Tarot archetypes and stories share a connection — both are mirrors that help us make meaning of the strange, beautiful, painful experience of being human.
Recently, I found myself wondering: If I could hand each tarot card a book, what would it be?
Not books that simply match the surface symbolism of the cards, but books that feel like them…that embody the emotional and archetypal essence of each card.
It’s an exercise in understanding the cards more deeply. And while most stories embody multiple themes, I distilled them down to their core essence to create these unique tarot card and book pairings for the 5 cards from the Major Arcana.
5 Intuitive Book Pairings for Major Arcana Tarot Cards
From stories of survival amid collapse to playful manifestos on creativity, here is how I would pair five major arcana cards with a book that mirrors their deepest, most transformative energies.
Death — The Cellist of Sarajevo
The Death card is so often misunderstood, especially if you aren’t familiar with the tarot. It doesn’t signify a literal death. Rather, it’s about the inevitability of change — sometimes brought about by forces beyond our power, sometimes entered into almost willingly.
Death is the crossing of a threshold, a moment after which life can no longer continue in the same way.
The Cellist of Sarajevo captures this poignantly.
Set during the Siege of Sarajevo, the novel follows ordinary people trying to survive the constant presence of violence, loss, and hardship. At its center is a cellist who plays in public for 22 days, after civilians are killed while waiting in line for bread.
What struck me most about this book was not simply the grief and futility of war, but the way life continues despite the hardship and fear. All of the characters continue to make choices, to keep memories alive, to search for dignity and meaning even as their world collapses around them.
That feels profoundly like the Death card to me. Not just the destruction of lives and homes, but the painful transformation of the idea of ourselves that occurs when we are forced into situations that we could never have imagined.
The Star — Project Hail Mary
At first glance, this may seem like an unusual pairing for The Star. But beneath its science-fiction premise, Project Hail Mary is fundamentally a story about hope.
The Star appears in tarot after the chaos of The Tower. It represents light returning after devastation. It’s about trust and hope and possibility…the fragile but persistent belief that healing and connection are possible no matter how dark the road behind us.
And that is exactly the emotional core of this novel. Despite isolation, impossible odds, and the burden of saving all of humanity, the story remains deeply optimistic. It embodies curiosity, cooperation, friendship across difference nations (and species). At its core, it’s a story about human ingenuity and the idea that compassion matters even in the darkest circumstances.
There is something very Star-like about Grace and Rocky’s refusal to surrender to despair.
The Hermit — Journal of a Solitude
This tarot card and book pairing was a no-brainer. Reading the Journal of a Solitude is akin to sitting beside The Hermit’s lantern.
In this journal memoir, May Sarton reflects on creativity, aging, relationships, emotional life, and the complicated reality of living alone. What makes the book so powerful is its honesty. Solitude is not romanticized — it is both nourishing and difficult.
That complexity is what makes it such a beautiful Hermit book.
The Hermit is not simply someone who withdraws from the world. The card represents the search for inner truth. The willingness to sit with oneself long enough to hear what cannot be heard amid the noise and distraction of everyday life.
This book understands solitude as a spiritual and creative practice, as a deliberate turning inward in search of clarity.
The High Priestess — Women Who Run With the Wolves
If The High Priestess had a library, this book would absolutely belong in it.
Women Who Run With the Wolves explores myth, folklore, dreams, intuition, instinct, and the deep wisdom carried within stories. Clarissa Pinkola Estés writes about the “wild woman” archetype — the untamed, intuitive self that modern life and the patriarchy often forces women to suppress.
This tarot card and book pairing felt almost immediate to me.
The High Priestess is the guardian of hidden knowledge. She sits at the threshold between the conscious and unconscious worlds, inviting us to listen beneath surface logic and reconnect with instinct, symbol, mystery, and inner knowing.
That is the entire vibe of this book! It asks women to reclaim the parts of themselves that have been buried, silenced, or forgotten — quintessential High Priestess energy, in my books.
The Empress — Big Magic
The Empress is often associated with abundance, creativity, sensuality, and growth.
But what I love most about The Empress is that her creativity feels innate. She creates because creating is part of her nature.
That is why Big Magic feels like such a perfect match.
Elizabeth Gilbert approaches creativity with curiosity, playfulness, permission, and joy. Rather than treating art as something that must be perfected or monetized, she invites readers into a more generous relationship with the creative process itself.
That reminds me strongly of The Empress. There is nothing forceful about her; rather, she creates the conditions that allow life to bloom naturally. And this book carries that spirit beautifully.
These are simply my tarot card and book pairings; you may choose different books, or disagree with one of the pairings. But that’s the beauty of books and tarot — they hold personal meaning for each one of us.
What books would you add to this tarot card reading list? Which stories embody The Empress or The Hermit for you? Let me know in the comments!