The four suits of the Tarot represent the four elements. Earth is pictured as a coin with a pentacle, or five-pointed star, impressed upon it. Water is depicted as a cup. The two-edged sword symbolizes air and fire is represented as the wand or staff.
The four elements also relate to direction. Earth is the centre, water draws down, air spreads out, and fire goes up. The earth is the nucleus of life; the other three elements hover above. Similarly, the coin, the symbol of earth provides a grounding for our flow, our spirit, and our fire.
The intrinsic value of a person’s life is likened to a coin, which can be beaten and moulded into a cup. The circle that holds life is described by the rim of the cup and the cone of its sides. Consuming life, or being consumed by life, is how we know life.
The sword, on the other hand, is the line that which both gives and destroys life. The Sword of the Tarot, with a two-edged blade can cut off the superfluous and penetrate the essence.
Whether we consume life inside ourselves using the cup or we consume life outside ourselves using the sword, we disturb the symmetry of creation as we stride toward the future. Both the Cup and the Sword relate to a future that often slips through the fingers like water or quickly dissipates like air. The Coin, on the other hand is the undisputed king of the present.
Let’s look individually at the four suits …
Pentacles – Earth
Life comes from the earth and life eventually returns back to the earth. That time we spend on top of the earth is the span of life. Each moment of life is the present. The predicament of humans is being stuck in the present while desiring the future, unlike animals, which dwell in the present and never think of the future. It is this longing for the future that distinguishes humans from animals. The steel of the ever-present imprisons the human spirit. This is symbolized the the Coin or Pentacles, known for its hardness and rigidity.
Cups – Water
Water, the element associated with the suit of Cups, is akin to all the emotions. The nature of emotions, like water, is to be still; what pulls the emotions is the same force that pulls the streams to the sea .. unity. The nature of water is that when two drops come together they become one.
It is the gushing emotion that hollows out our being and makes a place for light to dwell. It is the ephemeral nature of water that works against the hardness. Attitudes and philosophies are broken not so much by logic as by emotion.
The cup restrains liquid’s tendency to spread out. The cup has two sides: and inside and an outside. The cup is held by the hand, which itself is a cup. Humans are a cup hollowed out by experience. Some of us has an elaborate exterior but very little room inside to hold much. Others may appear coasre yet contain great wisdom.
Swords – Air
Between fire and water is air. Air is the invisible, ever present element. We look at the air and may call it heaven. Clouds hang in the air and collect water. Like the natural cycle in which water is born out of the clouds and distributed to the Earth’s surface only to return back to the sky. The spiritual heavens seed this world with souls and receive them back at death.
The Sword is the Tarot symbol for air. The sword of two edges has symbolic meaning in Hebrew: The edge of the sword is called a mouth, because it is with our words that we both express ourselves and protect ourselves. Words rise into the heavens, where angels kiss each word of prayer. A prayer can be a thought, emotion, or word directed at the Most High, the Creator of heaven and earth, asking for help. By asking of the Creator instead of bowing down to the elements of reality that appear to sustain us, we make the Creator known in this world.
Wands – Fire
Fire manifests the transfer of earthly light as it returns to the spiritual realm. Erosion is slow fire. The metaphor of fire disappearing into an invisible ether is a physical example of transference between the physcial and spiritual realms. Fire melts into the darkness becasue darkness is is the spiritual source of light. Does that make darkness greater than light? The Cabala explains houw darkness is greater than light using the example of a ray of sunlight still embedded in the sun prior to be visible.
In heaven, the soul resides in the fiery mass of endless light. Our prayers and praise as we make our way through the complexities of this world feed the fire of the soul. The soul is attached to through a thread like an umbilical cord to the body.
The Tarot Wand or Staff symbolizes fire. This connects to the highest human aspiration: the future. Whereas an animal stores food for the winter, the human plants seeds. Fire illuminates the future by destroying the present. Fire allows us to explore the darkness. We walk upon the earth and go into the unknown territory. There we make the choices that determine the soul’s place in the heavenly chambers.