What are your individual approaches to the Four Suits?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 24 Jan 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rusty Neon	24 Jan 2004
Hello ... I thought it would be interesting to survey your individual approaches to the four suits of the minor arcana. I'm not interested in what the tarot books and various authors say, as much as what you use in your own individual approach and what makes sense for you, practically speaking. Personally, for lack of anything that inspires me and isn't overly restrictive, I haven't been paying much attention to suit, and instead I've looking at the RWS images themselves, and using word association with the Golden Dawn tiles and meanings of the cards to adapt the card to the question/situation/background and having regard to the questions, the spread, and the spread position. (I find that the RWS images and GD meanings don't systematically follow from any idea of suit, but that would be another thread :).) By way of explanation ... By "restrictive", I mean the idea that a Cups card (as opposed to other suits) describes emotions or spirituality, a Swords card (as opposed to other suits) describes the mind or issues of intellectuality, a Wands card (as opposed to other suits) describes ssues of creativity/energy/drive, and a Coins card (as opposed to other suits) describes the physical or practical level of human activity. Unfortunately, as I begin to explore tarot decks with non-scenic pips more deeply, I'm being forced to confront the issue of Suit head on. So far, I've used the Suit ideas that I've just mentioned but personally don't find them satisfying.

Aerten	24 Jan 2004
This is something I've noticed that isnt mentioned in any books I've seen: Cups -- living in the past, not moving on. Swords -- living in the future, relying too much on expectations Wands -- living in the moment, in the good "finding your groove" way Pentacles -- same sense of "present" as wands, but more like, um.. getting bogged down in the present you could say. perhaps this goes along with the materialism aspect of the suit.

Rusty Neon	24 Jan 2004
Aerten ... That's a great set of time/suit correspondences. I hadn't thought of the suits in terms of time, but it makes intuitive sense.

Aerten	24 Jan 2004
Thanks. Sorry I don't have more to add. But this is a great topic and hence, more people should be posting. The book suit correspondences are all the same. Yawn.

Imagemaker	24 Jan 2004
Off the top of my head, how about something like: cups--things that fill me (as emotions do) swords--things that cut me (as thoughts do) wands--things I wield for results (as in taking action) pentacles--things I . . . hold? count? (related to objects) I like the idea of finding wholly different correspondences to create an additional angle of perception--not that these are them!

Baneemy	25 Jan 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Aerten This is something I've noticed that isnt mentioned in any books I've seen: Cups -- living in the past, not moving on. Swords -- living in the future, relying too much on expectations Wands -- living in the moment, in the good "finding your groove" way Pentacles -- same sense of "present" as wands, but more like, um.. getting bogged down in the present you could say. perhaps this goes along with the materialism aspect of the suit. Very interesting interpretations! This is an angle I haven't seen before. -Baneemy

jog1118	26 Jan 2004
cups - stagnation, being satisfied with what you have (symbolized by the water in cups) swords - a two-edged situation w/c may bring good or bad wands - working magic into one's life - as in a magician's wand pentacles - synchronicity of 4 elements under the 5 element - spirit :smoker:

ros	26 Jan 2004
In a situation I see Cups as emotionally effecting the issue. Water takes any form so it goes with any situation adding movement that & it is unseen. Water hits the lowest & then fills upward, moving things slowly, as the situation changes. Wands as things that is just happening if you like it or not. Movement is happening & you have to deal with it. You'll either get warm going with the change or get burnt by the results. Swords will mentally change the issue. Words will change everything. Either you or someone says things that will have a cause or effect of the coming changes. Earth absorbs all the other elements & the elements move earths stubbornness. Earth is so grounded that it feels the effect of all other elements & then has to deal with any changes.Earth is changed because of how the elements move in or make the changes . Earth also grounds or helps guides the elements. Just some ideas.

