Alright, let’s talk about something I’ve been fiddling with lately – this idea of matching deities with tarot cards. It wasn’t like some big revelation, more like a slow burn curiosity that popped up during my own readings and study.
Getting Started with the Idea
So, I was doing a spread for myself a while back, just a simple daily draw. Pulled The Empress. And bam! It just hit me – this card felt so much like Demeter, you know? Earthy, nurturing, that powerful mother energy. It got me thinking, maybe other cards had similar vibes, like they were echoing stories or energies of specific gods or goddesses I knew about.
I didn’t jump straight into some heavy research project. Honestly, I just grabbed my favorite deck – a well-worn Rider-Waite Smith – and a plain notebook. Started simple. I decided to just go through the Major Arcana first, seemed like the most obvious place to start since they represent those big archetypal energies.
My Process: Card by Card Musings
I laid them out, one by one. Picked up The Magician. Okay, who felt like that? Hermes came to mind pretty quick. Quick-witted, messenger, skilled. Seemed like a decent fit for my gut feeling. Then The High Priestess… she always felt more internal, mysterious. Persephone popped into my head, especially that Queen of the Underworld aspect, holding hidden knowledge.
It wasn’t always straightforward, mind you. Take The Emperor. Zeus? Odin? Mars? Any strong, authoritative father figure could potentially fit. It wasn’t about finding the one right answer, more about exploring the feeling. Who did the card feel like in that moment, or generally?
- The Hierophant: This one made me think of established structures, maybe Chiron, the wise teacher, or even someone like Thoth representing sacred knowledge.
- Strength: Often pictured with a lion. Sekhmet? Cybele? Someone with that mix of fierce power and control.
- The Devil: Pan came up a lot here for me. Earthly desires, temptation, the wild side. Maybe Hades too, in a way, ruling the hidden depths.
I just jotted down notes. Sometimes a card felt like multiple deities. Sometimes it felt like an aspect of a deity rather than the whole being. The court cards were even trickier – felt more like personality types than specific gods, though sometimes an association would click.
What I Found (For Me, Anyway)
Doing this didn’t magically unlock some ancient secret. What it did do was add another layer to how I connected with the cards. It made the archetypes feel more alive, more personal. When I did readings later, sometimes thinking “Okay, this card feels like Apollo right now” helped me understand its message in that specific context – maybe about inspiration, clarity, or prophecy.
It also showed me how flexible tarot is. These associations weren’t fixed rules. They were personal connections I was making based on my own understanding of mythology and the card imagery. Someone else could do the same exercise and come up with a completely different list, and that’s perfectly okay.
Wrapping Up the Experiment
So yeah, that’s basically my journey down that little rabbit hole. Just me, my cards, a notebook, and a bunch of mythological figures floating around in my head. It was a useful exercise for deepening my own practice. It’s not something I lean on heavily in every reading, but it’s another tool in the box, another way to engage with the rich symbolism of the tarot. Just sharing what I did, maybe it sparks something for you too.
