The Fire Signs In The Minor Arcana

Now that we’ve covered the Elements and Qualities of the Astrological signs we can put it all together and take a look at the Minor Arcana cards associated with the signs. 

As we have seen, each Tarot suit represents an astrological Triplicity, (the three signs which belong to the same element): 

Wands are the Fire signs
Cups are the Water signs
Swords are the Air signs
Pentacles are the Earth signs

The cards within each suit are assigned to these three signs as follows:

Cardinal Signs:  2, 3 and 4 of each suit.
Fixed Signs:  5, 6, and 7 of each suit.
Mutable Signs:  8, 9, and 10 of each suit.

The Fire Signs are represented by Wands.  The following cards from the Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot and the Universal Waite Tarot represent the three signs in the Fire Triplicity.

Aries - Cardinal Fire  March 21 to April 20

The two, three and four of Wands represent the sign Aries in the Golden Dawn System. Look for the symbol of Aries on these cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Universal Waite cards pictured above do not have the astrological symbols on them, so you’ll need to be able to remember these cards when using decks which do not include these symbols.

Leo - Fixed Fire  July 23 to August 23

The five, six and seven of Wands represent the sign Leo.  Look for the symbol of Leo on these cards:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sagittarius - Mutable Fire  Nov. 22 to Dec. 21

The eight, nine and ten of Wands represent the sign Sagittarius.  Look for the symbol of Sagittarius on these cards:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice also the Golden Dawn title for each of these nine cards. Compare this title with the scene in the Universal Waite card directly below it.  What strikes you?  Does the Universal Waite scene appear to reflect the Golden Dawn title?

We’ll move on to the the Cups in the next post.

Micki