Understanding Your Tarotscope

As in the stars, so in the cards. Tarot and astrology are two divination practices with many similarities: both give us context and guidance for our daily lives, have a rich history, and can be learned and practiced by everyone.

But what most people don’t know is that there is a connection between the two practices. So if you’ve just started practicing tarot, astrology, or both and are curious about how your astrological chart corresponds to specific cards from the tarot deck, read on!

How Astrology and Tarot are Linked

Astrology is, of course, much older than tarot. The art of observing the constellations to predict events and understand people’s character traits has been practiced since the ancient Babylonians—and was further codified by Ptolemy in Hellenistic times.

On the other hand, tarot didn’t become popular before the 18th century CE. And like all other cartomancy practices, tarot follows a different premise from astrology. While the planets’ trajectory is set and their movements follow the same patterns every year, there’s an element of unpredictability and luck (or divine guidance) to a tarot reading. Even if you do the exact same spread ten times,

chances are you’ll get almost completely different cards in different places each time.

However, both practices follow the rules of correspondences that were first cemented during Hellenistic times. There are numeric, elementary, and planetary correspondences in the tarot cards, as much as in the zodiac signs. However, the tricky thing to understand is that these correspondences are not 1:1.

They couldn’t possibly be—there are only twelve zodiac signs, whereas there are 78 tarot cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 (four suits of 14) Minor Arcana ones. This means that your tarotscope won’t just be one card, but a combination of about seven tarot cards; 2 Major Arcana and 5 Minor Arcana ones.

However, that’s not the only link between astrology and tarot:

both the zodiac and the Major Arcana have a cyclical nature. For instance, in the zodiac, Aries (and the 1st House) represents a new beginning in terms of consciousness that peaks in Leo (and the 5th House), starts its transformation with Scorpio (and the 8th House), and achieves subconscious wisdom and esoteric knowledge by the time we reach Pisces (and the 12th House). Similarly, in the Fool’s Journey (the 22 cards of the Major Arcana), we go from starting a new adventure with careless naiveté (Card 0: the Fool) to realizing our potential, achieving wisdom, and coming full circle (Card 21: the World).

Although the understanding of both practices’ cyclical nature does not directly help us find our tarotscope, it is useful to keep in mind as we go through the more detailed correspondences below.

Four Elements, three modes, and four Minor Arcana suits

As you probably know, astrological signs are divided into four Elements:

Fire (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius),

Earth (Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn),

Air (Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius), and

Water (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces).

When it comes to the four Minor Arcana suits, the association with each element is relatively easy to spot:

-The Suit of Wands corresponds to Fire. Like the bold element and the daring signs that represent it, Wands are associated with our inner flame, creativity, passion, and ambition. Wands rule work projects that excite us but also our libido and tendency to fight battles.

-The Suit of Pentacles corresponds to Earth. Like the steady element and the reliable signs representing it, Pentacles are associated with earthly matters and worldly possessions, from money and housing comforts to our values and reliability.

-The Suit of Cups corresponds to Water. Like the nurturing element and the emotional signs that represent it, Cups are associated with our feelings, dreams (literal and figurative), inner child, and intuition. Cups rule matters of the heart, relationships, and letting go.

-The Suit of Swords corresponds to Air. Like the ever-changing element and the whip-smart signs that represent it, Swords are associated with our thought process, our logical ideas, and our communication patterns. Swords rule the written word but also our fears, anxieties, and tendencies to be deceitful or deceived.

So, for instance, if you belong to a Fire sign, you know your corresponding Minor Arcana suit is the Wands. But which Wand card is specifically yours? The answer, in this case, comes by taking the three different modes of zodiac signs and numerology principles into consideration.

In Astrology, there are three different modes: Cardinal, the leaders and initiators (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn); Fixed, the reliable and dedicated (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius); and Mutable, the adaptable and ushers of change (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces).

The Aces for each Suit represent each element in its most pure form and thus apply to all three zodiac signs of that element.

-The Twos, Threes, and Fours for each Suit represent the cardinal signs.

-The Fives, Sixes, and Sevens for each Suit represent the fixed signs.

