Numerology
What the numbers one to ten do to each suit, why the small cards carry titles, and how the trumps are numbered.
- Gallery all 78 cards
- Charts and maps the system on one page
- Court cards the sixteen and how they work
- Astrology the sky in the deck
Why the small cards have titles
Every small card from Two to Ten has one word printed on it. The Aces have none, because an Ace is the root of its element and has not yet become anything in particular.
The words come from the Golden Dawn, whose Book T called each card “Lord of” something. Crowley kept the idea, cut each name to a single word and changed a few. Each word sums up three things read together:
- The number, which is a Sephirah on the Tree of Life.
- The suit, which is an element: Wands are Fire and will, Cups are Water and feeling, Swords are Air and mind, Disks are Earth and the body.
- The decan, a planet in ten degrees of a sign.
So the Five of Cups is Geburah, the sphere of disturbance, in Water, with Mars in Scorpio: an expected feeling broken. Hence Disappointment. The word is the keynote of the card and not its whole meaning; position, question and neighbouring cards finish the reading.
The title grid
| WandsFire | CupsWater | SwordsAir | DisksEarth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Kether |  Root of Fire |  Root of Water |  Root of Air |  Root of Earth |
| 2Chokmah |  Dominion |  Love |  Peace |  Change |
| 3Binah |  Virtue |  Abundance |  Sorrow |  Works |
| 4Chesed |  Completion |  Luxury |  Truce |  Power |
| 5Geburah |  Strife |  Disappointment |  Defeat |  Worry |
| 6Tiphareth |  Victory |  Pleasure |  Science |  Success |
| 7Netzach |  Valour |  Debauch |  Futility |  Failure |
| 8Hod |  Swiftness |  Indolence |  Interference |  Prudence |
| 9Yesod |  Strength |  Happiness |  Cruelty |  Gain |
| 10Malkuth |  Oppression |  Satiety |  Ruin |  Wealth |
What each number does
| No. | Sephirah | Sphere | Pillar | Naples idea | In a suit | Signs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KetherCrown | Primum Mobile, the first swirlings | Middle | The Point | Root. The seed of the element, before it has done anything. | None |
| 2 | ChokmahWisdom | The Zodiac, the sphere of fixed stars | Mercy | The Line | First appearance. The element in its pure, uncontaminated idea. | Cardinal |
| 3 | BinahUnderstanding | Saturn | Severity | The Plane | Fertilised. The idea understood and given a form; the first fruit. | Cardinal |
| 4 | ChesedMercy | Jupiter | Mercy | The Solid | Made solid. The element settled into law, order and stability. | Cardinal |
| 5 | GeburahSeverity | Mars | Severity | Motion | Disturbed. Motion breaks the settled four; the storm of each suit. | Fixed |
| 6 | TipharethBeauty | The Sun | Middle | Self-conscious mind | Balanced. The centre of the Tree: the element at its best and most conscious. | Fixed |
| 7 | NetzachVictory | Venus | Mercy | Bliss | Off balance. Below the centre and off the middle pillar: the element weakens and degenerates. | Fixed |
| 8 | HodSplendour | Mercury | Severity | Thought | Thought out. A partial, intellectual remedy for the seven; still off the middle pillar. | Mutable |
| 9 | YesodFoundation | The Moon | Middle | Stability | Recovered. Back on the middle pillar: the full, crystallised impact of the element. | Mutable |
| 10 | MalkuthKingdom | The Elements, the Earth | Middle | The crystallised Actual | Exhausted. The element at the end of its descent, fixed in matter and spent. | Mutable |
The Naples idea is Crowley's name for the number in the Naples arrangement. Each number has its own page under Numbers.
The shape of a suit
A suit runs down the Tree in the order of the lightning flash, and where a number sits explains its mood.
- 1 is the root. Nothing has happened yet.
- 2 and 3 sit above the Abyss with the Ace. They show the element as an idea, untroubled. Even Sorrow is Binah's impersonal sorrow, not a private grief.
- 4 is the first number below the Abyss: the idea made solid, law and order.
- 5 breaks the four. Every Five is a storm.
- 6 is the centre of the Tree, on the middle pillar. Every Six is its suit at its best.
- 7 and 8 are low on the Tree and off the middle pillar. The Sevens degenerate; the Eights are a thought-out but partial fix. They are the weak pair of each suit.
- 9 returns to the middle pillar and recovers: the full force of the element.
