Numbers in Tarot

In the minor cards from Ace to 10, the same number describes the same stage in all four suits, just in a different area of life. This is the least laborious way to learn the Minor Arcana.

What each number means across the suits

Why the Ace is not an ordinary "one"

Number systems usually treat one as the starting point, but in tarot the Ace is normally handled separately. It is not an ordinary beginning; it is the suit's energy itself in its least diluted form, like the hand on the card holding the object out of a cloud before it has landed in any specific situation ^inferred. When reading an Ace, the point is that the energy the suit represents is appearing in its purest form, rather than simply applying "one = beginning".

Numbers and the astrological decans

In the astrological correspondence system, each of the number cards 2–10 (not the Aces) falls in a section of a sign covering about 10 days, called a decan; see Astrological Correspondences. These correspondences help explain why the same number differs in detail from suit to suit. Among the Fives, for example, the Five of Wands corresponds to the first decan of Leo (fire on fire, with stronger friction), and the Five of Cups to the first decan of Scorpio (water on water, with deeper emotion) ^uncertain. Explanations of the decan details vary a good deal between sources, so this page keeps to the parts most agree on.

Where the number meanings come from: free association and the Tree of Life

The table of shared meanings above is not a set of arbitrary rules. Historically at least two lines of thought support correspondences of this kind, and understanding them helps you work out new associations when you need them, instead of memorizing one author's fixed wording:

• Free association (traceable to Pythagoras): reduce each number to its most basic geometric image. One is a point, standing for infinite possibility not yet unfolded. Two is a line extending outward from the point, which is expansion. Three is a plane: for the first time there is a concrete shape and the power to express something, but for the first time it is also bound by that shape and cannot become another figure. Four is a square, solid and steady. What matters in this approach is the method more than the conclusions: whatever a number's image brings to mind can be its meaning. A number system is meant to be worked out flexibly like this instead of copied from the wording of one particular book.
• The planetary correspondences of the Tree of Life (the conventional version within the Golden Dawn system): the ten sephiroth of the Tree of Life, from top to bottom, correspond in turn to "creative energy itself → the zodiac → the seven classical planets (in Chaldean order: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon) → the Earth". So one is pure, undivided creative energy; two is the zodiac (symbolizing expansion from the one into the many); three through nine correspond to Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon in that order; and ten is the Earth. Each planet's qualities seep into its number: Saturn's contraction and restriction, Jupiter's expansion and kindness, Mars's conflict, the Sun's balance and beauty, Venus's love, Mercury's logic and wisdom, the Moon's unconscious and emotion. The wording of this scheme differs in places from the shared-meanings table on this page [uncertain: each system is coherent on its own terms; there is no need to force them into agreement], but both point to the same thing: every layer of meaning in the number system can be traced back to some concrete image or system that supports it, and none of it is an isolated, rigid rule. This planetary scheme is about the numbers themselves (1–10, regardless of suit). It is a different thread from the question on Astrological Correspondences of which decan each number card 2–10 falls in; the two can be used together, but should not be confused.

Seven and Eight, and Six: patterns that are easy to miss

Beyond the assessment/momentum division of stages, mapping the numbers back onto the ten sephiroth of the Tree of Life themselves (rather than the planets assigned to them) reveals a few more patterns that recur across all four suits. They can serve as additional angles beyond the shared-meanings table:

