A basic question on dignities

[Phoenyx]

This is about the dignities of the cards in relation to other cards around it. I was doing a spread today just to sorta get an idea for what the next year will hold for me. This was only the third spread I've done with my Thoth deck, and I'm trying to get a handle on the dignitaries.
In the LWB, it says: "A card is well- or ill-dignified by the presence of neighboring cards on either side. Cards of the same suit strengthen. Cards of the opposite nature weaken. Swords are hostile to disks. Wands are hostile to cups. Swords are friendly to cups and disks. Wands are friendly to swords and disks. A card falling between two contrary cards is not much affected by either. "

Now, this is my question. Three cards come up next to one another, all related to the same part of the question. Basically it looks like this:

Ace/Wands........5/Cups..........4/Swords

Since the Wands are friendly to the Swords, does this well-dignify the 5/Cups? Or, because the Wands are hostile to the Cups, and the Swords are friendly to the Cups, that the 5/Cups is not affected at all?

[skytwig]

I really don't pay much attention to 'friendliness', at least not in that way.....

I guess i pay more attention to the number of each kind of card, including numerology..... if there are many cups or many 4s, that type of thing.

I also look more to the mood of each card and the general meaning, especially considering where they show up in the spread.

I'm sure other members will be better able to answer your question...

[Macavity]

You might derive some help/inspiration from these (specific to 3 cards) http://www.supertarot.co.uk/lessons/073card.htm and the other lessons in the series.

Macavity

[TallTarotGuy]

I'd have to agree with Macavity on that. SuperTarot is a great site for learning about Elemental Dignities. I've just started to study them myself.

TTG

[Rusty Neon]

Originally posted by Phoenyx

In the LWB, it says: "A card is well- or ill-dignified by the presence of neighboring cards on either side. Cards of the same suit strengthen. Cards of the opposite nature weaken. Swords are hostile to disks. Wands are hostile to cups. Swords are friendly to cups and disks. Wands are friendly to swords and disks. A card falling between two contrary cards is not much affected by either. "

Now, this is my question. Three cards come up next to one another, all related to the same part of the question. Basically it looks like this:

Ace/Wands........5/Cups..........4/Swords

Since the Wands are friendly to the Swords, does this well-dignify the 5/Cups? Or, because the Wands are hostile to the Cups, and the Swords are friendly to the Cups, that the 5/Cups is not affected at all?

The Cups card in the middle would be weakened greatly if there was a card of a contrary-elemented suit (Wands) "on either side", i.e., on both sides.

In your example, there is a Wands card only on left hand side of the Cups card; there is a friendly-elemented card (Sword) to the right hand side of the Cups card. Thus, the Cups card is not weakened by being next to the Wands but is modified by the influence of both cards; and therefore the Cups card is fairly strong. On the other hand, the Cups card in the middle would be greatly weakened if there was a Wands card on both sides of it.

In the OGD manuscript entitled "Tarot Divination", in the section "On the Signification of the Cards", here is the example they give:

"If a card of the suit of Wands falls between a Cup and a Sword, the Sword modifies and connects with the Cup, so that it is not weakened by its vicinity, but is modified by the influence of both cards; therefore quite strong."