Tarot Astrology
The Tarot Astrology Almanac
Tarot and astrology share an old infrastructure. Both grew out of the same Renaissance hermetic conversation, both organise the world by archetype, and both were systematised into formal correspondence in the late nineteenth century by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The mapping you see here, every zodiac sign and planet linked to a Major Arcana card, is from MacGregor Mathers's Book T, the document the Rider-Waite-Smith and Thoth decks both encode. Each entry below explains the pairing and what it means in a reading.
The correspondence taxonomy
Fire signs
3 entries
Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius — the three fire signs — carry the suit of Wands in tarot. Their Major Arcana correspondences (The Emperor, Strength, Temperance) describe initiative, embodied confidence, and the long arc of meaning. Read them where the question is about action, identity, and the will.
Earth signs
3 entries
Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn — the three earth signs — carry the suit of Pentacles. Their Major Arcana correspondences (The Hierophant, The Hermit, The Devil) speak to embodied knowledge, careful discernment, and the binding patterns of material life. Read them where the question is about resources, slow work, and structure.
Air signs
3 entries
Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius — the three air signs — carry the suit of Swords. Their Major Arcana correspondences (The Lovers, Justice, The Star) describe relational thinking, judgement, and the long view that includes other minds. Read them where the question is about communication, fairness, and aspiration.
Water signs
3 entries
Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces — the three water signs — carry the suit of Cups. Their Major Arcana correspondences (The Chariot, Death, The Moon) speak to emotional containment, transformation, and the porous edge between conscious and unconscious. Read them where the question is about feeling, dream, and what the heart already knows.
The personal planets
5 entries
The five inner planets — Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars — govern the personality-level forces every chart contains: identity, mood, mind, value, assertion. Their Major Arcana correspondences (The Sun, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Empress, The Tower) anchor the everyday astrology of who a person actually is.
The transpersonal planets
3 entries
Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are the three outer planets. They describe generational forces and the parts of the self that exceed the personality. Their Major Arcana correspondences (The Fool, The Hanged Man, Judgement) describe disruption, dissolution, and the moments when the deeper self breaks open. They appear in charts as long, slow transits.
VI
The social planets
2 entries
Jupiter and Saturn, the two social planets, describe how a person enters and leaves the public world. Their Major Arcana correspondences (Wheel of Fortune, The World) frame the cycles of growth and consolidation that shape a career, a reputation, or an institution over time.