Wiccan cards: first 4 cards; the 4 elements

Let's get started!

According to the LWB: (any typo errors are mine of course!)

There are 4 element cards (can also be used to depict the 4 Guardians in ritual magick)

1. Athame representing east and the element of air.
2. Pentacle representing north and the element of earth.
3. Cup representing west and the element of water.
4. Wand representing south and the element of fire.

So far the LWB.

Anyone familiar to Tarot will recognise these cards and its references easily. In a way they remind me of the aces in a deck. Even the names are almost similar with the sword being renamed as a wiccan ritual piece called Athame.

I know hardly anything of Wicca so it would be nice if someone could tell us more of the purpose of the Athame. And of course about how the elements are used for ritual or meditating purpose. And what about "the 4 Guardians in ritual magick"? Meanwhile I promise to read more about Wicca

Of those 4 cards I like the wand best with it's small leaves growing out of the branch while being surrounded by flames. Thinking with my tarotmind I see this card as an outburst of creativity, as the beginnings of a proces.
I wonder why the element cards do not start with the wand like in most tarot decks. What would be the idea behind it? At first sight this deck looks beautiful and in a way simple drawn. But there is so much use of colours which settle in my brain, so many details if you give it a closer look.

Now it is your turn, for questions and answers.
Blessings

The element cards do not follow traditional tarot assignments such as starting with the wand as I wanted to point out the opposits, eg Athame dipping into cup for representing the Great Marriage, Athame = male force entering the cup = female force, the receptive vessel in comparison to the active sword.

As for north = Pentacle = Earth which offers the ground in which the wood of the wand can take root and grow. So we have here again Earth as passive, receptive element and wand, the active part.

Here is a scan of the images...
Click on: to view.

oh this is very strange after being used to tarot forever. So what does it mean if you get one of these element cards as answer to a question ?

hi mingbop

I've found the cards have an inner 'integrity'
that comes out very nicely in groups of 3...
but if I did a one-card reading, one of these
would certainly 'speak' well to The Question.

mingbop said:

oh this is very strange after being used to tarot forever. So what does it mean if you get one of these element cards as answer to a question ?

Click to expand...

Oh, in this case you have various possibilities:

- you can stick with traditional tarot meaning for the aces
- you can pick some more cards for clarifying
- sometimes the element cards indeed indicates a direction or region
- it may indicate that the elemental quality is lacking in your current way of life (depending on the surrounding cards)

I recommend to use the one card a day for learning the different cards of the deck.

When I work with the Wiccan cards, I prefer spreads with layouts of 3, 5, 7 or 9 cards, but you can also do the Celtic Cross or even use all 33 cards in a kind of Lenormand spread.

ok. well card number 4 seems to be haunting me, and I have no idea what it means ..

mingbop said:

ok. well card number 4 seems to be haunting me, and I have no idea what it means ..

Click to expand...

A lot of SOAP business for you !!!

Honestly, it really means business, new inspiration, discover your creativity, raising into action.

ok ta. I hope so....especially the action bit, I could do with some energy . ok we carry on with the cards then eh.

"Have a break, have a kit kat" as a famous tv advertising spot for chocolate wafers says.