Planets and tarot arcana quiz: the Golden Dawn
Seven classical planets, twenty-two trumps and the Chaldean order. See how well you know which cards the Golden Dawn gave to planets and why it matters.
- 5 questions
- ≈ 2 min
- +5 bronze keys for a flawless run
How are the planets linked to tarot cards?
This quiz checks how well you know the planetary side of tarot in the Golden Dawn system. The late-Victorian English order split the 22 Major Arcana into three groups: twelve cards for the signs of the zodiac, seven for the planets and three for the elements. The questions look at the scheme as a whole: how many planets take part, why there are seven, and how planets reach the Minor Arcana too.
The Golden Dawn built on traditional astrology, which uses the seven bodies you can see with the naked eye: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The two lights rule one sign each, and the other five planets rule two. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were found later and play no part in the original scheme, though some modern writers pair them with the Fool, the Hanged Man and Judgement.
What makes a planet card different from a sign card?
A sign card describes a style: the way something shows up. A planet card describes the force that is acting. Picture a horoscope as a stage play, where the signs are the sets and costumes and the planets are the actors. That is why the seven planetary trumps read like pure principles: will, intuition, fertility, change, the fall of old structures, clarity and completion.
Planets live in the Minor Arcana as well. Every number card from Two to Ten covers a decan, and each decan has a planet. The sequence is called the Chaldean order: the bodies are lined up from the slowest in the sky to the fastest, and the count starts with Mars in the first decan of Aries. So the Two of Wands gets Mars, the Three of Wands gets the Sun, and the chain runs on around the wheel.
How the quiz works
Each round draws five questions from a pool of twelve, with shuffled answers: some ask you to pick one of four cards, some are true-or-myth statements, and some test the logic of the system. Specific pairs such as Venus and Mars or Jupiter and Saturn have their own quizzes in this theme.
Astrological links are a language for reflection, not a timetable of events. A planet card in a reading does not mean the sky is about to do something to you; it points to the force worth looking at right now. Tayna keys go to a flawless round, and you can replay as often as you like.
All questions and answers
Open after you play: the full question set with right answers and explanations.
1. How many planets take part in the Golden Dawn correspondences?
Right answer: Seven
Only the seven bodies visible to the naked eye: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
2. Which of these is a planet card in the Golden Dawn, not a sign card?
Right answer: The Magician
The Magician belongs to Mercury. The Hermit, Strength and the Lovers are sign cards: Virgo, Leo, Gemini.
3. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto already had their own trumps in the Golden Dawn system.
Right answer: Myth
The order used the seven classical planets. Modern writers later tied the outer ones to the Fool, Hanged Man and Judgement.
4. How did the Golden Dawn divide the 22 Major Arcana?
Right answer: 12 signs, 7 planets, 3 elements
Twelve cards went to the signs, seven to the planets, and the Fool, Hanged Man and Judgement to Air, Water and Fire.
5. What sets a planet card apart from a sign card?
Right answer: A force, not a style
A sign shows how something appears; a planet shows which force is acting. Signs are the stage set, planets the actors.
6. Which of these cards is not the trump of any planet?
Right answer: Death
Death is the card of Scorpio. The World belongs to Saturn, the Tower to Mars and the Wheel of Fortune to Jupiter.
7. What principle orders the planets in the Chaldean sequence?
Right answer: Speed of movement in the sky
The bodies run from the slowest, Saturn, to the fastest, the Moon. This chain hands planets out to the decans.
8. How many signs do the Sun and the Moon rule between them?
Right answer: Two
Each light rules one sign: the Sun has Leo and the Moon has Cancer. The other five planets rule two signs each.
9. A planet card turns up in your reading. What is a calm way to read it?
Right answer: As the force at the core
A planet card names the force that matters most right now. It invites a closer look rather than setting a date.
10. Which planet starts the count of decan planets in the Golden Dawn?
Right answer: Mars in Aries
The first decan of Aries, the Two of Wands, got Mars. The planets then follow the Chaldean order around the wheel.
11. A planet card means events will follow that planet's movement in the sky.
Right answer: Myth
Correspondences are a language of images, not an astronomical forecast. The card names a theme, not a sky position.
12. What does it mean that a planet rules a sign?
Right answer: The sign expresses its force
A ruler is the planet whose force sounds strongest in a sign. Mars rules Aries, for example, and Venus rules Taurus.