THE FOUR SUITS AND YOU
Let’s talk about the four suits. Cups, Pentacles, Wands, and Swords.
In the wider tarot community, people love to tie these suits strictly to astrology. They want to look at your birth chart to tell you which element rules your life. That is fine if it works for you, but honestly, nobody knows you better than you know yourself. You do not need the stars to tell you how you react when your life catches on fire. You just need to look in the mirror.
Every single one of us has a baseline operating element. Let us break down how these suits reflect who we actually are in the real world.
Wands (Fire / The Spark)
Wands are all about creativity, creation, and passion. But it is not just the physical act of making something. It is the deep appreciation of creation.
Wand energy is the person who gets fiercely passionate about a film’s cinematography. It is the person who goes down a massive midnight rabbit hole researching 1940s fashion, or who can stand in an art gallery and absorb a painting for an hour. It is the spark that takes a passing thought and turns it into a full-blown obsession. If you run on passion, you run on Wands.
Pentacles (Earth / The Doers)
Pentacles are the physical, the tangible, and the financial. They are the doers.
I will be perfectly honest. This is the suit I have the hardest time connecting with, simply because so much of our modern world exists behind a screen. But Pentacles require actual, physical labor. It is the act of working out and feeling the change in your muscles. It is tending a garden. It is sitting down with a teacher and physically learning a new skill. You cannot just think your way through a Pentacle. You have to put in the physical work to reap the tangible rewards.
Cups (Water / The Empaths)
Cups rule our emotions, our relationships, and our connections to each other. A cup is simply a vessel. You can fill it with champagne to celebrate a milestone, or you can fill it with poison and make a terrible, destructive choice.
I identify heavily with this suit. I am deeply emotional. I am also a natural pessimist, which means I spend a lot of time looking at my cup and worrying it is going to tip over and spill everywhere. Cups are all about how we process the overwhelming feelings of being alive and how we handle the people we love.
Swords (Air / The Analysts)
Swords run on thinking, intellect, and present reality. They cut through the bullshit.
Look at the Three of Swords. It is the classic heartbreak card, famously depicting three blades piercing a floating heart. Because it involves a heart, people always assume it is an emotional Cups card. It is not. It is a Sword. It is your brain looking at a devastating situation and logically acknowledging the pain. It is your intellect saying, "Yes, we are in absolute agony right now, but we are acknowledging it so we can survive it."
But remember, a sword has two edges. You can use your sharp intellect to defend yourself, or you can swing it recklessly and hurt the people around you. It requires mastery.
The Homework
So, which one are you?
Take a moment and think about a recent crisis or a major event in your life. How did you react? Did you immediately try to logic your way out of it? You are a Sword. Did you cry and feel completely overwhelmed by the relational impact? You are a Cup. Did you look for a physical, tangible task to fix it? You are a Pentacle. Did you get fired up and turn it into a massive project? You are a Wand.
Figure out your baseline. Pull those fourteen cards from your deck and study them. Look at the journey from the Ace to the King. That is your elemental code. See what it reflects back at you.
