Tarot Study: The Four Suits

[mudweed]

It's a little early to be starting this thread: I was going to wait until we got to the minors. But, the discussion came up in relation to the Magician card (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=50906), and I thought it would be helpful to go ahead and go over this now. And just in case we decide we're not interested in going through the minor arcana. :)

I know there are a myriad of different interpretations, and as usual, I invite you to discuss. (Adapted from Greer, because that's what's handy at the moment)

Wands
Element: Fire
Direction: South
Season: Spring
Virtues: Creativity, enterprise, Drive
Vices: Pride, restlessness, willfulness
Style: Exploding, activating, inspiring

"What do I desire? How can I creatively express myself and my ideas?"

Cups
Element: Water
Direction: West
Season: Summer
Virtues: Serenity, love, creative visualization, imagination, nurturance
Vices: Moodiness, excesses and addiction, psychic drains
Style: Flowing, expanding, diffusing, loving

"What or whom do I love? What am I feeling?"

Swords
Element: Air
Direction: East
Season: Fall
Virtues: Penetration, courage, strength, truth and justice, organization
Vices: Thoughtlessness, judgementalism, sharp-tonguedness, fear, or confusion
Style: Storming, Freezing, striving, conceptualizing, communicating, confronting, cutting through

"Where are my thoughts focused? What tension or conflict do I need to deal with?"

Pentacles
Element: Earth
Direction: North
Season: Winter
Virtues: Knowledge and ability, endurance, stability
Vices: Stress and anxiety, stubbornness, inability to change, possessiveness, greed
Style: Drying, cracking, materializing, solidifying, crystalizing

"What do I value? What goals are being materialized?"

(I hope the Virtues, Vices, and Style thing makes sense... I don't think I can explain it any better, although I think I get her drift in phrasing it that way.)

[mudweed]

OK, I'm going to go ahead and reply. :D

I have issues with the way she assigned the seasons. I'm more inclined to think of Swords as winter, and Pentacles as autumn. But somehow, it still doesn't seem quite right. I mean, the wands are simultaneously asociated with growth and change, and with fire. So is spring more appropriate or is summer?

Any other ideas?

[Ben Trismegistus]

I have issues with the way she assigned the seasons. I'm more inclined to think of Swords as winter, and Pentacles as autumn. But somehow, it still doesn't seem quite right. I mean, the wands are simultaneously asociated with growth and change, and with fire. So is spring more appropriate or is summer?
Hmmm... I've never seen the individual suits assigned to seasons before. My guess is that she simply took the first direction of East (pagans tend to reverence the East as the direction of new beginnings, and therefore start many ritual aspects in the East) and attached it to the first season of Fall (Samhain being often recognized as the beginning of the Pagan Year), and then had the other seasons follow chronologically with the rest of the elements.

That said, the associations seem ok to me, more or less.

[Faery-Wings]

Those seasonal correspondences seem off to me. I would put wands with Fire and Summer, Swords Air/Spring. The other two make sense. I guess I am looking at it more as Elements and DSeasons.
For Virtue- I would also put knowledge with Swords rather then Pents.
*shrugs* To each his own.

:)

[mudweed]

For Virtue- I would also put knowledge with Swords rather then Pents.
*shrugs* To each his own.

:)
There are just so many ways to assign the season. *frowns, thinking* Good thing I don't really need to do that, myself. :D

And I would put knowledge with Swords, too, I think. But what else to put in the pents? Seems kind of empty... like something's missing...

[Faery-Wings]

Earth- family values, relationships?

[Romani Vixen]

I don't really get the seasonal association. Why even have this?

[mudweed]

Well, a lot of people use it when predicting the time frame in which an event is going to occur. Like, the Ace of Swords would mean that such and such should happen sometime during the first week of Winter. Or the first part of Winter. Something like that. (But you have to figure out what each suit corresponds to, and when the season really starts, etc.)

I don't use it, myself. No, I actually have once. So I lied. But anyway...

[Gigi]

Do you have any book references? or Internet references? Seems to me when reading the card I should have a good understanding of these symbols. Any references will be good, I'll take it as an assignment to learn these, and will post it here as I research them. Thanks!

[Dryad's Wyrd]

OK, I'm going to go ahead and reply. :D

I have issues with the way she assigned the seasons. I'm more inclined to think of Swords as winter, and Pentacles as autumn. But somehow, it still doesn't seem quite right. I mean, the wands are simultaneously asociated with growth and change, and with fire. So is spring more appropriate or is summer?

Any other ideas?

I have issues with the seasons as well. I think of the Wands more as summer because wands are associated with the element of fire and it makes me think of the heat of summer, campfires, bug torches, and citronella candels out on our deck. As far as the Swords and Pentacles go, I have to agree with you mudweed. The biting winter winds are often described as "cutting to the bone." That sounds pretty sword-sy to me. When I think of Pentacles and their association with earth I think of bounty and harvest....reaping what was sown....a time of reverence for what the earth gives to us. Now there is Cups, associated with water, and, personally, I definitly think that spring is the season that works best with cups.....all the melting snow......lots of puddles to jump in...rivers swelling with the spring rain.
Anyway, that's my take on the seasons :)
Love & Light
D

[aftershocked]

Do any of you notice that you pull a suit more than others? I'm a capricorn, and I've been noticing that I pull Pentacles a *lot*... wondering if it's just me.

