So, you ever heard people talking about “Tarot Planets” and just sorta scratched your head? Like, isn’t Tarot enough? What are these planets doing in my card readings now? Yeah, I totally get it. I’ve been there, trust me. When I first got into Tarot, I was just trying to remember what the heck the Queen of Swords meant, let alone connect her to some celestial body floating out there.
My journey with all this cosmic stuff, it wasn’t some grand revelation, you know? It was more like a slow, annoying itch I couldn’t ignore. I started off like most people, just picking up a Rider-Waite deck, flipping through the little white book, and feeling completely overwhelmed. I mean, there’s so much symbolism already! Swords, Wands, Cups, Pentacles, all these weird court cards and then the big major arcana – the Fool, the Magician, all that jazz. I was just trying to memorize the basic meanings, maybe do a simple three-card spread.
But then, you start digging a little deeper, right? You watch some readers online, maybe grab another book or two. And suddenly, everywhere I looked, people were talking about Mercury retrogrades affecting readings, or how the Empress was totally Venus, or the Tower had a strong Martian vibe. And I was just sitting there, thinking, “Wait, is this another whole system I gotta learn? I thought I was just doing Tarot!” It felt like someone just decided to mash two completely different things together and expect everyone to catch on.
My Personal Dive into the Planetary Mess
For a good while, I just kinda glossed over it. I’d see “ruled by Jupiter” or “connected to Uranus” and my eyes would just glaze over. I was already struggling to understand the difference between the Page of Wands and the Knight of Wands, you know? Adding planets felt like trying to learn to juggle while riding a unicycle blindfolded. It just seemed unnecessarily complicated.
But here’s the thing, it kept coming up. It wasn’t just some fringe idea; it was woven into a lot of the deeper discussions about Tarot. It started to feel like I was missing a whole layer of understanding. Like watching a movie but someone cut out all the scenes with the main villain – you’d get the plot, but you wouldn’t really get it, if you know what I mean. So, I finally gave in. I told myself, “Alright, fine. Let’s see what this planetary business is all about.”
I started small. I picked up some basic astrology books, the really simple, beginner stuff that just talks about what each planet generally represents. I mean, everyone knows Mars is about action and aggression, Venus is love and beauty, right? That’s easy enough. Then I went back to my Tarot cards, specifically the Major Arcana, since those are the big guns people always link to planets.
- I pulled out The Magician. I kept hearing Mercury. So, I thought, “Okay, Magician, communication, skill, quick thinking… Mercury, communication, intellect, speed.” Huh. Started to make sense.
- Then The High Priestess. Moon. Mystery, intuition, the subconscious. Yeah, that felt right.
- The Empress. Venus. Love, fertility, beauty, abundance. Total no-brainer.
- The Emperor. Mars or Aries, sometimes Jupiter. Authority, structure, control. Yeah, a bit more forceful, driven.
- The Lovers. Another strong Venus vibe. Choices, relationships, harmony.
- The Chariot. Cancer, a Moon connection there, but also a determined push forward. It was like driving your emotions.
- And Strength? Leo, Sun. Inner power, courage, self-control. Felt good.
I just kept going through them, one by one. It wasn’t about memorizing a list. It was about feeling the energy. I’d hold a card, think about its core meaning, and then think about the core meaning of the planet people said it was connected to. And slowly, a lot of them just clicked. It wasn’t always a perfect, one-to-one match. Sometimes it was more nuanced, like a planet’s energy expressed through a specific archetype.
Unlocking Those “Cosmic Secrets”
What I really figured out was that these planetary associations, they’re not there to make things harder. They’re there to add depth, another layer of understanding. When you do a reading and you pull, say, the Tower, and you know it’s often linked with Mars and even Uranus – suddenly it’s not just a card of sudden upheaval. It’s upheaval that’s potentially fiery, aggressive, forced (Mars), and completely unexpected, disruptive, revolutionary (Uranus). It gives you a richer vocabulary for the message.
It’s like going from black-and-white TV to color, you know? The story is the same, but you get so much more nuance, so much more detail. When I’d see a card pop up, I wouldn’t just think of its basic meaning. I’d also feel its planetary pulse, its cosmic undertone. It helped me understand why a situation felt a certain way, or what kind of energy was driving it.
It helped me feel more connected to the cards, too. Like they weren’t just cardboard rectangles, but tiny windows into a much larger cosmic dance. It took a while to get past the initial “Ugh, more to learn!” phase, but once I did, it really broadened my whole perspective on Tarot. It made the readings feel more profound, more connected to the big picture of life and the universe. It wasn’t about adding complexity; it was about revealing a hidden layer of insight that was always there, just waiting for me to pay attention.
