Astrology & Major Arcana

sapienza

Is there a link between astrological signs and the major arcana tarot cards? I link the court cards to the astrological signs but I've heard there is a link to the majors also. I have never really considered this. Is it usefull? Can anyone help me out with this?

Thanks
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jade

i know that there is a connection....but i'm not sure of what it is. but i know for sure that there are many talented informed people on this forum that will be answering your question in great detail!!!

love and light,
jade
 

scorpio

fool aquarius/uranus magician/gemini virgo/mercury 3 high priestess/cancer moon 4 empress/taurus libra/venus 5 emperor aries/mars 6 heirophant taurus/venus 7 lovers gemini/mercury 8 chariot cancer/moon 9 strenght leo/sun 10 hermit/virgo/mercury 11 wheel sag pisces/jupiter 12 justice libra/venus 13 hanged man pices/neptune 14 death scorpio/mars and pluto 15 temperance sag/jupiter 16 devil capricorn/saturn 17 tower aries scorpio/mars 18 star aquarius/saturn uranus 19 moon pices/jupiter neptune 20 sun leo/sun 21 judgement scorpio/pluto 22 world/capricorn aquarius/saturn disregard the numbers i just used them to order the list not to correspond to the cards. numerology is a whole other bag!!!!! (my friend is in to that so i let her sort that out) these associations vary somewhat depending on who ya read but this otta get you started if you are an astrology buff and starting to learn tarot. i knew astrology first so when i was learning tarot the astro made it so much easier. good luck!!!
 

jmd

The oldest clear associations come post E. Levi's Kabbalistic associations. By linking each letter of the Hebrew alphabet to the Major Arcana, astrological associations result.

The reason is that, for example, the 12th c. Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest of the three 'classical' Kabbalistic texts, links each of the single letters with a zodiacal sign, each of the seven doubles with a 'planet', and each of the three mother-letters with an element.

Depending on where one places Aleph (which is the first letter and also means 1), different correlations will follow. Waite, following the Golden Dawn, places Aleph on the Fool, and the implications this has.

On a different note, the Visconti-Sforza (15th c) deck's depiction of the Magician is virtually the same as a miniature from an astrological depiction of Mercury from the same era, and and made for the same family. As far as I am aware, this is the earliest possible connection.

Most designers have followed the Kabbalistic connections first promulgated by Levi, or modified by the Golden Dawn.