Got your coffee? Let’s talk Thoth!

If you browse through the Thoth Tarot, you find that Aleister Crowley attributes an astrological association to the Major Arcana and most of the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana is ruled by a sign or a planet, and the Minor Arcana are ruled by a planet in a sign. I think it’s fun to find the cards that correspond to my own birth chart and see what they bring to mind. So let’s have a look!

In the case of the Minor Arcana only the 2s to the 10s are is ruled by a planet in a sign. The Aces and court cards use a different system, which we’ll look at later.

Major Arcana

Here’s a list of the Major Arcana and their associated astrological sign. You can use this list for any placement in your chart, but I use it mostly for my sun sign, where it works as a ‘life card’ in the sense that it tells you a little about where your skills are based in this life. My sun is in Leo, for example, so I am especially curious about what skills the Lust/Strength card might offer me, if I can work with its potential:

Aries: The Emperor

Taurus: The Hierophant

Gemini: The Lovers

Cancer: The Chariot

Leo: Lust (Strength)

Virgo: The Hermit

Libra: Adjustment (Justice)

Scorpio: Death

Sagittarius: Art (Temperance)

Capricorn: The Devil

Aquarius: The Star

Pisces: The Moon

Minor Arcana

You can also look at the 2s through to the 10s of the Minor Arcana for ‘your’ cards. You probably won’t find every House of your birth chart represented here because there just aren’t enough cards in the Minor Arcana. Take away the Aces and we have 36 Minor Arcana to assign signs to. Crowley uses 7 planets, and assigning each planet to each of 12 astrological signs means we would need 84 cards. Too many for every placement to have a card. We do have all of the planets, just not in all of the signs.

So grab your birth chart! If you don’t have it, you can get it from Astrolabe or Cafe Astrology. If you don’t know the time you were born, use noon.

Your chart will give you the location of all the planets when you were born. You’ll see that it is divided up into 12 pieces, or Houses. Each House is ruled by an astrological sign, starting with Aries in the First House. So if you find the sun symbol in the House ruled by Aries, then your Sun is in Aries. If you find the symbol for Venus in the 7th House, ruled by Libra, then your Venus is in Libra. This is the information you’ll need to check whether there is any Minor Arcana cards in the Thoth deck that correspond to your chart.

As an example, say your Mercury is in Virgo. On the list below, you can see that Mercury in Virgo is assigned to the 10 of Disks, which is Wealth … and that makes sense because Mercury rules Virgo so it’s very happy there, working out all the details. Knowing your Tarot, you can mull over how that energy fits with the 10 of Disks/Pentacles and what it means to you if it’s in your chart … and more generally, if it’s not.

Here is a list of the transits that Crowley included in the Thoth deck, and the cards associated with them. Do they match anything in your chart?

Sun in Aries: 3 of Wands – Virtue

Sun in Gemini: 10 of Swords – Ruin

Sun in Virgo: 8 of Pentacles – Prudence

Sun in Scorpio: 6 of Cups – Pleasure

Sun in Sagittarius: 6 of Wands – Strength

Sun in Capricorn: 4 of Disks – Power

 

Mercury in Taurus: 5 of Disks – Worry

Mercury in Cancer: 3 of Cups – Abundance

Mercury in Virgo: 10 of Disks – Wealth

Mercury in Sagittarius: 8 of Wands – Swiftness

Mercury in Aquarius: 6 of Swords – Science

 

Venus in Aries: 4 of Wands – Completion

Venus in Cancer: 2 of Cups – Love

Venus in Virgo: 9 of Disks – Gain

Venus in Scorpio: 7 of Cups – Debauch

Venus in Aquarius: 5 of Swords – Defeat

 

Moon in Taurus: 6 of Disks – Success

Moon in Cancer: 4 of Cups – Luxury

Moon in Libra: 2 of Swords – Peace

Moon in Aquarius: 7 of Swords – Futility

 

Mars in Aries: 2 of Wands – Dominion

Mars in Gemini: 9 of Swords – Cruelty

Mars in Leo: 7 of Wands – Valour

Mars in Scorpio: 5 of Cups – Disappointment

Mars in Capricorn: 3 of Disks – Works

Mars in Pisces: 10 of Cups – Satiety

 

Jupiter in Gemini: 8 of Swords – Interference

Jupiter in Leo: 6 of Wands – Victory

Jupiter in Libra: 4 of Swords – Truce

Jupiter in Capricorn: 2 of Disks – Change

Jupiter in Pisces: 9 of Cups – Happiness

 

Saturn in Taurus: 7 of Disks – Failure

Saturn in Leo: 5 of Wands – Strife

Saturn in Libra: 3 of Swords – Sorrow

Saturn in Sagittarius: 10 of Wands – Oppression

Saturn in Pisces: 8 of Cups – Indolence