What Are the Tarot Cards for Your Zodiac Sign?

There are many ways to use tarot cards. As meditation, as a way to try and divine the future, or as a way to give you a focus for the day or week. You might know that each card has many layers of meaning, but did you know that every card is connected to an astrological sign?

Within a tarot deck, there are 22 Major Arcana cards. The members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn associated each of these cards with either a planet, an element, or a zodiac sign. They also associated the Minor Arcana cards and court cards with an element and a zodiac sign, as you can see in the decan wheel below.

 

Why Do Certain Tarot Cards Correspond With Certain Zodiac Signs?

To answer this, let’s go back in time a bit. To help them measure time and eventually create their calendar, the Ancient Egyptians followed the movement of 36 small constellations they called decans.

Every hour during the night, one of these decans appeared on the horizon. And, about every 10 days, a new decan would appear in the sky.

Eventually, astrology made its way to Egypt and three decans were assigned to each astrology sign. Astrologists and others still use this concept to divide each sign into three equal parts, each 10 days in length.

You won’t see every Major Arcana tarot card is associated with an astrological sign. That’s because some are associated with elements or planets. More on that here.

What Does This Have to Do with Tarot?

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn used this concept to combine the tarot with the zodiac.

They began with the first decan of Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, and matched it with the first wands card from the Minor Arcana. (Wands represent fire and Aries are a fire sign.)

They continued this way around the entire decan wheel, aligning the first three cards of a suit with the corresponding element’s cardinal sign. As a result:

• 2, 3, 4s correspond to cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn)
• 5, 6, 7s correspond to fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius)
• 8, 9, 10s correspond to mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces)

Aces represent the most intense, purest version of the element. They are associated with all signs of that element. For example, the Ace of Cups is associated with all water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces).

This is the most commonly followed approach when it comes to combining the signs with the tarot. However, in your own research, you may also stumble upon the Tarot of the Bohemians, a text written by Gérard Encausse in 1889, which uses a different methodology.

 

The Court Cards and Astrology

Things get much more complicated with the court cards. In the Golden Dawn tradition, each of the court cards is tied to an element. This is in addition to the element of the suit.

• Pages: Earth
• Knights: Fire
• Queens: Water
• Kings: Air

But there’s another level, which the Hermit’s Mirror explains here. Essentially:

• The Queens connect primarily to the cardinal element of a sign (Aries is the Queen of Wands, Cancer is the Queen of Cups)
• The Knights connect primarily to the fixed element of a sign (Leo is the Knight of Wands, Scorpio is the Knight of Cups)
• The Kings connect primarily to the mutable element of a sign (Sagittarius is the King of Wands, Pisces is the King of Cups)

Using this, the Golden Dawn were able to associate the Knights, Queens, and Kings with the signs.

Each court member corresponds to one decan of one sign and two decans of another. (For the purpose of the wheel, the Golden Dawn removed the Pages.)

 

How Do I Use The Correspondences in a Tarot Reading?

When doing a tarot reading, the astrological correspondences could be useful in a few ways. If a particular card keeps surfacing, it might be connected to a person born during that time.

Or, if you’re trying to find out when something will happen, the tarot could be letting you know that it will happen during the time associated with that particular card.

 

The Tarot Cards for Each Astrological Sign

Aries Tarot Cards

• The Emperor (IV)
• Queen of Wands — 1st and 2nd decan
• Knight of Pentacles — 3rd decan
• Two of Wands — 1st decan of Aries (March 21-30)
• Three of Wands — 2nd decan of Aries (March 31-April 10)
• Four of Wands — 3rd decan of Aries (April 11-20)

 

Taurus Tarot Cards

• The Hierophant (V)
• Knight of Pentacles — 1st and 2nd decan
• Knight of Swords — 3rd decan
• Five of Pentacles — 1st decan of Taurus (April 21-30)
• Six of Pentacles — 2nd decan of Taurus (May 1-10)
• Seven of Pentacles — 3rd decan of Taurus (May 11-20)

 

Gemini Tarot Cards

• The Lovers (VI)
• Knight of Swords — 1st and 2nd decan
• Queen of Cups — 3rd decan
• Eight of Swords — 1st decan of Gemini (May 21-31)
• Nine of Swords — 2nd decan of Gemini (June 1-10)
• Ten of Swords — 3rd decan of Gemini (June 11-20)

 

Cancer Tarot Cards

• The Chariot (VII)
• Queen of Cups — 1st and 2nd decan
• Knight of Wands — 3rd decan
• Two of Cups — 1st decan of Cancer (June 21-30)
• Three of Cups — 2nd decan of Cancer (July 1-11)
• Four of Cups — 3rd decan of Cancer (July 12-21)

 

Leo Tarot Cards

• Strength (VIII)
• Knight of Wands — 1st and 2nd decan
• King of Pentacles — 3rd decan
• Five of Wands — 1st decan of Leo (July 22-August 1)
• Six of Wands — 2nd decan of Leo (August 2-11)
• Seven of Wands — 3rd decan of Leo (August 12-22)

 

