Numerology in the Tarot

The Fool is the number 0, which, unlike the other numbers we will be looking at, is an absence rather than a quantity. One and two, for example, represent quantities—if you ask how many chairs are in a room, one or two could be an appropriate answer. If no chairs are in the room, however, you might say there are zero chairs in the room. But zero is not a quantity; it simply means that there are no chairs in the room at all. Likewise, with the Fool, zero represents the absence of characteristics; he is not skillful like the Magician or wise like the High Priestess. The Fool is not limited by anything, because he has not committed himself to one course of action or another. He does not have defined characteristics like the other Trumps, so his potential is unlimited. As Oscar Wilde said, “to define is to limit,” and the possibilities for what the Fool can do or become are without limit. He is the blank slate on which anything can be written.

The Magician creates the number 1—the first number to define a quantity. In the Tarot, the number one signifies beginnings—new directions and new possibilities. (We will see this again in the Minor Arcana Aces.) For the Magician, the number one represents his role as the initial burst of energy that takes the formless potential of the Fool and gives it shape and meaning. Put another way, he bridges the gap from zero to one by taking the unlimited power of heaven and manifesting it as a concrete object in the material world.

The High Priestess reveals the number 2, signifying duality. The High Priestess is thus the beginning of dualism. All dualistic dichotomies begin with her—known and unknown, heaven and earth, sacred and profane. Dualism is, appropriately enough, a double-edged sword: it can signal either cooperation or conflict. In this card, the High Priestess both separates and brings together. She is the gatekeeper who separates one and two; on this side of her veil is the familiar, everyday world, and on the other side of her veil lie the mysteries of the universe.

The Empress bears the number 3, the triad. The triad represents completion, generation and manifestation. Two represents duality, and the union of opposites; in this sense, it is a metaphor for sexual union. Three is two plus one and therefore represents the product of this union. She is the creative force that brings forth the natural world.

The Emperor holds the number 4. Four is the number of structure and order; four represents the most basic design of houses and boxes. It is the grid that structures geometry, and by extension our sense of direction in the world. In medieval times, four elements were believed to create our visible world: fire, air, water and earth; the number four is therefore the basis of physical existence. The Emperor gives structure and order to the world so that we can navigate and make sense of it.

The Hierophant teaches the number 5. To the four medieval elements, a fifth was added, that of ether or spirit. This was called the quintessence, literally the fifth essence, which was the essence of life. Note that five breaks the structure of four by adding one to it. This makes the structure unstable, but it also provides the possibility of another dimension, just as the Hierophant offers the dimension of spirituality to the mundane stability of four.

The Lovers make 6—restabilizing the order through communication and harmony. Six represents the union of two threes; two complete people come together in love to make one. The interpenetration of two triangles echoes the sexual metaphor of the number two to create the hexagram.

The Chariot presents 7. The Renaissance occultist Cornelius Agrippa associated the number seven with “the vehicle.” In Kabbalah, seven is associated with “Victory.” (Decker 2004, 44) These two concepts come together in the triumphant Chariot. Seven has also always been associated with religious and mystical meaning, as in the creation of the world in seven days.

Strength gives the number 8. Significantly, older decks (and some contemporary ones) had Justice in the eighth position. Regardless, eight is the sum of four twos and thus brings together structures that lie in opposition to each other, as in the woman and the lion of the Strength card, or the conflicting elements that Justice weighs in her scales. Eight is also the product of two cubed, representing the completion of dualistic thinking.

The Hermit completes the set of single-digit numbers with 9. Similarly, the Hermit completes the span of a human life in old age, in his capacity of the Old Man and Father Time. The number nine is three threes, signifying a complete set of triads; it is a fully complete cycle, able to look within and understand its own workings, as the Hermit does.

The Wheel of Fortune contains and exceeds all the preceding single-digit numbers. Ten represents circularity, because the product of ten and any other number will always end in a zero. It also represents containment, because it is the foundation of the decimal system. Any number with more than two digits can only have meaning by interpreting it as a multiple of ten plus a remainder. Likewise, the Wheel of Fortune represents the circularity of time; as one person's fortune rises, another falls. The Wheel contains all of history and all of human aspiration, because no one can escape the turning of the Wheel.

The rest of the Major Arcana can be interpreted numerologically by adding the two digits of their assigned numbers. For example, Justice has the number 11, so numerologically, Justice is 1 1 = 2. The Major Arcana after the Wheel of Fortune will have, of course, differentnumerological interpretations than the single-digit numbers; the Major Arcana from 11 to 21 are usually more practical and specific applications of the numerological meanings. For example, Justice is represented by 2, and we can see that the scales of Justice are precisely for balancing opposites and that Justice must weigh the merits of conflicting forces. This is a more specific and practical application of the more general meaning of twos, which has to do with all dualism and opposition. Another example is the Sun, number 19. For the Sun, 1 9 = 10; just as 10 rises above the complete set of single-digit numbers, the Sun rises above the Earth and opens up the possibility of a new realm of life and beauty.