The Witches Tarot Element Correspondences

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 Nov 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

funkyvixen	16 Nov 2003
Hi Wasnt sure where to post this, here or in the decks forum. Have searched old threads but wanted fresh opinions on this particular aspect. The Witches Tarot has different elemental correspondence to normal, with wands=air and swords=fire rather than the other way around, which is what I've always been used to. Do you/would you, just go with wands=fire and swords=air, or do as the deck creator says? This presents all sorts of problems cos I tend to associate the attributes of a suit to the attributes of the element of that suit, as I've always been used to attributes of elements before I started learning tarot. I love this deck, its gorgeous and I've got on very well with it, but this thing niggles occasionally (for now I've been sticking with what I know, wands=air swords=fire, but its getting harder and harder as I get deeper into it). Any opinions? fv xx

Minderwiz	16 Nov 2003
I've also got the Witches Tarot and like you I usually associate Air with Swords and Fire with Wands. I think you go with what feels right - if for you Wands is Fire then stick to it, even if the deck creator feels otherwise. I think if you look up Thirteen's guide you will get the same sort of comment. Reading is your interaction with the deck, not what someone else says it should be. Of course that doesn't prevent you trying out the swapped elements but it does mean that if you don't like that approach you can go back to your own feelings. I suppose you might find the deck difficult to read both ways as your approach and that of the creator are different. In that case keep the deck for its artwork. However I suspect that you will find that you can read with the deck, even when using the 'normal' assignments of the elements.

The The Witches Tarot Element Correspondences thread was originally posted on 16 Nov 2003 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.