Virgo Tarot Cards

• The Hermit (IX)
• King of Pentacles — 1st and 2nd decan
• Queen of Swords — 3rd decan
• Eight of Pentacles — 1st decan of Virgo (August 23-September 1)
• Nine of Pentacles — 2nd decan of Virgo (September 2-11)
• Ten of Pentacles — 3rd decan of Virgo (September 12-22)

 

Libra Tarot Cards

• Justice (XI)
• Queen of Swords — 1st and 2nd decan
• Knight of Cups — 3rd decan
• Two of Swords — 1st decan of Libra (September 23-October 2)
• Three of Swords — 2nd decan of Libra (October 3-12)
• Four of Swords — 3rd decan of Libra (October 13-22)

 

Scorpio Tarot Cards

• Death (XII)
• Knight of Cups — 1st and 2nd decan
• King of Wands — 3rd decan
• Five of Cups — 1st decan of Scorpio (October 23-November 1)
• Six of Cups — 2nd decan of Scorpio (November 2-12)
• Seven of Cups — 3rd decan of Scorpio (November 13-22)

 

Sagittarius Tarot Cards

• Temperance (XIV)
• King of Wands — 1st and 2nd decan
• Queen of Pentacles — 3rd decan
• Eight of Wands — 1st decan of Sagittarius (November 23-December 2)
• Nine of Wands — 2nd decan of Sagittarius (December 3-12)
• Ten of Wands — 3rd decan of Sagittarius (December 13-21)

 

Capricorn Tarot Cards

• The Devil (XV)
• Queen of Pentacles — 1st and 2nd decan
• Knight of Swords — 3rd decan
• Two of Pentacles — 1st decan of Capricorn (December 22-30)
• Three of Pentacles — 2nd decan of Capricorn (December 31-Jan 9)
• Four of Pentacles — 3rd decan of Capricorn (January 10-19)

 

Aquarius Tarot Cards

• The Star (XVII)
• Knight of Swords — 1st and 2nd decan
• King of Cups — 3rd decan
• Five of Swords — 1st decan of Aquarius (January 20-29)
• Six of Swords – 2nd decan of Aquarius (January 30-February 8)
• Seven of Swords — 3rd decan of Aquarius (February 9-18)

 

Pisces Tarot Cards

• The Moon (XVIII)
• King of Cups — 1st and 2nd decan
• Queen of Wands — 3rd decan
• Eight of Cups — 1st decan of Pisces (February 19-28)
• Nine of Cups — 2nd decan of Pisces (March 1-10)
• Ten of Cups — 3rd decan of Pisces (March 11-20)

 

The Corresponding Signs for the Major Arcana

Tarot Card	Sign
The Emperor (IV)	Aries
The Hierophant (V)	Taurus
The Lovers (VI)	Gemini
The Chariot (VII)	Cancer
Strength (VII)	Leo
The Hermit (IX)	Virgo
Justice (XI)	Libra
Death (XIII)	Scorpio
Temperance (XIV)	Sagittarius
The Devil (XV)	Capricorn
The Star (XVII)	Aquarius
The Moon (XVIII)	Pisces

 

The Corresponding Signs for the Minor Arcana

Tarot Card	Sign
2 of Wands	Aries – 1st Decan
3 of Wands	Aries – 2nd Decan
4 of Wands	Aries — 3rd Decan
5 of Wands	Leo – 1st Decan
6 of Wands	Leo – 2nd Decan
7 of Wands	Leo – 3rd Decan
8 of Wands	Sagittarius – 1st Decan
9 of Wands	Sagittarius – 2nd Decan
10 of Wands	Sagittarius – 3rd Decan
2 of Cups	Cancer – 1st Decan
3 of Cups	Cancer – 2nd Decan
4 of Cups	Cancer – 3rd Decan
5 of Cups	Scorpio – 1st Decan
6 of Cups	Scorpio – 2nd Decan
7 of Cups	Scorpio – 3rd Decan
8 of Cups	Pisces – 1st Decan
9 of Cups	Pisces – 2nd Decan
10 of Cups	Pisces – 3rd Decan
2 of Swords	Libra – 1st Decan
3 of Swords	Libra – 2nd Decan
4 of Swords	Libra – 3rd Decan
5 of Swords	Aquarius – 1st Decan
6 of Swords	Aquarius – 2nd Decan
7 of Swords	Aquarius – 3rd Decan
8 of Swords	Gemini – 1st Decan
9 of Swords	Gemini – 2nd Decan
10 of Swords	Gemini – 3rd Decan
2 of Pentacles	Capricorn – 1st Decan
3 of Pentacles	Capricorn – 2nd Decan
4 of Pentacles	Capricorn – 3rd Decan
5 of Pentacles	Taurus – 1st Decan
6 of Pentacles	Taurus – 1st Decan
7 of Pentacles	Taurus – 3rd Decan
8 of Pentacles	Virgo – 1st Decan
9 of Pentacles	Virgo – 2nd Decan
10 of Pentacles	Virgo – 3rd Decan

 

Aces and Their Signs

Tarot Card	Sign
Ace of Wands	Fire Signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Ace of Cups	Water Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Ace of Swords	Air Signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Ace of Pentacles	Earth Signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn