“Pie in the Sky:” A Segmented Look at the Correspondences
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn shoehorned twelve of the 22 tarot trumps, all 40 numbered minor cards and the 16 court cards into their “Chaldean” model of the zodiac, making just a few adjustments in the design to accommodate their vision. Only the seven planetary trumps and the three “Primal Element” trumps were omitted. The comprehensive graphic display showing the correspondences between the cards and the signs is impressive but not particularly useful in sorting out what is going on here.
I’ve broken out a single quadrant with its resident cards to show the hierarchy that proceeds from the celestial pole to the ecliptic; the other three quadrants with alternate elements at the pole exhibit the same architecture, although with different cards on the rim. (See the link below.) In all cases, it’s notable that the element placed at the celestial pole of each quadrant aligns with the middle decanate (aka “decan”) of the Fixed sign of that element on the ecliptic, bringing together the Ace, the Princess, the Prince and the auspicious minor Six of the element on the same axis. This adds some internal elegance to the pattern that may not be immediately obvious from the full 360-degree chart. In astrology, the Fixed signs are considered “security-oriented,” so this alignment creates an intriguing “anchor point” for the Aces on the ecliptic.
A few explanations are necessary. The Pisces and Cancer “links” are intended to convey the fact that one-third of the Queen of Wands lingers in the last decan of Pisces in the Southeast Quadrant and two-thirds of the Queen of Cups spills over into the first two decans of Cancer in the Northwest Quadrant.
Similarly, the Princes and Knights migrate between the Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable signs within the quadrant. The reason for these skewed divisions is not entirely clear on first encounter, but it seems to be intended to create a more complex elemental “personality profile” for each court card except the Princesses, who are “all Earth, all the time.” Each of the 12 cards begins at 20 degrees of one sign and ends at 20 degrees of the following sign, covering three cross-sign decans between them.
Personally, I’ve never found a whole lot of practical value in this arrangement, but I think I understand why they did it: each card now has two “dominant” decans that align with its element and one “recessive” decan that hangs on to the energy of the preceding element. Nice idea from a character-analysis standpoint because it captures latent traits, but in practice I prefer to jump straight to Aleister Crowley’s “moral qualities” — basically proto-psychological snapshots — in the Book of Thoth and skip all of this juggling of elements. Crowley has already done the “heavy lifting” for us.
On another point, the Princesses are characterized as the “Thrones of the Aces;” the latter sit closer to the celestial pole, while the former act as a figurative “launch pad” for sending the influence of the Aces to the minor and court cards on the ecliptic. In metaphorical terms, the Princesses and Princes might suggest a “pitcher/catcher” duo with the Aces as the “baseball” and the Sixes as “home plate.” To force the analogy, we could say that the Fives and Sevens are still “in the strike zone” while the rest are “nipping at the corners;” we can really make a stretch and see the active Knight as the “batter.”
Although it’s not apparent from a single segment, the Golden Dawn had five sets of seven planets to work with but 36 decans to populate, leaving one empty. In his infinite wisdom, MacGregor Mathers decided to double-up on Mars energy at the Vernal Equinox, bringing a double dose of decanic Fire to the occasion; think of it as giving Mother Nature a stimulating “kick in the butt” to get Spring rolling.
Here is a link that includes a “colorized” version of the full wheel showing all four quadrants.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on January 15, 2025.
