Tarot Suits and Musical Instruments

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 07 Jun 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rhiannon	07 Jun 2004
As I was reading about the tarot court cards I got an image in my head of the Page of Pentacles playing a drum. Sort of marching along and having a good time. Reminiscent of the famous painting of the Spirit of '76 http://www.americanrevolution.org/spirit.html So, I'm associating drums with pentacles / earth. I'm also associating the flute with swords / air. I'm sort of stuck on wands / fire and cups / water, though. I like the violin as one of the instruments but it's both passionate (fire) and evocative of emotions (water). The harp also sounds watery to me... but I'm just not sure. So, what instruments would you associate with each suit, and why? R :)

Rusty Neon	07 Jun 2004
For what it's worth, the Musical Tarot (Tarocco della Musica) uses the following correspondences: Cups = Horn Pentacles = Violin Swords = Lute Wands = Brass Horn http://www.tarotpassages.com/musica.htm

WooMonkey	07 Jun 2004
Like Rhiannon, I see pentacles (earth) as percussion instruments, and swords (air) as wind instruments. Stringed instruments seem the most emotional to me (violins, pianos, guitars, harps), so I see them as cups (water). Wands (fire) I see as the brass instruments. Horns are used to call people to battle or competition, so they are spirited and inspirational. The loud blaring noises they can make also seem best suited to a fire suit! :)

Rhiannon	08 Jun 2004
Actually I was laughing to myself because I was picturing a nice calm set of 3 cards, sort of Robin Wood-ish with the Page of Pents, Page of Cups and Page of Swords all playing a nice drum, flute and violin or harp... and then I was picturing the Page of Wands with spiky orange hair and a V shaped electric guitar ala Randy Rhodes! :D Or maybe Ace Frehley! R :)

jmd	08 Jun 2004
Subscribers may also be interested in reading through this thread. In terms of 'percussion' I personally see a distinction between, on the one hand, a triangle or bell or rattle, and on the other a drum. Personally, if I had to connect musical instruments to the suits - though I do not consider this would normally help - I would connect the four types of instruments (apart from the voice) in the following manner: Swords with rattles and bells; Cups with stringed instruments, including the lyre, piano and harp; Bastons with flutes, pipes and the horns; and Coins with drums and other membraned instruments.

firemaiden	09 Jun 2004
Amazingly enough... the association of different groups of musical instruments to the tarot suits was the subject of my very first thread: Musical Minors

MeeWah	09 Jun 2004
Pentacles/Earth: Drums. Offt covered with animal hides or similar to produce its sound. On a tonal scale, of the lowest vibration. Possibly also cymbals. Swords/Air: Wind instruments specifically flute, bagpipe, harmonica. Cups/Water: Bells, harp, guitar, piano, violin. Their sounds oft flow "fluidly", like water. Wands/Fire: Horns, trombone, trumpet Undecided about saxophone whose sound I love.

Woodsong	09 Jun 2004
No doubt about it -- the Page of Wands would be shredding away on a heavily distorted guitar! Course, if it were Ace Frehley, it wouldn't be a pointy guitar, but an old Les Paul!

The Tarot Suits and Musical Instruments thread was originally posted on 07 Jun 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.