Numbers, elements and astrology in tarot

How to read the labels Historical what the old sources say. Later tradition what later writers added. Modern modern practice and my own notes.

Every tarot card carries more than one kind of meaning. There is the picture, of course. But many cards also carry a number, a suit with an element, and in some decks a planet or zodiac sign. These are layers, and you can add them one at a time. This guide walks through each layer and labels where it comes from, so you know which ideas are old and which are modern.

You do not need any of this to start reading. A clear question and attention to the image are enough. But once the Minor Arcana start to blur together, numbers and elements are the fastest way to tell them apart.

Three layers, three ages

• Historical Numbers and suits are as old as the cards. The fifteenth-century Italian decks already had four suits numbered Ace to Ten with courts, plus the trumps.
• Later tradition Linking the suits to elements and the cards to astrology came from occult writers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and above all from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in London in 1888.
• Modern Number meanings as most beginners learn them today (“fives are conflict”) grew out of that tradition and were spread by twentieth-century guidebooks.

Numerology in tarot

In the numbered Minor Arcana, Ace through Ten, numbers add a layer of pattern. Aces open; Tens close a cycle. Here is a tour you can reuse with any suit:

• Ace: seed, offer, the raw energy of the suit.
• Two: polarity, choice, the first partnership of forces.
• Three: growth, expression, early collaboration or early surplus.
• Four: foundation, pause, structure, sometimes stuckness.
• Five: conflict, loss, contest, the unstable middle.
• Six: repair, reciprocity, movement toward balance.
• Seven: assessment, persistence, temptation, strategy.
• Eight: work, skill, speed, confinement breaking open.
• Nine: the personal intensity of the suit nearing fullness.
• Ten: the collective or structural completion of the suit’s cycle.

Nine is not the same as Ten

Nine often feels like a personal culmination, a vigil, or a private saturation of the suit’s theme. Ten more often shows a completed structure, a shared load, or a cycle ready to turn into a new Ace. Compare the Nine of Cups (private satisfaction) with the Ten of Cups (shared belonging), or the Nine of Wands (wounded persistence) with the Ten of Wands (overload). The numbers rhyme across suits without becoming identical.

How to use numbers in a reading

• Repeated numbers. Three Fives in a spread? Expect a reading about conflict or change, whatever the suits.
• Rising and falling numbers. A Two then a Three then a Four suggests growth and settling; a Nine then a Ten suggests a cycle finishing.
• Missing numbers. Many low numbers suggest beginnings; many high numbers suggest endings and results.

One number, four suits

Seeing one number across all four suits is the quickest way to feel how numbers and elements combine. Take the Aces:

• The Ace of Wands: a spark, a new idea, the urge to start.
• The Ace of Cups: an open heart, a new feeling, a gift of love or creativity.
• The Ace of Swords: a clear thought, a breakthrough, the truth said plainly.
• The Ace of Pentacles: a real opportunity, a seed of money, work or health.

Each is a beginning, and each begins something different. Try the same exercise with the Fours: rest, a pause, a settled base, but in Wands it is a celebration, in Cups a bored withdrawal, in Swords a rest after the battle, in Pentacles a tight grip.

Courts sit outside the count

Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings do not carry the Ace to Ten numerology. When a court appears, read character and approach first, not number symbolism. The court cards guide explains how.

And the Major Arcana?

The Majors are numbered 0 to XXI, and some readers reduce their numbers too, linking The Magician (I) with the Wheel of Fortune (X, since 1 + 0 = 1) and The Sun (XIX, since 1 + 9 = 10, and 1 + 0 = 1). Modern This is a modern habit, not an old rule. It can be a fun way to see links between cards, but the Major Arcana numbers are better read as a sequence, a journey from the Fool to the World. See the Major Arcana guide.

Elements in tarot

The four elements are a compact memory system:

Later tradition This pairing is the one the Golden Dawn used and the one the Rider-Waite-Smith deck follows. It is the most common today, but not the only one. A few writers and decks swap Wands and Swords, making Wands air and Swords fire. If your deck’s guidebook does that, follow your deck.

Elemental dignities

When cards sit side by side, their elements can support or strain each other. In the Golden Dawn approach, cards of the same element strengthen each other. Each element is friendly with two others and contrary to one: fire is contrary to water, and air is contrary to earth. Every other pair is friendly. You can use this as a quick climate check: a spread full of Cups and Pentacles feels steady and inward; a spread full of Wands and Cups may feel like steam.

Elements in the courts

Many systems pair each rank with an element too. One common modern version makes Pages earth, Knights fire, Queens water and Kings air, so the Knight of Wands is “fire of fire.” Other books assign them differently. Treat this as an optional extra layer, and stay loyal to the deck in your hands.

Astrology in tarot

Later tradition Astrology in tarot is a symbolic overlay, not a requirement that you become an astrologer. The system most modern decks use was worked out by the Golden Dawn and later printed by Aleister Crowley in 777 (1909). It links:

• The Major Arcana to the planets, the zodiac signs and three of the elements. For example, The Magician is Mercury, The High Priestess the Moon, The Empress Venus, The Emperor Aries, The Hierophant Taurus, The Lovers Gemini, The Chariot Cancer, Strength Leo, and The Hermit Virgo.
• The numbered Minor Arcana, Two to Ten, to the 36 decans, the ten-degree slices of the zodiac. Each decan pairs a planet with a sign. The Two, Three and Four of Wands, for example, are Mars, the Sun and Venus in Aries.
• The Aces to the elements themselves, as the “root” of each suit.

Here are a few more Major Arcana links in that system: Wheel of Fortune is Jupiter, Justice Libra, Death Scorpio, Temperance Sagittarius, The Devil Capricorn, The Tower Mars, The Star Aquarius, The Moon Pisces, The Sun the Sun, and The World Saturn. The Fool, The Hanged Man and Judgement take the elements air, water and fire.

When systems disagree

Decks and books do not always agree, especially for the courts and the Aces. My first tarot deck prints its own planet and sign on each card, and the companion book treats those printed icons as the rule for that deck. That is the best advice for any deck: when systems disagree, read the deck in your hands. If your deck prints no astrology at all, you lose nothing by ignoring this layer.

Putting the layers together

Take the Five of Swords. The picture shows a figure gathering swords while two others walk away. The number five says conflict, loss or contest. The suit says air: thought, words, arguments. Put those together and you get a fight of words where winning costs something. If you add astrology, the Golden Dawn system gives it Venus in Aquarius, which some readers take as a hint about friendship and group dynamics.

You will not need all of that every time. A simple order works:

1. Image first. What is happening in the picture?
2. Number second. Where in the cycle is this card?
3. Element third. What kind of energy is it?
4. Astrology last, if you enjoy it.

Try it

Pull all four Fives from your deck and lay them in a row. What do they share? How does each suit change the conflict? Then do the same with the Tens. Writing a sentence for each card is one of the best exercises in this whole guide. When you are ready to read, try a three-card spread and notice the numbers and suits that show up.