Elemental Dignities - the influence of the elements
In Tarot - at least in all the decks derived from the tradition of the Golden Dawn - each card is signified by one specific element. Apart from the apparent influence on the card itself these elements also modify the significance and even the meaning of a card dependent on the surrounding cards. Say, for example, you have the Six of Swords. The card - itself belonging to the element of Air - will shift slightly under the influence of the neighboring card(s). It does make a difference whether this neighboring card is ruled by Fire, or Water, or Earth, or by Air as well.
We will go through this step by step, starting quite easy with the cards of the Minor Arcana, Numbers first. The Suits of the Tarot deck are signified as follows:
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Fire
(active)
The Wands |
Water
(passive)
The Cups |
Air
(active)
The Swords |
Earth
(passive)
The Disks |
These are the traditional symbols of the elements, I just filled them up so they can be easier recognized.
(If you are not familiar with the elements you can click the symbols (or the cards at top) to read more about them. You should also read my short article about the 'Dependence of the elements' to see why and how they need each other.)
The very forms of the elemental symbols help to memorize their attributes - those who point upwards are active, those who point downwards are passive.
Also mind the bar in the symbols of Air and Earth - the same shapes go well together if they point in the same direction; if they point in different directions there should be one in a pair with a bar in it, but not two. Two symbols with a bar pointing in different directions are as much 'a negative combination' as two symbols without bars pointing in different directions.
Here we reach the rough rules you can apply:
- Fire and Water weaken each other
- Air and Earth weaken each other
- All other combinations strengthen each other
However, the peculiar habit of simply disregarding cards as 'irrelevant' because their elemental dignities appear to neutralize them seems a bit over-the-top to me. Going as far as not reading such cards is like pouring out the baby with the bath. No card in a spread is ever irrelevant, it can just be that it is not as important as others. Here the elemental dignities help to determine the strong and important cards, yet this should be done without trashing the rest.
Further, when going to the explanations below you will see that it is a tad too easy to just say 'This and that element weaken each other' or 'This and that element are a friendly combination'.
As usual in Tarot, things are not as simple as you would wish them to be. A Fire card influencing a Water card is a different matter than a Water card influencing a Fire card. What appears to be a 'weak' combination at first sight could be the last straw to hold on, and the most 'friendly' pairing could be a desastrous match.
The Dependence of the Elements
One thing that you should always keep in mind is that no element can truly florish without the others.
A mere look at the images I use on this site shows that they are actually never standing alone. The element of Water, for example, depicted as an ocean with waves and foam - without Air there would be none of that, without Air the water would be a still, unmoved plain. It would not even have a colour.
The Air, on the other hand, depicted as a sky with clouds - what are the clouds made from? Where do they come from? There would be no clouds without water. There would be no clouds without any warmth in the atmosphere coming from Fire. What is the mind without the spark of inspiration, without the depth of emotion? And where would all the Air be if there wouldn't be an Earth?
The Earth, shown with green plants - it's nothing new that plants need Water, Air and Warmth to grow. Without the other elements, the Earth would be dead. In the spiritual sense, Earth alone is dumb, dull, dead and cold.
Now the element of Fire, which seemingly does not need the others to exist. Yet without Earth giving a base and the fuel to Fire the flames would be short-lived, without Air they couldn't fly. And at least in the spiritual sense, the Fire even needs Water or else its flaming spirituality would be without depth, without emotion, nothing but an empty, meaningless combustion.
Spiritual Water needs Fire as well, to add warmth to its bottomless depths, to provide the spark of animation to its passive placidity. The spirit of the Air is needed to add sense and mind to the primeval emotion to bring it from the unconscious to the conscious. And all that would be in vain wouldn't there be the Earth on which everything could be grounded.
So before you rejoice when a layout of cards consists of one or two elements only because that is so much easier and there won't be any disturbing intruders to complicate matters or 'ill-dignify' a beautiful card, think twice. True harmony only lies in a good balance, and a good balance requires all the participiants.
The Qualities of the Elements
When we look at the Greek characteristica of the four elements - cool, warm, moist and dry - we'll see that Fire is considered warm and dry, Water cool and moist, Air is moist and warm and Earth dry and cool. In each case the first attribute is the dominant one while the second reflects the attribute of another element.
Dry and moist represent form versus flexibility, while warm and cool represent separation versus union. The dry power forms stable structures while the moist power is the opposite, evading every form and floating about and around. The warm power separates and dissolves, while the cold power unites and binds things together. |
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Yechidah - the Spirit - the Aether
As mentioned in the section about the 'Levels of the Soul' Yechidah is what is generally called the fifth level of the soul, or rather the infinite, incromprehensable something in which the soul exists. It is Yechidah where all other levels come from. We might call it the Infinite, the ultimate Spirit or the Aether in the sense of Aristotle who viewed it as the fifth element (quinta essentia) and called it 'idea'. The 'idea' had its revival in early physics when it was assumed that there had to be some 'space-filling substance' as a transmitter medium for all kinds of energies.
