Advanced · 15 min
Astrology and the Majors
In the Golden Dawn system every Major carries a Hebrew letter and an element, a planet or a sign. Learn the three groups and spot the astrology already drawn into the cards.
In this lesson you will
- Sort the 22 Majors into the Golden Dawn's three groups: elements, planets and signs.
- Find the correspondence of any Major and a detail of the picture that echoes it.
- Count the Majors' elements along with the suits when you look for patterns in a spread.
Look closely at The Emperor: the arms of his throne are fronted by rams' heads. The ram is the sign of Aries, and that is no accident. In the Golden Dawn system each Major has an astrological correspondence, and Smith drew several of them into the pictures.
Three kinds of letter
The Golden Dawn matched the 22 Majors to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and through the letters to the 22 paths of the Tree of Life. An old Kabbalistic book, the Sefer Yetzirah, sorts those letters into three groups: three mother letters, seven double letters and twelve simple letters.
The Golden Dawn followed that sort. The three mother letters carry the elements, the seven doubles the seven planets known to the ancient world, and the twelve simples the twelve signs of the zodiac. So every Major is tied to one element, planet or sign.
This lesson is part of Plus
Plus opens every lesson of the Practitioner, Reader and Advanced tiers, with practice that explains every answer.
What the lesson covers
- The three groups
- Where the sky shows in the picture
- Using it in a reading
- Your turn
- Practice
Foundations and the first lesson of every course are free.