• Seven is instinct, Eight is learned skill: the seventh sephirah, Netzach (Victory), corresponds to instinct and intuition that can be called on without thinking, so all four Sevens have an easy, not-much-thought-required feel. The Seven of Pentacles grows its crop by farming instinct, the Seven of Swords steals by the instinct to grab advantage and avoid harm, the Seven of Wands relies on inborn courage, and the Seven of Cups instinctively believes in the lovely things in front of it and is easily fooled by appearances. The eighth sephirah, Hod (Splendor), corresponds to abilities that take reason and technique to master, so all four Eights are more tiring than the Sevens. The Eight of Pentacles is craft honed through practice; the Eight of Wands is like upgrading hand-to-hand fighting to archery, more efficient but needing more judgment. The Eight of Swords and Eight of Cups show the contrast especially well. The sense of confinement in the Eight of Swords is like a person who, the more they know, sees the limits of their knowledge more clearly and suffers more for it, the exact opposite of the smug, fearless ignorance of the Seven of Swords. The Eight of Cups works the same way: the innocence of the Seven of Cups, loving without asking whether it is worth it, turns into the clear-eyed loss of the Eight of Cups, which chooses to leave, once reason steps in and starts weighing whether the relationship is worth continuing.
• Six is giving across a difference in status: the sixth sephirah, Tiphareth (Beauty), shows up in all four Sixes as help passing between two parties across a gap in status. In the Six of Cups a child bends down to offer flowers; in the Six of Wands a leader on horseback protects the people on foot; in the Six of Pentacles a rich man gives alms to beggars; the ferryman of the Six of Swords fits the same structure. What this giving turns on is whose stance is nobler, more than who is stronger. In the Six of Cups, it is actually the child receiving the flowers, not the one giving them, who wears no gloves. By old custom, a superior meeting an inferior could keep gloves on, while an inferior meeting a superior had to remove them. This detail suggests that what the card really honors is the innocence in the child that the world has not yet worn down, not the party who appears to be doing the giving.
• Nine and Ten are easily read as a progression rather than "unfinished → finished": the traditional view is that a Nine means "planned, only the follow-through is missing" and a Ten means "fully carried through". The Waite images, though, feel more like "the Nine is already under way but has not reached the end; the Ten has reached the end". The two readings do not really conflict; they work at different levels, the first more abstract, the second closer to the intuition the pictures give [uncertain, the course author's own observation].

When the system and the picture disagree

Deriving the minor cards from the abstract meanings of the sephiroth sometimes clashes with the story the picture itself tells. The classic example is the Two of Cups. The second sephirah, Chokmah (Wisdom), should be a boundless love that expands outward without limit, so logically the card should read as "love for everyone", yet the Waite image plainly shows a one-to-one scene between a man and a woman. When derivation from the system and intuition from the picture conflict like this, the safer course is to go with the picture and use the system only as a supplement when the picture does not give enough information. Waite himself kept going back and forth between staying faithful to the Golden Dawn system and following his own artistic instinct for the old style, so it is no surprise that the two do not line up completely. There is no need to bend the picture to fit the system.

Life path numbers: another number tool based on birthdays

The life path number is a distant relative of the tarot number system. It does not come from tarot itself but from a common numerology practice: add together every digit of the date of birth, and keep adding until a single digit remains. It deals with the same numbers but from a different angle. The shared-meanings table answers "what does a matter look like at this stage of development?", while the life path number answers "what personality does someone show who carries this number throughout life?" The usual descriptions in the two do not fully line up; each is its own system ^uncertain.

The most practical use of this tool in a tarot reading: when the question is about what someone is like and a minor number card comes up, the reader can combine the life path description of that number with the character of the card's suit. This often gives a more specific, rounded picture of the person than forcing an interpretation of the number card alone. Rough personality impressions for the nine numbers:

Two, Five and Six: from choice, to conflict within a framework, to a new balance after competition

The shared-meanings table gives the basic positions "Two = balance/relationship", "Five = conflict" and "Six = harmony". This section adds the dynamics among the three, which explain why these three numbers feel so different even though all of them involve a change in relationships:

• Two: the first real relationship or choice, starting from the blank state of One. There is no established framework yet; it is purely choosing and balancing from zero.
• Five: this is not the start-from-nothing freedom of One. It is a push for change inside the stable framework that Four has already set up. A new idea or a newcomer wants to break through the existing order, so friction comes with it, and the conflict is sharper than in Two, because it touches rules that others (or one's own past self) have already built.
• Six: the new balance reached after the competition of Five has produced a winner and a loser. It is not the same as the balance of Two. Two is a balance between equals at a starting point of zero; Six is a new working relationship reached after a contest has put one side above the other and both have accepted that difference in position.