Still Einstein said: "More careful reflection teaches us, however, that the special theory of relativity does not compel us to deny aether. We may assume the existence of an aether; only we must give up ascribing a definite state of motion to it, i.e. we must by abstraction take from it the last mechanical characteristic which Lorentz had still left it."
In short, Yechidah - the Infinite, the Universe, the All, the Spirit, the Divine, the what-ever-you-call-it - is the something where everything is in and comes from.
We will meet Yechidah again when elaborating on the Elemental Dignities, when it comes to the Aces (belonging to Kether) and the three trumps that come from Kether (Fool, Magician and High Priestess).
The Elemental Dignities in pairs
See below a list of how each element will act when influenced by another one. These are sixteen combinations that you will have to memorize when they are the basic of the steps that will follow later. While it might seem confusing in the beginning it will help to realize that the elements have distinctive characters to which they will stay true. After a while you just know them.
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Fire and Fire intensify each other, be it for good or for worse. Action and energy get enhanced, but also destruction and oppression will be harsher. Every card is stronger when accompanied by a card of the same element. |
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Fire gets quite good impulses from Air, adding an intellectual touch to its archaic energy. Both elements are active yet somewhat loose which could result in a loss of stability. |
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Fire acted upon by Earth will find fuel and stability the same time - provided the Earth is not too much. If the Earth card is too strong it can hamper the spirit of Fire with rather unwanted ballast, thus dragging it down. |
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Fire and Water is a hapless combination, they simply do not get along with each other. In some rare instances it could be that the Water provides an emotional base for the imbalanced Fire, but in 99% per cent the Fire simply gets weakened or even extinguished. |
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Water and Water go very well with each other, perhaps too well - when there is passivity all over and no incentive to move on at all. If all cards are good it can be a pleasant drowning in bliss, but with not so good cards it just means indolence. |
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Water influenced by Earth is usually very lucky when the stable Earth provides a secure foundation as well as a thankful receiver for the water's fertility. Both elements are passive and are quite happy with not moving too much. |
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Water and Air can make a wonderful couple if they are well balanced. Too much of the active, logical air, however, can result in some stormy turmoil. Water does not like all too much reasoning while Air quickly loses patience with too much sentimentalities. |
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Water getting the heat of Fire definitely is not happy, for the most part it just feels disturbed and hates the intruder. It can be, though, that the placid Water just needs a wake-up call to drag its behind out of dreamland, but it still won't be delighted by the annoyance. |
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Air and Air are of course one of a feather and harmonize perfectly, sharpening and increasing their intellectual reasoning and activity. However, the combination of Air and Air can lack a certain stability and/or practicability. |
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Fire is quite a beneficial companion for Air, giving power and passion to the active mind, fuelling the intellectual flights with some real creative spark. Yet, even best buddies can become a drag at times - the Five of Swords empowered by a strong Fire isn't exactly good news. |
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Air and Water can make a loving couple, with the Water adding some much needed emotion and compassion to the rational analytic. Of course, it always depends on the cards how benevolent the influence might be - Seven of Swords modified by the Eight of Cups... ouch. |
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Earth is certainly the least welcomed influence by Air, even though at times it might provide some stability to the restless mind. Yet more often than not the combination is unfortunate since the bulky, passive Earth will simply drag the Air down and put it in restraints. |
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Earth and Earth might be happy with each other, forming a big heap of clay and stone and sand, not moving, not acting. Solid, stubborn, unmovable. Practical and stable to the point of dullness. This might be great if you are looking for security but.. kinda boring, too. |
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Water is a most beneficial modifier for Earth, providing the thick ground with fertility and moisture, adding emotion to the unmoved material. Too much water, however, can create a swamp. |
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Fire provides an often needed spark of spirit and vitality to the Earth, act as an uplifting, active force and bring the Earth to movement and recreation. Fire can also burn the Earth down to the ground and yet this is what kept the Earth regenerating time and time again. |
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Air could be another force to get the rigid Earth to move but unlike Fire it does not know how to make itself understood. Earth cannot wise up on the Air's intellectual snide remarks and just never knows what this nervous thing wants. The Air is rendered irrelevant, the Earth remains in stupor. |
Elemental Dignities in Triads
While it is fairly easy to tell the effect of the elemental influence between two cards, it gets a tad more complicated when there are three of them.
We might consider the rule of the Golden Dawn which will always start to look at the cards from the outside to the middle - in our three cards case this would mean we wage cards 1 and 3 against each other and see them as a unit influencing card 2. This makes a lot of sense if you have a row of a dozen or more cards - you simply work from the sides to the center.
