Andor's Tome of Stuff : )

Astrology & Qabbalah in the Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana are made up of Swords, Wands, Pentacles and Cups. Each of these has cards ranging from an "Ace"(one) to the number 10; as well as a "Princess"(Rider-Waite-Smith deck calles them "Pages"), "Knight", "King" and "Queen".

First let's examine the suits from 1-10. Each suit starts of with an "Ace" symbolizing the pure element of each suit: Air(Swords), Fire(Wands), Earth(Pentacles), Water(Cups). The "Ace" is meant to be the element in its pure and unchanged form; which then transforms through to the 10s. After the "Ace" the element/suit goes through its astrological triplicity, starting with the cardinal signs, going into the fixed signs and ending with the mutable signs!

For example, let's take Swords(Air):

2-4 of Swords - Libra; 5-7 of Swords - Aquarius; 8-10 of Swords - Gemini. Now, as you have noticed, each sign has three cards. This goes into the (chaldean) decans of the zodiac; meaning 10 degrees of each zodiac correspond with one card!

Let's take the Swords from 2-10 in order to demonstrate this:

•2 of Swords - The first 10 degrees of Libra - Decan of Moon
•3 of Swords - The next 10 degrees of Libra - Decan of Saturn
•4 of Swords - The last 10 degrees of Libra - Decan of Jupiter
•5 of Swords - The first 10 degrees of Aquarius - Decan of Venus
•6 of Swords - The next 10 degrees of Aquarius - Decan of Mercury
•7 of Swords - The last 10 degrees of Aquarius - Decan of Moon
•8 of Swords - The first 10 degrees of Gemini - Decan of Jupiter
•9 of Swords - The next 10 degrees of Gemini - Decan of Mars
•10 of Swords - The last 10 degrees of Gemini - Decan of Sun

This goes for each suit! Air signs for Swords, fire signs for Wands, water signs for Cups and earth signs for Pentacles.

Additionally to the decans, each card also corresponds to a particular part of the qabbalistic Tree of Life, which adds to the objective divinatory meaning of each card as well:

•The Four Aces - Kether

•The Four 2s - Chokmah

•The Four 3s - Binah

•The Four 4s - Chesed

•The Four 5s - Geburah

•The Four 6s - Tiphareth

•The Four 7s - Netzach

•The Four 8s - Hod

•The Four 9s - Yesod

•The Four 10s - Malkuth