Hello, hello,
How are you doing?
Today, I'd like to talk about the tarot correspondences, and in particular about the correspondences with the planets in astrology.
The tarot correspondences is this very sweet idea that one card 'corresponds' or is connected to one zodiac sign or one planet.
Which is a really cool idea because most tarot lovers also love astrology. So why not mix two things we enjoy?
The tarot correspondences were popularized by the magical society of the Golden Dawn. In this post I'll be using their usual correspondences, but do bear in mind that there exist other systems of correspondences.
The correspondences were only invented a hundred years ago so they're far from set in stone. In fact, feel free to create your own correspondences if you don't like them.
If you'd like a general overview of the correspondences in the Major Arcana, you can head to this post where I introduce the 22 astrological correspondences.
But here, right now I'll be talking about the planetary correspondences. In astrology we've got 10 planets, and since I'd like to the my time, today, we'll only be covering the 1st five planets in order of the tarot.
The plan is to cover the basic meaning of the card, the basic meaning of the planet, and pounder a bit on how well they fit and complement each other.
You are, as always, very welcomed to make your own interpretations and conclusions and to share them with us all : )
Tarot Correspondences: the Planets - let’s go!
0. The Fool is Uranus
Actually, not really, because the Golden Dawn didn’t include the modern planets. So bye-bye Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
But the thing is everyone loves the modern planets so they’ve been added, and now they’re almost kind of canon.
Personally, I’m more of a traditional astrologer, and you’ll surely feel my traditional conservative bent throughout this talk, hoho.
But even if I’m not a modern astrologer, I still know the basics.
Uranus represents freedom, innovation, revolution. Uranus is forward-thinking, Uranus is ‘the future’, but that comes at a cost, and often with chaos.
The non spiritual ones fear the changes that Uranus brings. Because they haven’t seen the light. Bwahahaha.
The Fool is about being carefree, innocent, having faith in yourself and in the world.
The Fool is the energy of a free spirit that doesn’t judge but is wise. Or are they wise exactly because they don’t judge?
Anyways, I'm getting confused, but the correspondence of the Fool with Uranus is pretty straightforward.
They both symbolize an energy that breaks from the norm and the mold. Nothing holds them back from what they desire.
Uranus and the Fool push you to stay true to yourself and pursue your dreams and visions with relentless faith.
Their core difference is that Uranus is kind of nervous. It has an edge to it, it’s rebellious and sometimes violent.
While the Fool, especially in the Smith-Waite representation, is the embodiment of a pacifist.
Uranus is ready to destroy to get what it wants. What wants Uranus almost always requires a form of destruction. It’s very Tower like in that way.
Which isn’t surprising, since Uranus is similar to Mars.
In contrast to the head-one attitude of Uranus, The Fool evokes a much more fluid and adaptable energy.
Question on this correspondence:
This correspondence makes me wonder how destructive the embodiment of the Fool actually is?
I’m not saying destructive as in bad. Destruction can be needed and good.
But the Fool is so very often seen as a free-spirit, minding their own business, bringing love and joy around them.
While in reality bringing some Fool energy in our life often demands some very painful decisions.
And maybe that tarot correspondence with Uranus reminds us of this rougher, rawer side of the Fool.
1. The Magician is Mercury
Mercury, like the Magician, is many things.
Mercury rules thinking and cognitive expression. Mercury is ideas, information and communication.
But however mental Mercury can be, it also has a manual and practical side.
Mercury traditionally rules money, markets and travels, all that is concerned with physical exchanges.
In my humble opinion, all this captures very well the meaning of the Magician.
The Magician is about manifesting something worldly or physical, tangible from all this mess inside our head.
The Magician is about doing something, anything, with the mental realm to transform it into another shape.
That shape can remain very mental, such as writing a speech, it can have a dash of intuition and creativity, such as writing a poem, or it can even be very pragmatic, such as writing a to-do-list.
Since we’re all witches and wizards here, let’s not forget the obvious magical meaning of the Magician, which is just to do magic or to be magical.
The Magician’s correspondence with Mercury really hammers this meaning since Mercury is the planet of Divination and Mysteries, which includes tarot and astrology.
2. The High Priestess is the Moon
Surprise, surprise, the Moon’s correspondence isn’t the Moon.
The folks from the Golden Dawn loved to keep us all on our toes.
The High Priestess is about our inner world, our spirituality, our intuition and dreams.
It’s about knowledge and wisdom that cannot be learned through physical experiences but through contemplation.
This works with the Moon which often represents our unconscious and our capacity to feel things, in particular our emotions and the ones of the folks around us.
The Moon and the High Priestess are not of the logical and rational type. They intuit, they know.
They reflect on their surroundings. They don’t act but re-act and adapt.
All in all I love the correspondence of the Moon and the High Priestess, except for two things that don’t quite fit.
1. the Moon in traditional astrology is much about nurturing.
A quality that belongs more to the Empress than the High Priestess.
The Moon is into cozy and heart-warming things, while the High Priestess is a bit more aloof and minimalist.
2. the Moon is a fickle planet. Like the word lunatic that comes from the moon or even moody, the Moon constantly changes.
But the High Priestess is a very constant, nearly immutable energy.
Or that’s how I see it. What do you think?
3. The Empress is Venus
The Empress is about nurturing and being nurtured. It’s about learning how to care of others, but also learning how to be taken care of. How to receive.
In a tiny nutshell, that’s the Empress.
And that’s an excellent fit with Venus.
Venus loves to love and lavish, and she loves gifts, services, strong friendships… Venus is always ready to get more of that yummy stuff you have for her.
This tarot correspondence reminds us that the Empress isn’t only physical nurturing.
Because that’s a common tendency with the Empress, to immediately think of luxurious goods, a comfortable chair, a delicious cake… so luxurious, I know.
And while that’s true, Venus is also about mental or cognitive care.
Because Venus doesn’t only rule Taurus, an earthy and grounded sign, but she also rules Libra, an air sign.
So the Empress also reminds us of the importance of taking care of our mental health, as well as learning how to communicate in a more peaceful, aware and efficient way.
4. The Wheel of Fortune is Jupiter
A big jump in numbers because from 4 to 9 it’s only zodiac signs.
Jupiter is about big stuff or making things big.
Take anything, if you want to grow it, that’s Jupiter energy.
So all those big political, legal or religious institutions, universities, philosophy, wealth, all glorious and grand stuff, that’s Jupiter.
That fits well with the large meaning of the Wheel of Fortune.
The Wheel of Fortune is about the bigger cycles of life.
How they are so many small ways you can take part in the grand scheme of things, but in the end you never know because you’re never fully in control.
Anyways, that’s how I see the Wheel of Fortune.
This correspondence between the Wheel of Fortune and Jupiter is about faith.
Because the message of the Wheel of Fortune can be scary. The idea of cycles is scary because whenever things go up, they will go down.
But Jupiter chooses to believe and to be part of the big wheel of life. Bravo, Jupiter.
Some final words?
So here we are dear magical ones, we’ve covered half of the planetary correspondences. / applause, applause /
I hope this gave you much food for thought.
It was a delight to be joined by your graceful presence and I hope you’ll join me for the other half.
If you crave more tarot goodness, I offer tarot readings,
I’ve also started birth-chart readings where we can blend some tarot correspondences to make things more interesting (instead of dull and sad lol).
Don't hesitate to send me an email at jinthewizard@outlook.com if you have any questions concerning my readings : )
As a final gift here's a little handy summary of the planetary correspondences:
I hope you stay well, and I’ll see you soon.
Jin