I for me have resolved to the way of waging cards 1 and 3 against each other, see how strong they are, and then weigh their single influences i.e. that what is left from it on card 2.
As an example:
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Fire and Water don't get along well, they weaken each other. Therefore their influence on card 2 - here Air - is weak. Even though both elements would otherwise strengthen the Air card, in this instance Air cannot really benefit and stands on its own. |
The slight difference to the Golden Dawn way as established by Samuel Mathers, is that whilst Water and Fire are weak they won't get completely disregarded. Water and Fire do try to influence but are not very successful - which is a difference to not being present at all.
Take this situation: you are about to do something and someone else either tries to help or maybe hinder you. For some reason this someone isn't really successful and you can go ahead relatively uneffected. But he HAS tried, and a part of you has registered that. That's a completely different thing as if there would have been no-one around at all.
(more about Layouts)
Now look at these constellations:
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Fire and Earth at the sides strengthen each other so the influence of both cards is strong. Bad news for poor Water which isn't happy with Fire, but gets some stability and/or security from Earth. The activity of Fire (triangle pointing up) does not have much of a chance against the combined passivity (triangle pointing down). |
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Air and Earth do not really appreciate each other so when matching the two outer cards they will be weakened. The Air card in the middle will get only meager impulses, yet the presence of the other Air card will still add a bit to its strength thus throwing off the effect of the Earth card completely. True to the maxime: better a little support than none at all. |
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Now that should be clear, huh? What we have here is a very unhappy Fire in what it considers the lousiest neighborhood possible. Whatever Fire wanted here, it is literally drowned in too much Water. |
At this point I might add that it still depends on the cards if such a constellation is indeed 'ill dignified' or not.
Water - Fire - Water... this could be:
1) Five of Cups (Disppointment) - Six of Wands (Victory) - Eight of Cups (Indolence)
or
2) Nine of Cups (Happiness) - Ten of Wands (Oppression) - Six of Cups (Pleasure)
See what I mean? But I digress...
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Here we have Earth surrounded by two Water cards. While Water and Earth usually do get along well this might mean a little too much Water for Earth - creating a big pond of mud rather than any stable and useful foundation. |
You should also remember that the elements are at their best when they are well balanced, as outlined in 'Dependence of the Elements'. Of course, with only three cards there will always be one missing, and this is certainly not always a desaster. Nevertheless you should still keep in mind what *might* be missing in a layout.
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It's not always that obvious... ;) |
The Elemental Dignities in various spreads
Now we have always looked on the cards in the manner of pairing the two outer cards and then put them against the middle card, as typical for Golden Dawn style readings.
But what to do when you have a layout that is not at all linear, as for example in my » Newton Spread?
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The second line - cards 3, 4 and 5, depicts the Second Law of Motion: power equals mass times acceleration. That means here that card 3 is the result of card 4 and 5.
In this case I simply read 4 and 5 as a pair, with both of them effecting the 3
The cards of the first and third row can easily be viewed as a pair, and after all is done, you might weigh the central card of the spread - card 3 as the power - against the essences of 1 +2 and 6 + 7 respectively. |
It is common use to split bigger spreads into meaningful portions of pairs and triads - with 'meaningful' as being consistent with the structure of the spread. What you should not do is looking what cards might be useful to render the not so nice ones 'weak'..
Let's have a look at the » Four Knights Defense:
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In this relation spread you have the bottom line 5 - 1- 3 as your 'side' and the upper line 4 - 2 - 6 as your opponent's side (or counterpart's, lover's, what ever's side)
With cards 5 and 3 there as shield and weapon for card 1 it is only natural to watch this line as a 'traditional' triad. 5 and 3 will be paired to see what might be left of them to support the 1.
The same routine can of course be applied to cards 4, 2 and 6. |
That said, one should not forget that the dynamics of the elements can be way more subtle and manifold than this rather strict 'this pair' and 'that triad' routine reveals.
In the Four Knights Defense above, have a look at card 3. It backs up card 1, opposes (and threatens) card 2 and is directly answered (and challenged) by card 4. It would be careless to not look at the dynamics between those three as well.
And to complicate matters completely, look at the » Dark Star Spread:
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Where to start here? Card 1 is directly connected to cards 2 and 5. Card 2 is directly connected to cards 1 and 3. Card 3 is directly connected to cards 2 and 4... and so on.
In this case, one has no choice but weighing each combination in itself, and then look at the overall picture.
