Going back to the tarot theme, there’s an issue that has been bothering me a little lately and this is the inclusion of astrology bits in the tarot cards. Some decks lack it completely, while others adding astrological symbolism, to a varying degree of elaboration.

On the face of it, it’s a welcome feature that is supposed to augment and deepen the meaning of the cards, and aid in their intuitive interpretation as well. This is part of the tendency to augment the cards with other themes in addition to astrology, like the Kabbalah, numerology, alchemy, hermeticism, etc. Some of it is already included as a basic feature of the card, like the “as above so below” hands gesture of the Magician, which is a basic tenet in hermeticism.

But when examined more closely, it seems to me that not much thought was put into associating the various tarot cards with the astrological elements. The associations seem superficial at best, and sometimes even incongruent. Take the Emperor, for example: it has the association with the sign of Aries, and traditionally even a depiction of a head of a ram as an adornment to his throne. I get it that they both stand for leadership (of some kind), but that’s where the similarity ends, IMHO. The Emperor is thought of as the depiction of the male principle of creating order out of chaos, creating and enforcing laws, manifesting structures that govern societies, and embodying the father figure in general. I’m sorry, but I have hard time seeing here the hasty, impulsive, spontaneous, easily quarrelsome, act-before-you-think kind of martial energy of a typical Aries. If at all, the emperor reminds me more of Capricorn.

There are more examples, like the linking of the court cards with the signs, or the more elaborate linking of planets in signs for different minor arcana cards. For example, the 8 of swords as Jupiter in Gemini – which is the current transit by the way. It’s true that Jupiter is in detriment in Gemini, but I find it hard to see that this combination would lead necessarily to a sense of entrapment, either self-inflicted or real (the meaning of 8 of swords). Mainly because Gemini has a flexible, adaptable nature while Jupiter is known for its optimistic expansiveness, It’s hard envisioning this kind of experience, as depicted by 8 of swords,  emanating from those two energies and principles. If at all, It would be more fitting of Saturn as having anything to do with a sense of entrapment, with Pisces as having a tendency to not seeing clearly and self sabotage. 

Personally, I avoid those associations and prefer my tarot to be free of them, and if I see one of them I make an effort to ignore it. For me, it just muddles the interpretive waters and doesn’t help much. I’d rather see the tarot archetypes as standing on their own and not leaning too much on astrology, though as archetypes it’s only natural that some cross-over would exist. It’s just that at least in some cases, the indicated cross-over isn’t quite there fully, IMHO.