-The Eights, Nines, and Tens for each Suit represent the mutable signs.

For example, if your zodiac sign is Aries, a Fire cardinal sign, then the Minor Arcana cards that correspond with you are the Ace of Wands, the Two of Wands, the Three of Wands, and the Four of Wands. If your zodiac sign is Pisces, a Water Mutable sign, then the Minor Arcana cards that correspond with you are the Ace of Cups, the Eight of Cups, the Nine of Cups, and

the Ten of Cups.

To complicate matters further, the Court cards have a slightly different energy than the rest of the Minor Arcana cards. Despite belonging to four different suits, same as the pip cards, the Court cards carry an extra elemental charge based on their position:

-The Pages for each suit represent the Earth element.

-The Knights for each suit represent the Air element.

-The Queens for each suit represent the Water element.

-The Kings for each suit represent the Fire element.

When that elemental charge is the same as the element of the suit, then we have a “Double Element” card that can also correspond to your sign as the Ace of your suit does. More specifically:

-The Page of Pentacles corresponds to Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.

-The Knight of Swords corresponds to Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius.

-The Queen of Cups corresponds to Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.

-The King of Wands corresponds to Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius.

Zodiac signs and planet correspondences to the Major Arcana

So now that we’ve decrypted how the Minor Arcana correspondences work—what about the Major Arcana?

Here, things become a bit more arbitrary. When tarot cards became prominent among the occult societies of 19th century Europe, one of the most prestigious of them, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, used a system that applied Egyptian astrological concepts to each Major Arcana card’s meanings and came up with specific correspondences for 12 of the 22 Major Arcana cards. These are as follows:

The Emperor = Aries
Leadership and authority, taking charge, owning your power, being impatient/proactive.

The Hierophant = Taurus

Tradition, morality, sticking to the way things were always done, going slow and steady.

The Lovers = Gemini
Duality, making choices, partnership, quick thinking.

The Chariot = Cancer

Determination, setting boundaries, defending ourselves, finding our way home.

Strength = Leo
Courage, independence, compassion, control, generosity.

The Hermit = Virgo
Introspection, quiet contemplation, thorough analysis.

Justice = Libra
Fairness, finding balance, making the right decision, seeking harmony.

Death = Scorpio

Transformation, change, seeking the truth beneath, closing a chapter, new beginnings.

Temperance = Sagittarius

Spiritual enlightenment, meditation, moderation, truth-seeking.

The Devil = Capricorn
Materialism, consumption, obsessions, indulgences.

The Star = Aquarius

Hope, rebirth, rejuvenation, forward-thinking visions, a new era.

The Moon = Pisces

Illusions, dreams, our subconscious, hidden fears, a journey into the unknown.

But what about the ten remaining Major Arcana cards? correspond each to a planet and, subsequently, to the zodiac signs ruled by that planet:

The Fool: Uranus (Aquarius)

The Magician: Mercury (Gemini, Virgo)

The High Priestess: Moon (Cancer)

The Empress: Venus (Taurus, Libra)

Wheel of Fortune: Jupiter (Sagittarius, and traditionally Pisces)

The Hanged Man: Neptune (Pisces)

The Tower: Mars (Aries, and traditionally Scorpio)

The Sun: Sun (Leo)

The Judgment: Pluto (Scorpio)

The World: Saturn (Capricorn, and traditionally Aquarius)

Finding your tarotscope

To find your tarotscope, you essentially need to put these seven cards together. For example, if you’re an Aries, then your cards are the Ace of Wands, the Two of Wands, the Three of Wands, the Four of Wands, the King of Wands, the Emperor, and the Tower. If you’re a Taurus, then your cards are the Ace of Pentacles, the Five of Pentacles, the Six of Pentacles, the Seven of Pentacles, the Page of Pentacles, the Empress, and the Hierophant. If you’re a Gemini, then your cards are The Ace of Swords, the Eight of Swords, the Nine of Swords, the Ten of Swords, the Knight of Swords, the Magician, and the Lovers. Each of these seven cards represents a possible expression of your zodiac sign and the behaviors you’re most prone to.