Two Ways of Seeing Major Arcana in Tarot: Joseph Campbell’s Magic Nine vs. Rachel Pollack’s Spiritual Journey

Tarot has long attracted researchers and thinkers who seek to apply various theories and techniques to the cards. This includes different ways of dividing the Major Arcana to deeply understand their meanings and how the cards relate to one another.

In this post, I will present two Major Arcana groupings that I find personally fascinating: the "Magic Nine" from Joseph Campbell (specifically from his book Tarot Revelations, co-authored with Richard Roberts) and the three-row "Spiritual Journey" used by Rachel Pollack in her seminal work, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom.

Joseph Campbell’s "Magic Nine

​Joseph Campbell examined the Major Arcana through a numerological pattern he called the Magic Nine arrangement. Campbell looked for hidden mathematical relationships between the cards, utilizing the number 9, which in numerology represents completion and transformation.

In the Magic Nine layout, cards are paired when their numbers differ by nine. The structure is organized as follows:

• Row 1: Cards 1 through 9 (The Magician to The Hermit).
• Row 2: Cards 10 through 18 (Wheel of Fortune to The Moon).
• Row 3: Cards 19 through 21 (The Sun to The World), with the Fool often placed at the end or treated as 0/22.

In this structure, the second row often represents a "higher" or "shadow" version of the first, while the third row represents the ultimate spiritual culmination of the previous two.
Examples of Relationships:

• The Magician (1) → Wheel of Fortune (10) → The Sun (19): The Magician’s individual will evolves into the universal cycles of the Wheel, finally reaching the total clarity and completion of the Sun.
• The High Priestess (2) → Justice (11) → Judgement (20): In card 2 and 11, we sit before thrones. The TORA in the lap of the High Priestess signifies the Law; in card 20, the "Last Judgment" is made upon us. The ultimate Law is not social but cosmic. Justice (11) performs the "As Above, so Below" gesture, but her sword suggests cosmic retribution while her scales point down toward the final awakening in Judgement (20).
• The Lovers (6) → The Devil (15): A direct look at the relationship between choice/attraction and bondage/obsession.

Campbell’s arrangement reflects his work in comparative mythology. Just as myths share recurring archetypes, he believed Tarot cards form a symbolic network connected through number and transformation.

Rachel Pollack’s Spiritual Journey

Rachel Pollack’s arrangement of the Major Arcana was influenced by Paul Foster Case. In this system, The Fool is set above the others to indicate that it precedes the entire series—it is the spirit that enters the sequence but is not bound by it.
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​The remaining 21 cards are divided into three rows of seven:

1. Cards 1–7 (The Magician to The Chariot): Represent powers, potencies, and the building of the outer ego/personality.
2. Cards 8–14 (Strength to Temperance): Represent laws, agencies, and the inner search for the "self."
3. Cards 15–21 (The Devil to The World): Represent conditions, effects, and the final spiritual liberation.

The Significance of Seven
Pollack notes that the number seven has deep roots in symbolism: the seven classical planets, the seven pillars of wisdom, the seven chakras, and the seven days of the week. She views these three rows as the three stages of development that the Fool (and we) must pass through:

• Row 1: Line of Consciousness. Early identity building and personal power.
• Row 2: Line of Subconsciousness. Inner transformation and the "dark night of the soul."
• Row 3: Line of Super consciousness. Confronting the shadow and achieving spiritual awakening.

Conclusion: Synthesis of the Two System

​Integrating these two perspectives offers a multidimensional approach to any Tarot reading. While Joseph Campbell provides the horizontal and vertical logic of the universe—showing us how one archetype echoes another through "The Magic Nine"—Rachel Pollack provides the linear evolution of the human soul.
When you are reading for yourself or a client, try looking at the cards through both lenses:

• The Campbell Perspective: Ask, "Is this card a 'higher' or 'lower' frequency of another?" If you pull The Magician, consider if the querent is being asked to move toward the Wheel of Fortune (destiny) or The Sun (enlightenment). It reminds us that our current situation is always part of a larger, mathematical harmony.
• The Pollack Perspective: Ask, "Where is the seeker on their journey?" If the majority of cards in a spread are from the first row, the focus is likely on material success and ego. If they are from the third row, the seeker is undergoing a profound spiritual "death and rebirth."

By combining Campbell’s comparative mythology with Pollack’s psychological depth, we see that the Tarot is not just a deck of cards, but a sophisticated map of the human experience. Whether we view it as a series of numerical vibrations or a three-act play, the Tarot remains our most versatile tool for self-discovery. From there, I got the The Three-Row Blueprint: Mapping the Major Arcana for Spiritual Awakening.