Tarot Birth Cards — Gemini
Your minor arcana birth card depends on the decan you were born in
What is a Tarot Birth Card?
For those who have a basic understanding of the Tarot, you are more than likely aware of the connection between Astrology and Tarot.
As such, many adepts know about how each of the twenty-two Major Arcana cards has a ruling planet or zodiac sign. So, your Tarot Birth Card is the card that is linked to your sign.
In other words, if you’re an Aries, you can count the Major Arcana card known as The Emperor as your birth card. Are you a Taurus? Then look to the Hierophant as the archetype that best represents your Birth Card.
This connection doesn’t begin and end with the Major Arcana cards, however. it continues with the Court and Minor Arcana cards as well.
While different systems claim different interpretive connections between the Major, Minor, and Court cards in relationship to themselves and to the astrological signs and planets, the system I follow was developed (or, at least endorsed) by legendary Occultist/Hermeticist Paul Foster Case (PFC) back in the 1920s through the 1940s.
I learned his system through my teacher J. Owen Swift in 1997–98. So, if you’re a Gemini like me, then your Major Arcana birth card is The Lovers, the sixth card in the series.
Below are the Twelve zodiac signs paired with their respective Major Arcana card:
Aries — The Emperor; Taurus — The Hierophant; Gemini — The Lovers; Cancer — The Chariot; Leo — Strength; Virgo — The Hermit; Libra — Justice; Scorpio — Death; Sagittarius — Temperance; Capricorn — The Devil; Aquarius — The Star; Pisces — The Moon.
There are 78 tarot cards in a complete deck, and although each card showcases its own unique energies, like an individual person within a tribe, if you analyze a card strictly on its own merits without the context of the entire deck, your findings will be incomplete.
With that in mind, the remarkably symmetrical system I learned describes a three-tiered hierarchy of order with the cards that represent the highest vibrations of reality — the Major Arcana — composed of slightly lower vibrational energies — the Court Cards — which are in turn composed of even lower vibrational energies — the Minor Arcana.
A quick note: “lower vibrational energies” in this context does not mean they are less desirable than “higher vibrational energies.” The higher the tier, the more universal or archetypal the energies; the lower, the more specific or practical.
Think of the relationship between the three tiers like a Thanksgiving dinner. The Minor Arcana cards would represent the meal and conversations occurring around the table; the Court Cards would represent the people engaging with the meal and in conversations around the table; and the Major Arcana would represent the overall themes and ideals of the holiday itself.
Gemini Birth Cards
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the Major Arcana birth card for Gemini again, The Lovers.
All Geminis can relate to the energies encapsulated in this archetype. One could argue that the biggest challenge for Geminis and for those embodying the Lovers archetype is in integrating the head/heart (yang/yin, feminine/masculine, receptive/active) polarity, such that the ideal, mature Gemini has learned to communicate from intuition or “heart”, where her less mature counterpart may still be trying to determine if speaking from the heart is wise, given how difficult it is to lie under such circumstances (after all, Gemini does rule liars!).
Such all-encompassing/universal energies take lifetimes to understand and embody, and that’s why we call them Major Arcana cards. They are high-vibrational energies.
To get a little more practical and specific, we need to move to the lower tiers.
Thus, the second-tier Gemini card is represented by the Knight of Swords. We know this because in assigning the court cards, all cardinal signs are represented by the kings, all fixed signs by the queens, and all mutable signs by… you guessed it, the knights.
Gemini — being a mutable air sign — is assigned the Knight (mutable) of Swords (air). The Knight can either be focused and intent on a mission of conceptualization or communication (as represented by the ideal upright position in a reading), or the knight can be lost in a fog of her own mental confusion, lies, misunderstandings, etc. (when in the reversed position).
You can probably see now how we’re getting more specific, more practical when we move from The Lovers to the Knight of Swords. If you wanted to embody the essential, idealized, awakened Gemini, you would be wise to meditate on The Lovers card.
If you wanted to know how to best conceptualize and/or communicate an idea to another person or group of people (a typically Gemini type of pursuit), then I advise that you meditate on the energies encapsulated within the Knight of Swords.
This brings us to our first tier and to the three decans.
What is a decan? A decan, like most words that include the prefix “dec-” is related to the number ten. According to Dictionary.com, Decan comes from the Latin “decanus”, roughly translated as “chief of ten”.
Wiktionary defines decan as “One of a collection of 36 small constellations or zodiacal subdivisions that appear heliacally at intervals of 10 days or are separated by approximately 10 degrees.”
When astrologers use the term, they are usually referring to the interval of 10 days for each sign of the zodiac, which means that each sign has three decans. The first decan of Aries, for example, would refer to the first ten days that the sun resides in Aries, or March 19, 20, or 21 through March 28, 29, or 30 (depending on when the Spring Equinox officially begins).
Returning to Gemini, the first decan goes from May 21 through May 31 (although there are some that claim it begins on May 22.). The second decan: June 1 — June 10; the third decan: June 11 — June 20.
Astrologers apply significance to each decan based on planet locations and rulership. Such an explanation can be found here: mypandit.com.
Just as astrologers apply specific significance to the decans, so too does the Tarot. So, the first tier of Gemini rulership, as represented by the Minor Arcana cards goes like this:
- 1st Decan (5/21–5/31) — Eight of Swords
- 2nd Decan (6/1–6/10) — Nine of Swords
- 3rd Decan (6/11–6/20) — Ten of swords
The complete Birth Card Table for Geminis would look like this:
First Decan: 8 of Swords; Knight of Swords; The Lovers.
Second Decan: 9 of Swords; Knight of Swords; The Lovers.
Third Decan: 10 of Swords; Knight of Swords; The Lovers.
The Minor Arcana Cards of Gemini & Their Respective Primary Challenges
8 of swords = To establish healthy and effective habits of thinking and communication.
9 of swords = To set goals and visualize ideas into completion.
10 of swords = To recognize when it is time to move on from a cycle of thinking that no longer serves you.
Knight of Swords = To be clear, focused, determined in delivering your message or conceiving an idea.
The Lovers = To integrate your listening and your speaking with your higher consciousness (intuition).
This is the first of a series. Stay tuned to read about the birth cards for the rest of the Zodiac in a future post.
Damian Sebouhian is a writer, teacher, life (soul) coach, astrologer, tarot reader, and creator of Soul Lantern Tarot. https://ranunculus-fennel-xp6n.squarespace.com/
