sign of relationships and balance; Saturn shows a truth that lands heavily. The card describes the hurt you feel after someone says a painful thing openly in a relationship. It shows hurt feelings, not illness.

The planet and the sign do not change the meaning of a card. They show why the card reads the way it does. When you forget what a card means, a look at its decan brings the meaning back.

Court cards: two elements combined

For the court cards, the astrological link is built from two elements. The first is the element of the suit. The second is the element of the rank: in this glossary the Page is earth, the Knight is air, the Queen is water and the King is fire.

When suit and rank share an element, the card shows that element in its purest form. The King of Wands is fire of fire: a leader who sets the direction and steps forward with courage. The Queen of Cups is water of water: the person who listens to your worry with the most patience. The Knight of Swords is air of air, and the Page of Coins is earth of earth.

When the two elements differ, the card holds both qualities at once. The King of Swords is air with fire. This King thinks clearly and stands firmly behind each decision.

The card and the sky in Moon Shine AI

The Moon Shine AI deck has 78 cards. Today's card is free, and you get one card a day. When you draw it, Selene reads the card together with that day's sky. The meaning of the card and the planets of the day come together in one reading.

Practice

Look up the sign and the degree of the Sun in your birth chart. First, find the Major Arcana card for your sign in the list in this lesson. If your Sun is in Cancer, your card is the Chariot.

Then find your number card from the degree. If your Sun is at 15 degrees Cancer, your decan runs from 10 to 20 degrees and your card is the Three of Cups. Open both card pages and read them side by side. Then write one sentence about the behavior both cards describe.