I recently put up a video on my YouTube channel about astrological associations with the tarot. I’ve always really like the additional structure and depth astrology lends to the tarot, but there were certain traditional associations that I didn’t get along with. And this makes sense when you consider that the traditional associations–that is, those established by the Golden Dawn–are associated with the Kabbalah–because of course it is, it’s the Golden Dawn. And though there’s probably a lot to it and I might end up finding stuff I like within it, I’ve never been especially interested in the Kabbalah. And really, there’s no reason that an astrological connection with the tarot needs to be done through the lens of the Kabbalah anyway. Instead, I want to associate astrology with the tarot utilizing a Hellenistic lens, since that’s the system of astrology I prefer to use.

After more than a year of dedicated fiddling, I’ve finally come up with the changes I want to make to the astrological associations with the tarot’s major arcana. I have a lot more I could say on any one of these associations, but for now I’ve put them in this simple chart for use as reference. The keywords are meant to briefly represent the shared aspects of the tarot card and my astrological association and are certainly not comprehensive!

I would be very interested to see more connections between astrology and tarot that utilize different perspectives–how about associations based on Vedic astrology? Or Chinese astrology? (Actually I’m also pretty into Chinese astrology, and it would certainly make for some interesting connections… hm, maybe I’ve got another project on my hands…)

Tarot card	Golden Dawn association	My association	My keywords
The Fool	Uranus or Elemental Air	Null	Essential emptiness, detachment, ataraxia, freedom from the self and presumptions
The Magician	Mercury		Intellect, discovery, mastery, humor
The High Priestess	The Moon	Venus	Sensitivity, awareness, personal power, intuition, the veil, the light-bringer, beauty
The Empress	Venus	The Earth	Creativity, foundation, family, abundance of life, hard work, pleasure of senses
The Emperor	Aries		Ambition, will, action, aggression, initiation
The Hierophant	Taurus		Stability, security, patience, steadfastness, history and roots
The Lovers	Gemini		Interaction, playfulness, communication, inquisitiveness, connections
The Chariot	Cancer		Power, emotion, moving forward, evolution, motivation, momentum
Strength	Leo		Strength, self-confidence, vibrancy
The Hermit	Virgo		Thought, analysis, reflection, patience, adjustment
Wheel of Fortune	Jupiter		Expansion, good luck, enthusiasm, happiness, embiggening
Justice	Libra		Balance, justice, truth, decisions, precision
The Hanged Man	Neptune or Elemental Water	Pisces	Awareness, sensitivity, illumination, duality, mutability, expansion, integration
Death	Scorpio		Change, emotional, dramatic, overwhelm, expression, uninhibited emotion
Temperance	Sagittarius		Blending, experimentation, exploration, philosophy, optimism
The Devil	Capricorn		Restrictions, resilience, determination, appearances, necessary action
The Tower	Mars		Destruction, transformation, initiative, accomplishment
The Star	Aquarius		Hope, knowledge, change, ethics, development, unmarginalization
The Moon	Pisces	The Moon	Depth, mystery, gestation, contradiction, lunacy, exploration, beauty in darkness
The Sun	The Sun		The self, expression, energy, creativity, happiness, confidence
Judgment	Pluto or Elemental Fire	Saturn	Reaping what you’ve sown, boundaries, consequence, the End, realism, liberation
The World	Saturn	All	Eternalism, “everything all at once”, the universe, the monad, timelessness

Image from Agnes Giberne’s The Story of the Sun, Moon, and Stars (1898). https://archive.org/details/storyofsunmoonst00gibe