When looking at cards in a Tarot spread, obviously we pay attention to the Suits, ie. Cups, Wands, Swords, and Disks/Pentacles.
But instead of just considering the Suits in terms of the areas of life they represent, ie. Swords for the mental realm, Cups for emotions, Disks for the physical, and Wands for the spiritual … we can also look at how the elements of each Suit interact and influence each other, and how that interaction can provide clues about the atmosphere of the situation described in a reading.
And just to be clear, by ‘elements’, I mean the actual four basic elements as found in nature that are associated with each suit.
The most common Tarot Elemental Associations are:
Cups – Water
Wands – Fire
Disks – Earth
Swords – Air
So if you have a lot of Cups in a spread, Cups being associated with water … the situation likely feels fluid, flowing, moving, like water does. The feelings it represents creep into all the crevices of our life.
Lots of Wands suggests a potential blaze, a sudden roaring up of energy. Or maybe it’s a quieter, simmering flame, just keeping things heated, like a passion burning, but contained.
Or Swords … in which case it’s the element of air … blowing hard or softly. Air might stay still for a moment, but like our state of mind, it can change in a flash, from one direction to the next.
And finally, if you’re looking at a lot of Disks/Pentacles, we’re talking about a physical state … the feel is earthy, like the soil. It’s more solid than the other Suits, less likely to fly off, burst out, or flow away … at least on its own.
But what if there’s a mix (which is more likely than not) … let’s say a mix of mostly Cups and Disks?
Elementarily, if there were more Cups than Disks, you might imagine the earth/soil flowing with the water, changing from a solid into something a little more muddy, more malleable, causing new shapes to be formed. It could be a situation where what had seemed hard and fast is no longer that. It’s been altered by an emotional circumstance or perspective.
Or it might be the reverse, more Disks than Cups … the earth being so dry, it absorbs all the water. In that case we might feel the situation as being less likely to change outright, at least not without some strong inputs … and you’d look to see if there are any of those in the details of the cards.
Another example might be a mix of Wands and Swords … here, without even looking at the pictures on the cards, you know that you’re seeing something very different than the above scenario.
Air and fire can be a heady, and potentially dangerous mix, likely more intensely dynamic than the water/earth interaction. The wind can be so strong it blows out the fire, ie. logic over passion … or maybe the fire just gets bigger with each puff of air. Looking at the details will tell you which, or something in the middle.
You get the idea. There’s all sorts of combinations. Paying attention to these interactions and imagining them as actual elements can give you a sense of how the situation might feel to the person getting the reading, beyond what’s in the storyline itself.
If you haven’t been thinking of the suits this way, try it out.
Oh … and don’t forget, each of the Major cards has an element as well. Throw them into the mix and now you’re really getting somewhere …
