Seasons of the Tarot?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 17 Sep 2001, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Thirteen	17 Sep 2001
So which is it? Pentacles winter or Spring? Swords winter or spring? Cups summer or autumn? Wands summer or autumn? And why? Help!

faunabay	17 Sep 2001
I truly don't know if I even read about this or not. If I did it didn't stick. But my first impression would be: Swords - Winter Swords cutting to the quick with cold effciency Pentacles - Autumn Earthy autumn colors. Cups - Spring In Spring your thought turn to love. Wands - Summer Hot heat of summer. I just made that up. But it makes sense to me. (shrug)

Thirteen	17 Sep 2001
Quote: faunabay (18 Sep, 2001 09:54): I truly don't know if I even read about this or not. If I did it didn't stick. But my first impression would be: Swords - Winter Swords cutting to the quick with cold effciency Pentacles - Autumn Earthy autumn colors. Cups - Spring In Spring your thought turn to love. Wands - Summer Hot heat of summer. I just made that up. But it makes sense to me. (shrug) Makes sense to me, too. But then if we go according to directions/elements, you get: North/Earth/Pentacles (Winter) East/Air/Swords (spring) South/Fire/Wands (summer) West/Water/Cups (autumn) Or, conversely, using the fixed signs and when in the year they show up (fixed signs because those are the ones which are in the world card): Taurus/Earth/Pentacles--Spring Leo/Fire/Wands--Summer Scorpio/Water/Cups--Autumn Aquarius/Air/Swords--Winter I just wish there was something, well, definitive.

Rhiannon	17 Sep 2001
My first inclination was to agree w/faunabay. For the same reasons. Then I read Thirteen's post and thought, hmmm, why can't the suits be of all seasons? You need air, water, earth and fire during all seasons, for different reasons. Boy do I ramble! Rhiannon :)

Chol	17 Sep 2001
I agree with thirteen on the elemental answer: Water- Cup- Autumn Earth- Coin- Winter Air- Sword- Spring Fire- Wand- Summer The Magician uses all elements as his tools are laid out before him and the Wheel of Fortune shows the seasons and tells us to understand their manifestation within ourselves.

tarotbear	18 Sep 2001
HA HA HA! (adding to the mix) : Based on the designs of the Rider, I have always considered Wands to be autumn since the yods or leaves are falling off the Wand (fall- get it?). The lovely garden on Pentacles makes it spring. The lotuses on the Cups cards bloom in summer, and the starkness of the Swords indicates the chill of winter. HOWEVER: what season depends on where you are on the planet- isn't it summer at the north pole and winter at the same time in Antartica? Midsummer is in June, so summer is really May-June-July, and autumn is August-Sept-Oct? Or do you define summer as the months school is closed? As many different answers as there are readers!

The Seasons of the Tarot? thread was originally posted on 17 Sep 2001 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.