canid
I've heard this term in relation to reversals but I don't know what it means. Anyone? Thanks!
What are 'dignities'?
afrosaxon
Hi Canid,
"Dignities" or "Elemental dignities" are the correspondence of the four elements (earth, wind, fire, water) to the tarot suits. There is also some astrological correspondence as well, since astrological signs are broken up into earth, air, fire, and water signs.
When you read with EDs, you note which elements in a reading are "friendly" to each other, which are not, and which are neutral. Crowley did this a lot, and it's obvious in his Thoth tarot. The Golden Dawn may have done it too...but don't get me to lying.
If you go here in the Using Tarot Cards section, there is an entire thread on the different nuances of reading a tarot card. Scroll down to the "Correspondences" section that includes elemental dignities. You can also do a forum search for "elemental dignities" or "dignities" in the Using Tarot Cards section.
Hope this helps.
T.
"Dignities" or "Elemental dignities" are the correspondence of the four elements (earth, wind, fire, water) to the tarot suits. There is also some astrological correspondence as well, since astrological signs are broken up into earth, air, fire, and water signs.
When you read with EDs, you note which elements in a reading are "friendly" to each other, which are not, and which are neutral. Crowley did this a lot, and it's obvious in his Thoth tarot. The Golden Dawn may have done it too...but don't get me to lying.
If you go here in the Using Tarot Cards section, there is an entire thread on the different nuances of reading a tarot card. Scroll down to the "Correspondences" section that includes elemental dignities. You can also do a forum search for "elemental dignities" or "dignities" in the Using Tarot Cards section.
Hope this helps.
T.
canid
Thank you T-I think I've got it. I did do some research after I posted, which I SHOULD have done before, but I'm still a bit confused. I already take into consideration the elements (not nearly to the extent possible tho, just the predominance or absence of elements), & what do most readers generally do regarding reversals/elementals? Is it a personal preference of the reader's, one or the other, a combination, or is it entirely intuitive which method you use?
afrosaxon
canid said:
Mind you, I'm just now dabbling a bit with EDs (usually with specific decks, like my New Orleans Voodoo Tarot or the Thoth), but from what I understand, reversals aren't usually used with EDs. Instead, a card that may be considered "reversed" in a deck that addresses reversals would, instead, be "ill-dignified"--meaning, a card is of an element that is not friendly with the element(s) near it.
For example: if you have a fire card next to a water card (say...a Wands card next to a Cups card), that fire card would be ill-dignified to the water card...fire can be put out by water. Likewise, a fire card (Wands) next to an air card (Swords, if you read swords as air--but that's a whole 'nother issue
) is considered "well-dignified" or, in a traditional deck, "upright", since air and fire like each other (air feeds fire).(but then, as you get deeper into EDs, there's the whole "fire of water" and "air of earth" type of things going on, and my mind is just not there yet.
).Maybe those who read with EDs on a regular basis can chime in with their more extensive knowledge.
Just my $.02.
T.
canid
Oy. I think I prefer reversals for the moment, thank you!
