Tarot Study - The Suits

I have seen and read (in books and online) about using the numbers on tarot cards for study by understanding common themes. Two references would be my MerryDay companion book and a book in Mary K. Greer's series. I've read it being called "Constellations". There are also references online for the art of reading with a 52 deck of cards, using suit and number, called cartomancy. The next few tarot blog entries will be about using suit and number to add finesse to your reading, the best place to start would be to understand the suits (and relate them back to a 52 regular playing deck). This may also help with the court cards.. we'll get to that after the numbers.

Look at your deck and decide if it matches the common elemental associations. Please look carefully at Wands and Swords because sometimes the elements are reversed and Air is used to represent Wands while Fire is used to represent Swords. If your elements are reversed for these two suits, your general meaning will follow element not suit. Yes, yes, not all suits are named exactly, I've put the other names below as well to help. If you come across something different than below, I'd love to hear from you!


Fire = Wands/Staves/Staffs/Baton = Clubs
The red firey tip on some decks wands brings me back to learning color. Red and Fire represent the energy and passion or fire within. Your drive and motivation to journey, to excel at work, spirit or creativity. Something you put your own personal energy into.

Water = Cup/Chalice = (you guessed it) Hearts
Water soothes and heals, it's a conduit for electric energy and connects us to the divine. The tides ebb and flow as do our emotions. Cups represents love, I see it as loving others as well as loving ourselves and the earth we inhabit along with her creatures and creations.

Air = Swords = Spade
The air carries our words to others. Words can cut like a blade. Swords are about thoughts, ideas and communication.

Earth = Pentacle/Coins/Discs = Diamonds (mined from the Earth)
From the earth we are born, from the earth minerals are mined and refined. Pentacles is of body and tangible things of this world, including money. This extends to business matters as well, I see it as business bringing in cash wealth.. or not.


Cups as water, that's a pretty easy element association, a chalice holds water. A sword slices through the air. Coins or pentacles are mined from the earth. Wands sometimes have a red (fire) crystal at the tip. I have thoughts on remembering the element if your deck has Swords and Wands reversed, but I don't want to confuse them, so I'm going to leave them out.

I use visualization to remember the playing card associations. I couldn't resist putting my association for Pentacles and Cups above in brackets. That leaves Wands and Swords, for those I have images that dance in my mind. I see a club held over a caveman's head, as if in a dream he morphs into a wizard carrying a wand, both are tools and can be held above the head to "assert" their power. I see my mom digging in her garden using a spade, she's one tough woman that in days past I could see overcoming stereotypes and looks and jeers to become a knight carrying a sword! I tell ya, I never wanted to mess with her!


My personal decks in relation to the elements
MerryDay has the suits in the following order and element: Swords (Air, Spring), Wands (Fire, Summer), Cups (Water, Autumn) and Pentacles (Earth, Winter). The pictures in the Mystic Faerie do not show seasons, only one suit story (yes, each suit has an enchanting story, bringing the fae and the deck alive) tells of a season, the one element is also not very prevelant within the images. For the Mystic Faerie: Wands (Fire, Summer), Cups (Water), Swords (no apparent element by deduction Air will suffice) and Pentacles (Earth). By deduction I can assume the Swords are air, but honestly there's nothing on the pictures to classify it. The swords are represented by thorns.. not very airy to me. My Faery Wicca deck is named from cities, I'm leaving those out to avoid confusion. My other decks are newer and will require more study later, they are very quirky in their own right and I think two work for examples to give you something to work from and relate to your own deck.


*online references include IvyRose Holistic Resources and Thirteen's Tarot Card Meanings online at Aeclectic.net .