Seasons and the Suits

[zorya]

here's the one i've always used;

east wands spring fire (because the sun/fire rises in the east and is therefore the beginning)

south cups summer water (traveling around clockwise)(water is nourishment for things growing in summer)

west pentacles fall earth (harvest)

north swords winter air (cutting winds)

 

[MeeWah]

Zorya: Yay! Finally, another who uses the same correspondences as I! & for the same reasons. I devised them when I used a regular deck, before Tarot.

 

[LeahG]

This instead goes with the Cardinal Sign, opening up the season: Cancer/Water/Cups with summer, Capricorn/Earth/Pentacles for winter, Libra/Air/Swords for fall, and remains Aries/Fire/Wands for spring.

I know this doesn't quite relate to the original thread - but I am confused - I am a Cancerian, born 29th June and here in australia that is the middle of winter not summer

 

[MeeWah]

Kitty: The Wiccan Wheel of the Year may be helpful in determining how one correlates the seasons & the suits. The varioius Sabbat observations differ according to the hemisphere. The following is included for reference purposes. Some dates are approximate. Keep in mind if your own correspondences work for you, then those are the ones to rely on. Not sure if the format will post well.


---------------------------------Northern-----------Southern-----------------
Greater Sabbats
Samhain/Hallowe'en-------October 31----------May 1--------------------
Imbolc/Candlemas----------February 2----------August 1----------------
Beltane/May Day------------May 1----------------October 31-------------
Lammas/Lughnasadh-------August 1------------February 2-------------


Lesser Sabbats
Yule/Midsummer Solstice--December 21-23---June 21-23--------------Ostara/Spring Equinox----March 21-23---------September 21-23-----
Litha/Midsummer Solstice-June 21-23----------December 21-23------
Mabon/Autumn Equinox---September 21-23--March 21-23-----------

 

[MeeWah]

Oops, sorry--I am unable to "fix" the format, but Ostara/Spring Equinox is March 21-23 in Northern Hemiphere; September 21-23 in Southern Hemisphere.

 

[Wisp Wings]

I've always thought as swords being winter (with the references to death), cups being spring (all the showers/water references), wands as summer (fire, the hottest part of the year) and pentacles as fall.

This has been talked over so much and with good reason too. I know it is to each their own and there is as many answers to it as there are variables. I personal always just believed exactly as Cricket did and mostly for the same reasons.

I changed my thinking on this some, but not as the major two approaches are. I found this site sometime back and like what her take on this all was. Even if you don't ascribe to the season/direction, overall it is a great site.

A "by the way" if any one happens to know this lady or if she is on this forum, I would love it if the site would be completed. So much work and almost at the final pages (I would guess), run out of steam. Too bad.

http://www.yellowknife.com/save-on/tarot/tarot01.htm

 

[Bryher]

Personally, I use:

Swords = winter
Cups = Summer
Wands = Spring
Pentacles = Autumn

This is intuitive rather than anything else -

the cutting and extreme weather of winter sits well with the intellectual clarity of the swords,

the warmth of Summer sits with the emotional nature of cups

the creativity of Spring when new life emmerges is like the wands and their passion and energy

Autumn is about harvest and the smell of rich, fertile earth - everything pentacles...... grounded and homey.

I do believe though, that along with many aspects of tarot, there is no right or wrong here. Go with what you feel is right for you and that will be fine.

 

[oversoul]

as the last post says, maybe fall would correspond to the pentacles since traditionally in that season there's the harvest and all, and pentacles are usually associated to material goods and such. fall --> harvest --> $$ --> pentacles? ^^;

 

[dantarot]

where you are located

I have only lived in the northern hemisphere, but it makes sense that the elemental significance of the suits might be different depending on where you live. I use the traditional wiccan elemental connections, but I don't feel bound to it.

 

[stpcarly]

I never really learned to associate seasons to the suits, it is something that I just felt right with.
Wands: spring as the beginning of growth
Cups: summer where everything grows the water nurishing it
Pentacles: fall/autumn it just fels right, it isn't a cold card to me
Swords: winter because it is such a cold card and everything seems bleak

I've tried it other ways I've read and it never felt right, so I just have to go with what feels right.