What’s the Tarot Card for Scorpio?

Tarot students born under the sun-sign Scorpio often ask,  “What’s the tarot card for Scorpio?”

Interestingly, the answer isn’t just a single card. There are actually 5 different cards commonly associated with the zodiac sign Scorpio.

Only one of those 5 cards is a Major Arcana card. The rest are suit cards. Let’s start with the Major Arcana card.

The tarot card that represents Scorpio

It may come as some surprise, and maybe a little concern that the tarot card which is generally associated with Scorpio is Death.

Yep. That brave, loyal, ambitious Scorpio you know translates into…  Mr. Skeleton over here.

Before anyone starts thinking this association means Scorpios have some kind of a death-wish, it’s important to note that the Death card in tarot does not indicate an actual death.

Instead, Death, in tarot-terms represents the “end of a cycle” and the beginning — or rebirth — of the next one.

So what does any of that have to do with Scorpio, you ask?

Keep in mind that the scorpion has two very different meanings that aren’t often discussed in the realm of horoscopes. First off, let’s not forget the scorpion it’s a deadly creature. It’s sting is enough to send a person to hospital — and potentially to the grave.

Interestingly, Scorpio is also a symbol of sexuality and reproduction.

So a deadly sting and reproduction. That’s already sounding a bit like the death and rebirth signified by the Death tarot card.

But the rabbit hole goes deeper. If you want to go deep into the kabbalistic, occult reasonings behind this seemingly strange tarot/astrology association, it goes like this:

Over 100 years ago the mysterious occult group, The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (whose members created the legendary Rider-Waite tarot deck) associated death with the Hebrew letter “nun“.   The letter nun was one of twelve “simple letters” used to reference each zodiac sign. As it turns out, nun was the eighth “simple letter”.

Since Scorpio is the eighth letter of the zodiac, the kabbalistic association between Scorpio and Death stuck.  And this mysterious pairing has been part of occult lore ever since.

Minor Arcana tarot cards associated with Scorpio

If you’re less than thrilled that your zodiac sign is associated with the grim image above, keep in mind that there are also 4 Minor Arcana tarot cards associated with Scorpio. Although the Five of Cups might not be much better!

The Minor Arcana cards associated with Scorpio are:

• The Five of Cups
• The Six of Cups
• The Seven of Cups
• The Queen of Cups

Of these 4 Minor Arcana, the Queen of Cups card is nearly antithetical to Death with its meaning of “Motherhood”.

These 4 Minor Arcana Cups cards are connected to the sign of Scorpio for two reasons:

1. They share a primary elemental association to Water.
2. They share a fixed astrological modality.

Fixed astrological modalities tend to represent the power of sustenance (Think about that in relation to the Death card. Very interesting!). To read more about how astrological modality and the primary alchemical elements  tie the worlds of tarot and astrology together into a complete picture, see our longer piece on the connections between astrology and tarot cards.

Why is it important to know the tarot card for Scorpio?

For many tarot readers, even those that are well-versed in astrology, the worlds of tarot and astrology often remain separate fields of study. If you don’t want to, there’s really no need to draw connections between tarot cards and zodiac signs.

On the other hand, if you do learn the correspondences between zodiac signs and tarot cards it can greatly enhance your insight and understanding of tarot readings. You’ll be able to add an extra dimension to every card: Does a particular card actually represent a month of the year?  Or a person born under that sign?

Now that you understand that Scorpio is connected to the five tarot cards mentioned above, try applying that new knowledge in an online tarot reading and see if you start drawing deeper and more complex connections between the cards.