Nisaba: <interested> I'm always happy to learn. How do you feel the ancients assigned the elements between the suits?
It's not about
how the elements were assigned to the suits. It's the
nature/meaning of the elements that have undergone a fairly recent (100 years give or take...) 'evolutionary' change.
I have to confess I am probably the least qualified to expound on the math and historical 'lores' that have been drawn together into a brilliant and comprehensive System which has been put together by Melanchollic. I'm still in the process of grasping it all. But once all the factors are grasped (here's hoping...), individual preferences for card & associations and arrangement, can then be undertaken.
So here's Mels' thread which explains the foundations of what I call a truly Historical System for the Tarot deck. It also delinates every pip & court card meaning, the details being based upon the understandings and knowledge of those times and places from which the 'tarot' sprang.
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=112327&page=1&pp=10
The concise readings with this system are quite amazing.
And although intuitive readers may not initially be interested, I think that if the depth of the meanings are explored, they outstrip the RW/ToL approach. (IMHO).
Bee