If card 4 ("the form begins to grow..") happens to be the only Air card in an assembly of Earth cards, this is not the best news for the Star, no matter how 'well' the Earth cards may harmonize. |
No card in a spread is ever irrelevant
As said before, no card in a spread is ever irrelevant, no matter how weak and oppressed it might appear. The habit of disregarding cards when they were 'neutralized' by another card is a rather dubious one.
What do you think would be left from this constellation??
Elemental Dignities in Court Cards
We remember that the Court Cards are elemental powers within their elements. The Knights as the fathers of their element are always Fire, the Queens as the mothers are Water, the Princes as the sons - born from Fire and Water - are Air and the Princesses as the daughters are Earth.
This can result in somewhat confusing constellations. Take this as an example:
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Now we have a Water card flanked by Water and Fire. The influence of the outer cards is not very strong for they weaken each other. The water card in the middle isn't all too happy yet gets at least a little support from the other Water card.
From the three, Fire is weakest. |
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But what if the middle card happens to be a court card - here the Knight of Cups which is Fire in Water?
While it still is valid that the outer cards weaken each other the Knight will still feel the weakened Fire of the neighbor, taking this as a however faint support for himself, adding to the already inherent instability of his character. |
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What this could mean gets a bit clearer when we enhance the influence of the Fire. While poor Water gets vaporized by too much Fire, the Knight turns into Psycho-Daddy.
His emotion is too much, too fuzzy, too hot, lacking every depth thus remaining superficial, almost hysterical. He has lost touch with his roots since the Water he belongs to is badly effected by the two Fire cards. |
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In a bold attempt to save the poor Knight we send Air to the rescue...
... with dubious results. Air is on good terms with Fire and while it does support the plagued Water a bit it also adds further activity to Psycho-Daddy, much to the displeasure of Water. |
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Earth might be a better choice here, bringing some much needed stability into the mix. Passive as the Water itself Earth will also take care that the stirred up mess can calm down.
Water still feels a bit bothered by the Fire aside but gets good support from the stable Earth. And best of all, the Knight can sober up from his mania. |
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Now Water is happy that it finally got rid of the unappreciated Fire card. Only the two modifiers - Earth and Air - are not too fond of their pairing and weaken each other. Water doesn't mind, it takes what it can get from both of them.
The Knight is also pleased, getting stabilty from Earth and active support from Air. While the influence might be weakened it is still better than nothing. |
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And what would be if the modifiers were both Water?
Water of course might be satisfied (to the point of satiety) - all placidity, passivity, no trouble whatsoever, nothing but blissful drowse.
The Knight, however, will see his Fire and his spirit extinguished. |
Court Cards are, in general, strong cards, showing personal attributes or sentiments rather than a process. This should be taken into account when reading a card, especially the elemental influences.
Exceptions from the rule: Aces
There are exceptions from the general rule of Elemental Dignities. The first one are the Aces, which becomes clear when you look at the Sephirah associated to them: Kether.
The Aces are not exactly the element of their suit but the source of it, they are the first seeds, responding to Yechidah which in terms of the elements is equivalent to the Spirit or the Aether.
In the Aces the element is only just born, not in the sense of a weak baby but rather in a powerful eruption. Aces are strong cards and not even the most hostile surrounding will weaken the strength of their appearance. One might argue that an 'explosion' of a Fire spark might not live very long when born into a sea of Water but this is not what the Aces are supposed to, anyway. They are always just the first stir up, it's up to other cards to render the power into a lasting presence.
The Fool, the Magician and the High Priestess
Actually, both the Magician and the Fool are attributed to Air while the High Priestess is attributed to Water - and it might be perfectly okay to simply go with these connections.
On the other hand, these three Major cards are often seen as exceptions from the rule for the same reason as the Aces: their connection to Kether. If you look at the Tree of Life and watch the Paths coming from Kether, you will find that the Fool goes from Kether to Chokmah, the Magician from Kether to Binah and the High Priestess takes the long way down from Kether to Tiphareth.
It is hard to say which way is 'right' and as so often in Tarot there is a bit of both. I usually leave it up to the cards to decide - if for example the High Priestess is accompanied by another Water trump and several Minor Water cards I definitely won't ignore her Watery side.
The Tens and the Princesses
In the Tree of Life both the Tens and the Princesses are associated with Malkuth. While Malkuth does respond to Nefesh and Assiah and belongs to Earth it also combines all the elements within it, as is explained in the article. For this reason we cannot see the Tens and the Princesses as 'pure Earth' since Malkuth is pretty far away from this, as well.
This does not mean, however, to simply exclude these cards from the rules altogether. The Elemental Dignities still apply, only in a more subtle, not quite so determined manner.
Click on the elemental symbols for a short overview and on which elements rule what trumps from the Major Arcana, the Minor Arcana and the Number Cards. The 'exceptions' are sorted aside their elements nonetheless when the influence should not be completely ignored anyway.
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