Astrology Combined with Tarot

Leo, your sign is shown in your beautiful primary card. “Strength,” number 11 in the Major Arcana. It depicts the “Heart of the Lion,” the star Regulus, as a woman/goddess with her hands gently closing the mouth of the lion. The “heart” has overcome the primal survival urges of the “animal within” and is bringing forth the heroic courage of the lion/lioness. Regulus requires that you be in touch with your own rich power represented by the goddess’s tenderness in closing the mouth of the lion. So when you experience unkindness from others who are apparently jealous of your position or others’ admiration of you, stay grounded in your self-confidence and offer strength and wisdom rather than vengeance: a true expression of Leo’s leadership qualities.

While we often hear of the great Nordic Thunder/Sky God Thor (related to Jupiter and Thursday, or Thor’s Day), we hear less often about his powerful goddess wife, Thrud, who “owned the land” on which he lived. Thrud also means “strength.” Many ancient goddesses were portrayed taming lions or riding lions, often partnered with great sky gods. Daughter of Jupiter, Pallas-Athena, is also a symbol of strength and wisdom, and is the goddess of the great ancient city, Athens. Another way to read this is that Leo’s strength, for males or females, lies in the solid, earthy foundation of knowing the True Self at your core.

The various elements and ruler of Leo reflected in the tarot are also important to any view of your future. Your sign ruler, the Sun, is aptly reflected in the Tarot Major Arcana card number 19, “The Sun.” This card shows a joyous and triumphant child on the back of a horse with four sunflowers and the sun shining behind it in the Rider-Waite deck, or a pair of children in a sacred garden of rebirth, in Barbara G. Walker’s deck. In either case, the card is a very appropriate image of Leo and its related 5th house of children and creativity. It is reflective of our being born of the “Primordial Soup” where our universe was born. Leo, your creativity shines brightly, whether through your children and your devoted nurturing to them or through artistic ideas, business ideas and other works.

Leo as the Sun, the Great and Wise Performer: Tarot readers are quite familiar with The Major Arcana that evolved from a human view of the heavens: astrology. Remnants of the ancient parades/pageants that honored these card/gods/goddesses appear through such carnivals/parades as New Orleans’s Mardi Gras and “Carnivales” the world over, including Venice and Rio. Even clowns and other features of the circus, comedies and dramas evolved from these “pagan” events also hidden in the Tarot. These pageants, particularly during the Dark Ages in Europe, are how ancient wisdom and its related powerful energies were conveyed to the masses, not educated in a standard sense, but who were taught by their elders regarding the natural, seemingly magical functions that supported their life and well-being. By disguising the wisdom of the Tarot in comedy, it was preserved in another form.

This “hiding of the knowledge” was absolutely necessary during the era before the Renaissance. At that time, the practitioners knew that their clandestine information would cause them to be tortured, even murdered. As we likely know, this also has taken place since the Renaissance in cultures around the world in various forms, up to this day when belief systems clash. It took true heroism to enact these pageants. So, Leo, you are the great creative performer expressing both your inner wisdom and the courage to make it available to others.

As you are a fire sign, the “wands” suit, now clubs in our playing decks, reflects your energies. In fact, Wands number 5 is related to those born July 22 to August 1, Wands number 6 corresponds to your chart if you were born August 2 to 11, and for those of you born from August 12 to 21/22, your card is the number 7 of Wands. Please see our weekly blog addressing your personal decanate of Leo.

Here’s more good news, heroic Leo: Today in the developed world we can explore the Tarot and astrology subjects freely and locate and interpret texts ignored for centuries. We can find if it is pertinent to us, descendants of the gifted people who developed these wisdoms.

While the Rider-Waite deck is excellent, historian and author Barbara G. Walker has spent many years researching ancient texts not generally available. She has developed her own Tarot deck based on these studies, and it’s worth examining and incorporating for anyone who loves using the Tarot. So, a recommendation might be to study her deck and related book in addition to the Rider-Waite deck. An even easier approach would be to contact our wonderful psychics, like Shauna ext. 9010, who are knowledgeable in both the Tarot and Astrology and can provide an excellent reading if you are intrigued with this combination.