ABOUT ASTROTarot

The original Astrological Connections were promulgated by the Order of the Golden Dawn, and their Tarot system uses only the seven sacred planets of the ancients (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) and does not use the outer planets of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The outer planets have been grafted onto the decks by later interpreters but were not utilized by the Golden Dawn or the developers of the early decks.

This comprehensive guide is based on my intuition, and my research❤️‍🔥Shauna

PREFACE

Astrology offers a way to approach the psychological process of becoming a sovereign human being. A path of Gnosis. The problem with the knowledge of good and evil is not that we should avoid tasting the fruit. Rather, it is the forgetfulness that can follow—the tendency to become so immersed in the pleasures, fears, and demands of the body that we lose conscious connection with the spirit that animates it.

Our nervous systems are teeming with energy and information, all competing for our attention.

Every thought, memory, belief, and unconscious pattern operates like a program running in the background. Whether we are aware of it or not, each one broadcasts a vibration that participates in shaping our experience of reality in real time. You could say it holds the pattern we are rendering.

In Astrology, the birth chart serves as the soul's blueprint and the transits become initiations, inviting us to remember who we are beneath conditioning, fear, and unconscious habit.

Rather than predicting an unchangeable fate, astrology invites us into an ongoing dialogue with ourselves. The symbols of the heavens become mirrors for the hidden architecture of the psyche, revealing both our innate gifts and the patterns that unconsciously shape our lives. In this sense, astrology is not about destiny as much as it is about awareness.

This is the work that Carl Jung called individuation: the lifelong process of integrating the conscious and unconscious aspects of ourselves into a more complete, authentic, and sovereign human being. The birth chart is not a prison of personality but a map of unrealized potential, offering insight into both our strengths and the shadow material that seeks conscious integration.

The Hermetic axiom, As Above, So Below; As Within, So Without, expresses the philosophical foundation of this work. The movements of the heavens do not compel us; they mirror the same archetypal patterns unfolding within consciousness. By observing the cycles of the cosmos, we become more capable of recognizing the rhythms operating in our own thoughts, emotions, relationships, and choices.

Tarot adds another dimension to this symbolic language. Where astrology reveals when an archetypal energy is active, Tarot illustrates how that energy is likely to be experienced psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually. Each card gives form to an invisible process, transforming planetary movements into images that speak directly to the imagination, intuition, and unconscious mind.

Within the Hermetic tradition of the Golden Dawn, these correspondences become a complete symbolic system. The zodiac signs, planets, elements, Hebrew letters, Tree of Life, and Tarot are understood not as separate disciplines but as different expressions of the same underlying pattern. Every Tarot card embodies a specific combination of astrological, elemental, and spiritual forces, allowing the seeker to contemplate a transit not merely as an external event, but as an inner initiation.

Viewed through this lens, a transit is more than a planetary angle—it is a living archetype moving through consciousness. A Tarot card is more than a prediction—it is an invitation to dialogue with that archetype. Together they form a symbolic map that helps us recognize where we stand on the path, what qualities are emerging, what patterns are asking to be released, and what virtues are seeking to be embodied.

Gnosis is not the accumulation of information. It is direct knowing—a wisdom born through lived experience. Every transit, every Tarot image, and every ritual becomes an opportunity to participate consciously in our own evolution. The heavens provide the timing, the Tarot reveals the lesson, and conscious awareness transforms experience into wisdom.

Ultimately, astrology and Tarot are disciplines of remembrance. Each transit and every card invites us to recover something that has always existed beneath conditioning, fear, expectation, and habit. What appears as challenge becomes initiation. What appears as fate becomes choice. The journey is not toward becoming someone else, but toward remembering the deeper Self that has always been present, waiting to be consciously realized.

Astrology provides a symbolic language for understanding these inner dynamics. Transits are the geometric angles that today's planets form with the celestial imprint they made at the moment of your birth. They reveal how the living sky is interacting with your natal blueprint, awakening different qualities of consciousness as your life unfolds.

Each aspect carries a distinct energetic signature. Conjunctions intensify and initiate. Sextiles open doors to opportunity. Trines encourage harmony, confidence, and momentum. Squares create productive tension that demands growth through challenge. Oppositions invite awareness by placing two forces in dialogue, illuminating what seeks balance, integration, and conscious choice. Together, these transits reveal the timing, themes, and lessons shaping your present journey.

An opposition, then, is not simply a conflict. It is a mirror. It reveals an energy that has become conscious by encountering its apparent opposite. The current Pluto opposition to Venus, for example, invites an exploration of the dynamic tension between chaos and beauty, power and love, transformation and harmony. Rather than asking you to choose one over the other, it challenges you to discover the deeper wholeness that can only emerge by holding both.

For more on AstroTAROT, read my book, AstroTAROT (coming in December)

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