Tarot and Astrology

For the last six months I've been producing illuminated manuscripts of the different astrological signs and have become fascinated by the links between tarot and astrology. The connections between the two systems are more tenuous than I originally thought, although there are some direct correlations between the symbols of the tarot and the ruling planets of the different signs - the most obvious being Saturn and The Hermit, and the Magician and Mercury.

Astrological study stretches back thousands of years - to ancient Egypt and Babylonia at least, while early mankind would almost certainly have created their own star-lore. At that stage in our evolution, we probably used the right brain to a far greater extent than we do today, and those early people would have automatically assigned images to the patterns of stars. [In fact, the mythology of some indigenous populations shows an extraordinary, intuitive knowledge of the heavens - for example, the Dogon, who, according to a recent article on the Museum of Unnatural Mystery, knew about the invisible companion to Sirius.

The ancient astrologers identified the planets, attempted to explain heavenly events such as eclipses and comets, and assigned images and psychological characteristics to constellations which they identified by name based on local myths, and to the different planets.

This use of figurative imagery - together with an underlying animistic concept of the universe - continued for thousands of years, through the collapse of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilisations. In medieval times, symbology was employed for religious and philosophical ends - the alchemists, for example, used figurative symbolism to describe the alchemic process. The tarot, appearing around 1415, used the same language. Like astrology and alchemy, the tarot referred to images that all understood - which Carl Jung called archetypes: the fool or jester, Emperors, Popes, Justice, Death, The Star, The Sun. (The Minchiate deck incorporated all the astrological signs, plus the elements and virtues - and was one of the first medieval packs to change the pages to 'maid' cards.)

Many recent decks place astrological symbols on each card, assuming a correlation which may or may not be useful. Crowley's Thoth deck was one of the first to attempt a synthesis of all the magical systems - kabbalah, astrology, tarot and a few more besides. You can, of course, read tarot quite adequately without knowing any other system, but, as always, the more you understand the symbolism used in the Tarot, the more it will enrich your interpretations.

My name is Cilla Conway and I like to think of myself as a visionary artist who has been working with and taking inspiration from The Tarot for more years than I care to think about. In 1981, I completed my own pack, which I called The Intuitive Tarot. It really matters to me. You can see examples at http://www.theintuitivetarot.com. More recently I started a blog called http://www.tarotcardmeaningsonline.com/tarot-and-astrology, which is my attempt to give back for everything The Tarot has given me over the years.

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