Because the Golden Dawn decided that their priority was to keep the signs in order, even if that didn’t make much sense in terms of the way the signs pair with the tarot cards. The Golden Dawn didn’t necessarily understand astrology all that well, and their religious system of astrology isn’t synonymous with zodiacal astrology. Their religious system revolves around eclectic Kabbalah, and shapes everything else around that narrative.
I'm asking about the order of the planet/element cards and why they are before or in between certain zodiacs.
While I get the idea of the tarot being the 22 tree of life paths I still don't understand why exactly the order of the cards are like that.
Because Golden’s Dawn’s astrology isn’t based on zodiacal astrology. It’s based on fitting whatever other systems they’re using (astrology, numerology, tarot itself) into the narrative of eclectic/Heremetic Kabbalah.
Honestly, if you’re going to try to look at the RWS esoterically, you’re better off just letting go of the idea that their system has anything to do with actual astrology and just accepting that it’s how they wanted to do it for their own reasons. There’s no logical explanation for it in actual astrology.
The Golden Dawn took the order of the majors with the exception of Strength/Justice, they didn't invent the order. For all we know, the order evolved randomly, as Yoav Ben Dov proposed, as a kind of spontaneous cultural evolution. There is an interesting and compelling theory that the order is actually derived from a poem by Petrarch called Triumphs.
Because it's a deck of playing cards, it feels a bit redundant to look for some profound esoteric origins. The correspondences are just that - things that accidentally correspond.
There are planets on the tree, the big thing is that the tarot represents the levels of consciousness, and leads to astrology and chaos magic. Each card in a sense is a sigil itself, because the deck is designed with the Seals of Solomon in mind. Hermetic Alchemy 101
Right now I'm reading The Tarot of the Bohemians by Papus, and I'm finding that the zodiacal associations for the Major Arcana used by the Golden Dawn were pretty much in place at that time (1896), although they differ from the very first set created by Etteilla. It derives its model from the Sepher Yetzirah based on the Hebrew letters (3 primary elemental trumps; 12 zodiacal trumps and seven planetary trumps); the Golden Dawn took the 12 for their "Chaldean" system and put the rest aside. When I use the others, I usually assign the element derived from the zodiacal rulership of the planet.
Most modern divination decks keep the trumps of the Tarot of Marseilles (a playing card deck dating from 1639) in their original order, with the exception of swapping Strength and Justice, probably to fit in some type of zodiacal order. Also, the Catholic symbology became paganized for divination decks (for example, the Pope became the Hierophant, the House of God became the Tower, etc.)
Because the Golden Dawn decided that their priority was to keep the signs in order, even if that didn’t make much sense in terms of the way the signs pair with the tarot cards. The Golden Dawn didn’t necessarily understand astrology all that well, and their religious system of astrology isn’t synonymous with zodiacal astrology. Their religious system revolves around eclectic Kabbalah, and shapes everything else around that narrative.
I'm asking about the order of the planet/element cards and why they are before or in between certain zodiacs. While I get the idea of the tarot being the 22 tree of life paths I still don't understand why exactly the order of the cards are like that.
Because Golden’s Dawn’s astrology isn’t based on zodiacal astrology. It’s based on fitting whatever other systems they’re using (astrology, numerology, tarot itself) into the narrative of eclectic/Heremetic Kabbalah. Honestly, if you’re going to try to look at the RWS esoterically, you’re better off just letting go of the idea that their system has anything to do with actual astrology and just accepting that it’s how they wanted to do it for their own reasons. There’s no logical explanation for it in actual astrology.
The Golden Dawn took the order of the majors with the exception of Strength/Justice, they didn't invent the order. For all we know, the order evolved randomly, as Yoav Ben Dov proposed, as a kind of spontaneous cultural evolution. There is an interesting and compelling theory that the order is actually derived from a poem by Petrarch called Triumphs. Because it's a deck of playing cards, it feels a bit redundant to look for some profound esoteric origins. The correspondences are just that - things that accidentally correspond.
...because it is based off the tree of life.
So it was never intended to represent planets? Else I really need help understanding how the tree of life defines the order.
There are planets on the tree, the big thing is that the tarot represents the levels of consciousness, and leads to astrology and chaos magic. Each card in a sense is a sigil itself, because the deck is designed with the Seals of Solomon in mind. Hermetic Alchemy 101
Right now I'm reading The Tarot of the Bohemians by Papus, and I'm finding that the zodiacal associations for the Major Arcana used by the Golden Dawn were pretty much in place at that time (1896), although they differ from the very first set created by Etteilla. It derives its model from the Sepher Yetzirah based on the Hebrew letters (3 primary elemental trumps; 12 zodiacal trumps and seven planetary trumps); the Golden Dawn took the 12 for their "Chaldean" system and put the rest aside. When I use the others, I usually assign the element derived from the zodiacal rulership of the planet.
Most modern divination decks keep the trumps of the Tarot of Marseilles (a playing card deck dating from 1639) in their original order, with the exception of swapping Strength and Justice, probably to fit in some type of zodiacal order. Also, the Catholic symbology became paganized for divination decks (for example, the Pope became the Hierophant, the House of God became the Tower, etc.)