How to Choose a Significator Card
We’ve all heard people talking about choose their significator cards and sometimes wonder... wait what!?! What is that card? How do I find mine? These are all great questions that I plan to answer.
A significator card is the card that represents the seeker in the reading. This helps some of us tune into the energies of that person and really get down in there with our focus.
Some people swear by using a significator card. Others choose not to for many reasons, but some are they don’t need one to tap into the energies, or they don’t want to lose out on having that card available in the reading. One tip that I like to do is use a separate deck for my significator card than the deck that I read with so I don’t lose out on not having the card available for the reading.
You don’t actually ‘read’ the significator card, but it represents the person that you are reading for and sits on top of the reading or under the first card in a reading.
For example, in most Celtic Cross layouts they tell you to lay the first card on top of the significator card and this is the beginning of the reading.
So how do you choose the significator card? There are a few different choices. You can choose from using the astrological sun sign, by complexion, or by gender.
A simple way is to choose the card based on the sun sign and their gender. To choose by their gender look at the list below:
Page: Child or young female
Knight: Young male 18-30
Queen: Woman 18+
King: Male 30+
Based upon their astrological sun sign:
Cups: Water: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Wands: Fire: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Swords: Air: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Pentacles: Earth: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
So you would combine the gender Court Card and the suit of the card that best represents them.
By the complexion or their appearance is also viable:
Cups: blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin
Wands: Red hair, fiery complexion, blue or green eyes
Swords: Grey or light-colored hair, blue or green eyes, light complexion
Pentacles: Dark hair, dark eyes, dark complexion
Some tips to keep in mind when choosing a significator card:
Not everyone fits nicely into one category. Sometimes gender roles have to be reversed or completely omitted.
This can also be dependent on how the seeker acts. An older male who acts like a young, immature male may be better fitted by a Knight or a Page instead of a King.
Ultimately, you can choose whichever card you feel best represents the seeker. If the person is a workaholic, then the Eight of Pentacles may be a good fit, if a pregnant female then maybe the Empress. Do not fear using any card that you feel drawn to even if it does not fit into the categories above.
The Simple Method:
A final method would be the simplest one to use and that is to use The Magician for a male and The High Priestess for a female.
Significator cards can also be used when you are doing a reading about someone who has passed.
I hope this has helped you decide whether or not to use a significator card or not.
