Correspondence Table

One table brings together the number, Hebrew letter, astrological attribution and elemental link of each of the 22 major cards, and a second connects the four suits to their elements and subject areas. The "Correspondences" section of every card page on this site follows these two tables; the finer decan attributions of the minor number cards are on Astrological Correspondences.

Major Arcana correspondences (Golden Dawn/BOTA system, this site's default)

For the astrological and Hebrew-letter attributions of the major cards, the Golden Dawn system has historically been the most influential. Both Waite and Crowley started from it, and this site uses it by default. The Marseille tradition itself has no astrological attributions; those were added later by others, the Golden Dawn among them ^uncertain.

^disputed The numbering of Strength and Justice: in the Marseille tradition Strength is XI and Justice is VIII. Waite swapped the two, making Strength VIII and Justice XI, on the grounds that this lets Strength correspond to Leo and Justice to Libra, so the numbering fits the Golden Dawn's astrological logic better. Crowley's Thoth deck keeps the Marseille order (the attributions stay the same; only the names change: VIII is called Adjustment and corresponds to Libra, XI is called Lust and corresponds to Leo). The card pages on this site follow the Waite order (VIII = Strength, XI = Justice) by default, and The Three Main Traditions explains the differences among the three traditions in full.

The minor number cards (2–10) correspond to decans, each covering 10 degrees of the zodiac, or roughly ten days; see the full table on Astrological Correspondences. The Aces and court cards take no part in the decan scheme. The Ace is the suit itself, and the court cards correspond to "element of element" combinations (see The Court Cards).

Suit, element, subject

Related pages

• Astrological Correspondences
• The Kabbalah and the Tree of Life
• Numbers in Tarot
• The Court Cards
• The Three Main Traditions
• Anatomy of a Tarot Deck
• The Major Arcana
• The Minor Arcana
• The Reading Process
• Reading Reversals
• Elemental Dignities
• Tarot Spreads