Suits and Seasons

I've always come across conflicting beliefs on which suit goes with which season, and I was wondering how everyone here associate the suit/season. The most popular one I've seen generally goes as such:

Wands: Spring
Cups: Summer
Swords: Fall
Pentacles: Winter

Aeclectic Tarot, on the other hand, I think list it as:

Wands: Summer
Cups: Fall
Swords: Sring
Pentacles: Winter

I've also seen other variations, but the one common factor I generally see is the Pentacles being depicted as Winter. This, for some reason, always make me frown. It seems to hard to associate Pentacles with winter, because it's such an "earthly" suit- fruits of labor, security, the home, etc. For me, it's always Swords that reminds me of winter. Cups and Wands, I can't quite decide as they seem interchangeable for summer or spring.

My question then comes in two parts. Why are Pentacles often associated with winter? And how did these depictions of seasons in suits come about? In a way, I suppose I'm trying to figure out the basis for the association.

Any insights would be wonderful, and I would love to hear how you are all defining your seasons vs. suits. Thank you in advance!

My grandmother said that the suits shouldn't be associated with seasons AT ALL because it would limit the cards too much. Her best friend used to have

Pentacles -spring
Wands - summer
Swords - autumn
Cups - winter

This was based on winter being associated with snow (water) and people reflecting on their lives more. Spring being associated with earth, growth and renewal. Autumn was a time of storms and cold winds, and summer, well, was SUPPOSED to be hot )

Ocean Light said:

Aeclectic Tarot, on the other hand, I think list it as:

Wands: Summer
Cups: Fall
Swords: Sring
Pentacles: Winter

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I have the Archeon Tarot and I don't see where it makes any association between suits and seasons. You may be mixing it up with another deck.

Ocean Light said:

My question then comes in two parts. Why are Pentacles often associated with winter? And how did these depictions of seasons in suits come about?

Click to expand...

My MerryDay tarot, on the other hand does clearly associate the suits and the seasons. And it associates pentacles with winter. The deck is quite new to me so I don't know the specific reason why. (I've just ordered the book for it so maybe in the future I will know.)

I almost always associate them this way:

Winter - Air - Swords
Spring - Water - Cups
Summer - Fire - Wands
Autumn - Earth - Pentacles

This just seems the most logical association IMHO:

Winter is cold (air), Swords slice through the air, thoughts are in the air (mind).

Spring is rainy (water), a new outlook/emotion (cups) after the cold, cloudy winter. The flowers start to bloom, and everything "springs" to life.

Summer is hot (fire), Wands are made of various forms of wood - they catch fire. There's activity in the summer, activity representing the wands.

Autumn is about gathering the harvest (earth) Harvesting represents income for farmers. Income, pentacles. Everything is green and coming to a close before winter (the final achievement).

I don't know who came up with the various associations, but this is what works best for me and as long as my decks know this is what I follow, they're very cooperative with me

LP~

Arania said:

My grandmother said that the suits shouldn't be associated with seasons AT ALL because it would limit the cards too much.

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I had always figured that the seasons association might be especially useful for when the reading deals with giving a time frame. I can't really think of any other way to utilize the seasons for though, so perhaps that's why I had never thought of them as limiting. Hmm...

Thank you for sharing your grandmother's best friend's interpretation. That definitely does give it a different point of view. I found it especially interesting how cups were associated to winter because of the water and how swords relate to autumn because of storms and cold winds.

zannamarie said:

I have the Archeon Tarot and I don't see where it makes any association between suits and seasons. You may be mixing it up with another deck.

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I wasn't talking about the Archeon Tarot. I was referring to Aeclectic, as in the main site of this forum.

If you ever do learn of why from the book, I would love to hear your discoveries!

Ocean Light said:

I wasn't talking about the Archeon Tarot. I was referring to Aeclectic, as in the main site of this forum.

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I am having some problems with my new glasses. Obviously.

LixiPixi said:

I don't know who came up with the various associations, but this is what works best for me and as long as my decks know this is what I follow, they're very cooperative with me

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I love that response! It's true that when it comes down to it, what's important is what you yourself believe and that you trust your cards to know it as well.

And thank you for sharing your thoughts about the suits and the seasons. I find that I agree with you completely- it's the exact reason why I always see Swords as winter and Pentacles as autumn. I tend to also lean towards Wands being summer and Cups as spring, though as already mentioned- I do sometimes see how one could be the other as well.

zannamarie said:

I am having some problems with my new glasses. Obviously.

Click to expand...

LOL. To be honest, I didn't even notice you didn't type Aeclectic until I saw the word deck and realized you were talking about something different! I then reread your sentence and saw you had typed out Archeon instead. Looks like I'm having problems with my glasses too! ;p

LixiPixi, I think your way of doing it resonates most with me. Like Pentacles and Autumn seem so meant for each other because it's about fruit and harvest, etc. If I ever do something with such associations I'll remember this. But I'll probably stay clear of the comparisons.

I'm so glad you brought this up, Ocean Light...because it has always made me wonder too. I also associate the suits the way LixiPixi does, and for exactly the same reasons. They just seem to "fit" that way to me....but I think it's an individual thing and may vary with the tone of each deck too. It's really helpful to read the reasoning behind the other associations though, thanks!