As for the season thing, I've never really used those associations before- I usually ask a question knowing when I want to ask about.

[Dryad's Wyrd]

Any one have stronger association with a certain suite that the other? I always find that I get more cups (being a water sign) than any others in my readings...maybe because I have such an affinity for water..........anyone find that their birth sign corresponds to the amount of a certain suite card that they get in a reading? I usually get quite a few water signs.......but maybe that is just me :)
Love and Light
D

[Kaylara]

Do you have any book references? or Internet references? Seems to me when reading the card I should have a good understanding of these symbols. Any references will be good, I'll take it as an assignment to learn these, and will post it here as I research them. Thanks!
http://www.beyondweird.com/bookofshadows/501.html Search on the page for 'tarot'. I believe it should be the elemental correspondences on this page. Has the tarot associations as well. The reference name, is the Riders of the Crystal Winds BOS.

I'll look for other references as well.

[Flaire-FireStar]

OK, I'm going to go ahead and reply. :D

I have issues with the way she assigned the seasons. I'm more inclined to think of Swords as winter, and Pentacles as autumn. But somehow, it still doesn't seem quite right. I mean, the wands are simultaneously asociated with growth and change, and with fire. So is spring more appropriate or is summer?

Any other ideas?

I'm going to throw this in, because I was going over it in my head a while back. :lol:

I noticed that in my Witches' Tarot, the court cards are sorta directed towards the seasons. The one that really stands out in my mind (ironically) is the King of Pentacles. In that card, he is bundled up, and there is snow on the ground around him. It makes sense to me, that Pentacles = Earth = Winter. That deck is the only one that I have that seems to focus more on the seasons, rather than the elements. Of course ,I'm going to have to go through my deck again and re-check. :lol: The Princesses don't come to mind, nor do the Queens.

Other than that, my Spiral deck is focused on the elements for the court cards (I can think of the blueness of the Cups suit).

I'll probably come back with some more later. :)

[Gigi]

Thanks! I'll look into it. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Faery-Wings]

Do any of you notice that you pull a suit more than others?

Right now I am pulling Pents left and right. Twelve out of 27 cards since I started doing daily draws again have been pents.

[PhoenixCOF]

Well, a lot of people use it when predicting the time frame in which an event is going to occur. Like, the Ace of Swords would mean that such and such should happen sometime during the first week of Winter. Or the first part of Winter. Something like that. (But you have to figure out what each suit corresponds to, and when the season really starts, etc.)

I don't use it, myself. No, I actually have once. So I lied. But anyway...

Hmmm... this is the first time I've come across the tarot suits being associated with seasons too, interesting idea. Generally, if I'm looking for a time frame I use the horoscope associations with the major arcana cards (please don't ask me what they are lol... if they aren't represented on the card, I can never remember and have to look it up)... I actually have a kind of 'chart of associations' that I use for finding timing...

Cheers,

PhoenixCOF :-)

[Rowan MoonDragon]

thats really interesting. I've never heard of seasons corresponding with the suits either. for time I always count the number of a suit. like if there are 4 pentacles in a layout, it could mean, within 4 days, weeks, or years. I'll have to experiement with this.

[mudweed]

It's so weird, I just assumed that it was commonplace to assign seasons to the suits, but I'm not sure where I got that... I mean, I didn't bother getting a tarot book until a few months ago, so it couldn't have been there. Something I read in my youth, no doubt. :)

Suits I pull more than others: I seem to get quite a few wands, and these daysI get pentacles, too. The ones I feel an affinity to depend on the deck, and I have to confess are based mainly on aesthetics. Usually it's the cups cards, because water lends itself so well to beautiful illustrations.

[mucgwyrt]

Yup, Discs/Earth. I get the ace of discs in particular a lot.

[PhoenixCOF]

When I pull a lot of the same suit, I tend to think that that particular suit represents the overriding influence/biggest issue in my life at that point. A lot of pents... material things, home, work, health, finances... cups, emotional issues... swords, conflicts, the need to think my way through things or sometimes that I'm thinking too much... wands - change, movement, upheavel, action or the need for it, intuition and the hint that I need to be using it...

[Aidron]

In regards to the first post, I can understand her associations, I just disagree with them for the most part, as I do with most interpretations of the various suits in the tarot. Here's a spontaneous summary of how I associate them:

Wands
Element: Air
Direction: East
Season: Spring
Virtues: Creativity, Imagination, Freedom, Truth, Justice, Wisdom, Communication
Vices: Judgmentalism, Thoughtlessness, Indecision, Slander
Energy: Swiftness, Directional, Intangible

Swords
Element: Fire
Direction: South
Season: Summer
Virtues: Energetic, Vitality, Ambition, Willpower, Sensuality, Pride
Vices: Counter-productive pride, Sexual addiction, Dominating, Rage
Energy: Exploding, Activation, Conflagration

Cups
Element: Water
Direction: West
Season: Autumn
Virtues: Emotions, Psychic ability, Spirituality, Tranquility, Purifying, Healing
Vices: Obsessiveness, Moodiness, Destructive relationships, Self-Image problems
Energy: Flowing, Cleansing, Refreshing

Pentacles
Element: Earth
Direction: North
Season: Winter
Virtues: Prosperity, Grounding, Responsibility, Orderly, Enduring
Vices: Rigidness, Suffocation, Stagnation, Critical, Stubbornness
Energy: Solidifying, Materializing, Foundational