- 10 is the end of the descent. The element is spent and heavy, which is why Wands end in Oppression and Swords in Ruin.
Good-sounding titles are not always safe and grim ones are not always bad. Crowley distrusts Luxury and Satiety, and treats Sorrow as deep understanding.
Numbers and the zodiac
The number also tells you which kind of sign the card belongs to. Twos, Threes and Fours are the three decans of a cardinal sign, Fives, Sixes and Sevens of a fixed sign, Eights, Nines and Tens of a mutable sign.
| Numbers | Mode | Wands | Cups | Swords | Disks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2, 3, 4 | Cardinal | ♈︎ Aries | ♋︎ Cancer | ♎︎ Libra | ♑︎ Capricorn |
| 5, 6, 7 | Fixed | ♌︎ Leo | ♏︎ Scorpio | ♒︎ Aquarius | ♉︎ Taurus |
| 8, 9, 10 | Mutable | ♐︎ Sagittarius | ♓︎ Pisces | ♊︎ Gemini | ♍︎ Virgo |
The full wheel is under Astrology.
Trump numbers
Each trump carries three numbers: its Roman numeral in the sequence, the value of its Hebrew letter, and the number of its path on the Tree (11 to 32).
| Numeral | Trump | Letter | Value | Path |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | The Fool | א Aleph | 1 | 11 |
| I | The Magus | ב Beth | 2 | 12 |
| II | The Priestess | ג Gimel | 3 | 13 |
| III | The Empress | ד Daleth | 4 | 14 |
| IV | The Emperor | צ Tzaddi | 90 | 28 |
| V | The Hierophant | ו Vau | 6 | 16 |
| VI | The Lovers | ז Zain | 7 | 17 |
| VII | The Chariot | ח Cheth | 8 | 18 |
| VIII | Adjustment | ל Lamed | 30 | 22 |
| IX | The Hermit | י Yod | 10 | 20 |
| X | Fortune | כ Kaph | 20 | 21 |
| XI | Lust | ט Teth | 9 | 19 |
| XII | The Hanged Man | מ Mem | 40 | 23 |
| XIII | Death | נ Nun | 50 | 24 |
| XIV | Art | ס Samekh | 60 | 25 |
| XV | The Devil | ע Ayin | 70 | 26 |
| XVI | The Tower | פ Peh | 80 | 27 |
| XVII | The Star | ה Heh | 5 | 15 |
| XVIII | The Moon | ק Qoph | 100 | 29 |
| XIX | The Sun | ר Resh | 200 | 30 |
| XX | The Aeon | ש Shin | 300 | 31 |
| XXI | The Universe | ת Tau | 400 | 32 |
Number families
Reducing a trump's numeral to one digit groups the trumps into nine families, each sharing a number with four small cards. This is a modern reading aid and not part of Crowley's system. It is given here in Thoth numbering, where VIII is Adjustment and XI is Lust; books based on Rider-Waite swap those two.
| Root | Trumps | Small cards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Magus I, Fortune X, The Sun XIX | Ace of Wands, Ace of Cups, Ace of Swords, Ace of Disks |
| 2 | The Priestess II, Lust XI, The Aeon XX | Dominion, Love, Peace, Change |
| 3 | The Empress III, The Hanged Man XII, The Universe XXI | Virtue, Abundance, Sorrow, Works |
| 4 | The Emperor IV, Death XIII | Completion, Luxury, Truce, Power |
| 5 | The Hierophant V, Art XIV | Strife, Disappointment, Defeat, Worry |
| 6 | The Lovers VI, The Devil XV | Victory, Pleasure, Science, Success |
| 7 | The Chariot VII, The Tower XVI | Valour, Debauch, Futility, Failure |
| 8 | Adjustment VIII, The Star XVII | Swiftness, Indolence, Interference, Prudence |
| 9 | The Hermit IX, The Moon XVIII | Strength, Happiness, Cruelty, Gain |
The Fool, 0, stands outside the families.
Birth cards
A modern method, used by Angeles Arrien and Mary K. Greer, turns a birth date into one or two trumps. Add the day, the month and the year as three numbers, then add the digits of the total until it is 22 or less. That trump is the personality card. Reduce it again to a single digit for the soul card.
A total of 22 counts as the Fool. This is not part of the Golden Dawn or Crowley's system; for the cards tied to a birthday by astrology, use the birthday finder.