kwaw	27 Jan 2004
I first got interested in reading cards as a seven year old, standing next to mother by the dining table as she had her cards read. I immediately took possession of a pack of ordinary playing cards and began telling stories from them, to myself and to anyone else who wanted to listen. The associations I made were very literal. Clubs were literally that, something you hit someone with or something you joined like social clubs, secret societies and gangs. I can't remember the associations I made for every card or how they arose, although the Jacks seem to have stuck in my mind. I called the Jack of Clubs 'little hitler', which was what everyone called a particularly officious commitee member of the local social club my family attended. He was also 'Jack in the Box', because when we as little kids were running and playing around the club 'little hitler' would suddenly appear from no-where and give us a shock, ranting about how he would get us and our parents thrown out if we didn't stop playing around, sit down and be quiet. Spades I associated with spades, a tool for digging. My grandfather was an avid gardner, growing vegetables both in his garden and an allotment. So spades were about hard work, preparation, planning, success and failure, battles (with the weather and pests such as slugs and greenfly and next doors cat), pride and dissappointment, abundance and loss, and vegetables that grew in funny shapes, and which were 'better and cheaper that anything you get in the shops". Most of the hard digging was at the beginning and end of winter, 'to prepare and feed the soil'. The numbers I associated with the growing season, from the sowing of seeds (ace) to harvest (10). The Jack of Spades was 'Jack Frost', who if he came too early or too late could destroy everything. He was pretty and fun (sliding and skating), but slippy and dangerous, he was all the exciting temptations the grown ups warned you against. He was exciting but could get you into trouble. Diamonds were treasure, and Jack of Diamonds was the Jackpot, the big prize, the treasure chest. Or sometimes he was Jack Price, the person your mother had you hiding behind the sofa pretending no one was in when they knocked at the door, who was always jacking up the price of everything, or Jack the Pirate,the bully in the playground, after your dinner money. The Ten of Diamond I remember I called Ten- ancy. This might seem a strange association for a child to make, but I had lived in 37+ homes by the time I left my parents at 17, and knew all about tenancy from a fairly young age. Hearts were about anything you love, like sweets and chocolate, th King and Queen were your favourite pop stars or football heros and the people you idolize, they were people who were good at what they do and who you would like to be like, or the popular kids that kids wanted to be seen with. Jack was 'fat jack' (he loved his jam tarts and plum pudding). He was friendly with everyone but a bit boring, always saying you shouldn't do this or that, it was dangerous, wrong or naughty, 'you'll get into trouble' ('what a good little boy am I'). The numbers I associated with number rhymes and playground games. I also tended to view them as a sequence, Aces first, a beginning, the past to 10 the end, last the future. An Ace or example at the end of story could mean something like a return to the beginning. Whether this was good or bad depended on the context of the story. It could mean having wasted time and having to start again, it could mean a return to normal, to how things were before all the trouble started, it could mean coming out on top, winning the race, etc. Kwaw

firemaiden	27 Jan 2004
Hmmmm. Lets see, I tend to feel it as wands: - passion, commitment, integrity, fighting, devotion, intensity, energy coming from the inside and going out; a theatrical play. Strauß operas... swords: light that pierces, cauterizes and heals, energy coming from the outside and piercing inward.; a philosophical treatise; Beethoven cups: communication with the invisible, the impalpable, mysterious, feelings that flow around and in all directions, that overwhelm, flood, retreat, jet upward, etc; - poetry, Debussy, Mozart, Mahler. coins: physicality, nature, energy from and into the earth; the palpable, concrete, visible real; prose, verismo opera, operas of Janacek, and verismo Italian.

Diana	27 Jan 2004
kwaw: What wonderful associations! Thank you so much for sharing all that. :)

firemaiden	27 Jan 2004
Wow, kwaw, I agree with Diana. I posted my associations first, because I didn't want to be influenced. Now I have read your post and am astounded by the associations you made as a child and you remembered. Indeed they are literal, like puns! Ten-ancy for tens is a great pun! I loved hearing about your stories for the jacks. Fat Jack would be my favorite. Thank you for sharing these treasures with us!!

The What are your individual approaches to the Four Suits? thread was originally posted on 24 Jan 2004 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.