In short: Two is starting to choose as equals, Five is fighting for a place on someone else's ground, and Six is shaking hands again once the places are settled.

Three: taking shape after a choice, and letting go of the alternatives

Two is the moment of choosing; Three is the choice settling into shape. Once a path is chosen (deciding to make a composition a triangle rather than a square, for example), the other possibilities are given up and it is hard to go back and start over. This is why the shared meaning of Three, besides "taking shape" and "a third party arrives", naturally carries a little of the firmness that comes after a choice: the road has been chosen, there is not much room to retreat, and the only way is onward along it.

Seven and Eight: see the lesson first, then gain the power

Seven is not only "stopping to assess". More precisely, this step asks what lesson the suit's energy itself has to teach. Before looking at the specific picture, think only about what kind of inner growth the element points toward. The Seven of the Fire suit points to having the will not to give up and getting the fire going; the Seven of the Water suit points to seeing clearly what the heart really wants and not being fooled by appearances. Eight then puts to use what was understood at Seven: the power is now in hand and can be called on. It is no longer just an idea; it has become an ability.

Shapes of the numbers (a memory aid)

Besides their stage meanings, the geometric shapes of the numbers can help with memory. One is a point (infinite possibility, not yet formed); two is a line; three is a triangle, a plane; four is a square; five can be seen as a square with one more point (a breakthrough on a stable shape); six is a hexagon or a six-pointed star (two interlocking triangles); seven is a seven-pointed star (the shapes start getting hard to draw, and the meanings grow more abstract with them); eight is two stacked squares; nine is a square plus a pentagram; ten can be seen as two pentagrams, or a ten-faced solid formed by two interlocking cubes. This also shows why the meanings of Seven through Ten depend more on the details of the picture than those of One through Six: the power of the shapes to suggest meaning clearly fades toward the end. Everyday associations with numbers can also help with reading. Seven means luck in English-speaking culture (lucky seven); in Chinese culture eight is associated with prosperity because it sounds like the word for "prosper", nine with things that last a long time, and ten with completeness and perfection. There is also a homely reason why four feels secure: houses, tables and chairs are mostly square because that shape is the most solid and practical. A triangle is actually more stable than a square as a physical structure, but hardly anyone lives in a triangular house. This is an intuitive piece of evidence for why four in the number system stands for security and not just structural stability.

Two ways in

When you draw a number card, besides combining suit and number, there are two specific ways to start a reading, each suited to different situations:

• Building a sentence: take one keyword from the number's stage and one from the suit's area of focus and put them together into a sentence. Eight is strength/tightening, and Wands is action and enthusiasm, so the Eight of Wands becomes "strength gathered from action and enthusiasm". This method is used more in systems whose card images are abstract and do not tell a clear story (such as the Marseille minor cards, which usually show only the right number of suit symbols), because the picture gives no extra information and the meaning has to be rebuilt from the combination of number and element.
• Describing the picture: the Waite minor cards show specific scenes and people in action, with so much detail that there is almost no need to memorize meanings. Describing what is happening in the picture and then extending it to the question gives the card's core meaning. The two methods do not exclude each other. When the picture does not give enough information or you are unsure, falling back on the number-plus-suit logic is usually the safer choice.

How to use this

When you draw a number card, ask two questions first: which suit is it (what area of life does it focus on), and which number is it (what stage is it at)? Put the two answers together and you have most of the card's core meaning; then fine-tune it with the details of the picture. For questions about personality, the life path impressions above can be added as an extra angle.

Related pages

• Correspondence Table
• The Minor Arcana
• Astrological Correspondences
• The Court Cards
• Anatomy of a Tarot Deck
• How to Learn Tarot
• Seven of Cups
• Six of Cups
• The Suit of Cups
• Three of Cups
• Four of Cups
• Nine of Cups