The Court Cards

In ancient Greece, everything was considered to be composed of some combination of the four elements:

• Fire Suit of Wands
• Water Suit of Cups
• Air Suit of Swords
• Earth Suit of Disks

The symbols shown above, are the alchemical symbols used to represent these elements, along with the four suits of the Tarot; their conception of these elements being not only their physical representation, but also such qualities that we can perceive through our intuition; ideas, personalities, and qualities, etc. The royal titles of the Court Cards are then also attributed to these elements; so that the Knights are attributed to Fire, the Queens are attributed to Water, the Princes are attributed to Air, and the Princesses are attributed to Earth. Obviously, since we have four Court Cards for each suit, it is easy to denote the sub-elements, as shown in the table, below.

Of the four elements, there are two types, active and passive. Fire and Air are active. Water and Earth are passive. Also, each of the elements do not necessarily work well with each of the other elements. In this regard, Fire is inimical to Water, and Air is inimical to Earth. While Fire and Water don't get along with each other, they both get along with Air and Earth. And while Air and Earth don't get along with each other, they both get along with Fire and Water.

The four-element system relates to the Tetragrammaton; the four-lettered name of God, such that Yod=Fire, Heh=Water, Vau=Ear and Heh (final)=Earth. The elaboration on this is vitally important to any understanding of the Qabalah and should really be studied carefully in The Book of the Concealed Mystery, as translated by S.L. MacGregor Mathers. But for the purposes of interpreting Tarot cards, we need only be concerned with the elemental attributions of the Court Cards.