Seasonally confused...

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 Apr 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Namaste	15 Apr 2004
I have come across different versions of the pairing of seasons to the Minors and am confused. Version 1 Winter = Swords Spring = Wands Summer = Cups Autumn = Pentacles Version 2 Winter = Pentacles Spring = Cups Summer = Wands Autumn = Swords Can someone throw a little light on which seasons really do correspond to the Minor Arcana? Thanks! :confused:

Diana	15 Apr 2004
Your guess is as good as anyone else's. All the experts have a different view on this. So I think we can safely say that assigning seasons to the Minors is perhaps not something that is intrinsic to the Tarot. So I suggest you decide on a method, and use it. It'll work... if you decide to use it that way. The Tarot is most accommodating for this kind of thing.

laura_borealis	15 Apr 2004
I use a different one to the two you posted: Winter - Pentacles - North Spring - Swords - East Summer - Wands - South Autumn - Cups - West I also found this: http://www.lelandra.com/tarotbook/deckattributes.htm I think whatever works for you is fine.

Namaste	15 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Diana Your guess is as good as anyone else's. All the experts have a different view on this. So I think we can safely say that assigning seasons to the Minors is perhaps not something that is intrinsic to the Tarot. So I suggest you decide on a method, and use it. It'll work... if you decide to use it that way. The Tarot is most accommodating for this kind of thing. Thanks, Diana. Good to know. :)

Namaste	15 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by laura_borealis I also found this: http://www.lelandra.com/tarotbook/deckattributes.htm I think whatever works for you is fine. Thanks, Laura_borealis. :) What a great link you gave me!

Nevada	15 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by laura_borealis Winter - Pentacles - North Spring - Swords - East Summer - Wands - South Autumn - Cups - West This is the system I use. Nevada

lunalafey	15 Apr 2004
Your version two is what I am most familliar with. My Legends deck uses these associations. I reason it this way, spring, wands, a time of new growth and creation emerges cups, summer, water, what nurishes the growth swords are fall, it's harvest time, cutting of the crops winter, winter, when everything is dormant, and has returned to the earth. but I can reason it other ways as well- but this is the one that sticks with me.

jmd	16 Apr 2004
The three correlations posted so far are: Bastons/Wands: Spring; & Summer; Cups/Chalices: Spring; Summer; & Autumn; Coins/Pantacles: Autumn; & Winter; and Swords: Autumn; Winter; & Spring. It is worth pointing out that yet other associations have been made, and there are likewise various discrepancies between suit and element allocation (for example, Swords has been attributed each of the four elements by various authors), and that the location of an element to a season has at times been correlated by either the cardinal or fixed astrological sign of the respective season. For example, to what season does Air 'properly' belong? some have attributed it to winter - partly, or mainly due to Aquarius being an Air sign and the fixed (or 'central') sign of winter; some to spring, partly due to its expansive enlivening qualities; some to Autumn, as the cardinal sign of that season, and the associated winds prominant during that period in certain regions; and, rarely, to Summer, again related to an expansiveness of the element (in that rare case, Fire is attributed to the Life force of Spring). One can see, then, that not only has each suit or 'colour' may be attributed various elements depending on the author, but that each of those elements are also variously attributed to various seasons, and to various points of the compass... Yet, it is also important to consider that EACH OF THESE ATTRIBUTIONS is not made haphazardly, but with meaningful reflections. What is important to consider, then, are the reasons for those attributions. Only then will, in my personal opinion, allocations be made with the insight which permits one to more fully investigate those correlations. For Tarot AS TAROT, the seasons, the elements, and the cardinal position are acquired additions not intrinsically belonging to it - but nonetheless useful for many who may have specific usage of the same.

Kittaine	16 Apr 2004
This may be a stupid question...But what if your country only has two seasons--like wet and dry?

jmd	16 Apr 2004
Indeed... or what if, like what is one of the northern Australian apparent traditional division, it has not just what we now regard as 'wet' and 'dry', but six 'seasons'? This shows that, as for the origins of the Tarot, the fourfold division of the seasons is quite a temperate climate reflection. Of course, and irrespective as to where on Earth one lives, there is a precise time at which the Sun is at its most northernly point, its most southernly one, and its two equatorial passages on its move northernwards and southernwards... and the periods in-between (which correspond, in most places, with the four-fold seasons - Australia and some other places excepted).

dolphingirl	16 Apr 2004
For me it depends on the deck, as the colors used in the illustrations can really affect how I feel about a card and what season seems to fit it best. What I most often use is Cups - spring wands- summer pentacles- autumn swords - winter

MeeWah	16 Apr 2004
Check out this old thread on seasonal correspondences: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?threadid=2621 Edited to add: JMD's comments remind me that the hemisphere may influence the seasonal correspondences. The seasons of the northern hemisphere are opposite to the southern hemisphere. Also, may depend on the particular deck.

Namaste	19 Apr 2004
Thank you to all for your help! :)

The Seasonally confused... thread was originally posted on 15 Apr 2004 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.