Tarot and Relationships, Part 3

[kokopelle]

The Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana symbolize the hopes and fears, actions and events, and general daily life events. The appearance of minor arcana cards show how the querent feels, what their objectives are, and how their actions are affecting others. They are most important in their revelation of motives and objectives. This is the “why” part of a relationship. The actions that follow are secondary to the intent behind them. Acting on the presented motives and objectives, the querent can either pursue the existing path or seek to change the energies involved.

A spread dominated by minor arcana indicates an outcome that can be shaped and molded. This is not true when a spread is dominated by major arcana or court cards.

The Suites of the Minor Arcana

There are four traditional elements in the Western metaphysical world. These are: earth, fire, air and water. These elements are the basis of most every magical/metaphysical working and belief. So, it is not surprising that the elements are also present in the Tarot.

Suite	Expression	Romance Symbology	Traditional Meaning
Wands	Personal	energy, creativity, passion, and spirit	actions
Cups	Personal	emotions, relationships, love, and intuition	emotions, feelings
Swords	Mental	the mind and intellect, communicating, and conflict	indication of trouble and problems
Pentacles	Mental	represent money, material matters, and physical well-being	material things

Expressions of the Suites

 

Suite	Element	Gender	Duality
Wands	Fire	Male	Female/Male
Cups	Water	Female	Female/Female
Swords	Air	Male	Male/Male
Pentacles	Earth	Female	Male/Female

Elemental and Gender Associations

Evaluation of relationship questions breaks the suites into two expressions: personal and mental. The personal suites indicate physical and emotional motivations or objectives. The mental suites indicate how the mind works toward motivations and objectives.

It should be noted that mental suites have a male duality and the personal suites have a female duality. This brings clarity to their actions when the nature of male and female energies are considered.

Female	Male
Lasting	Short-lived
In Charge	For Show
Covering and Hiding	Revealing and Exposing
Eternal	Cyclical
Passive	Active
Inner	Outer
Dark	Light

Roles of the Genders

Comments

[chimerae.livejournal.com]

I was working with an artist/illustrator/teacher/writer over the weekend. She normally uses tarot alot when she's stuck but she's in a place where nothing has been helping. Nothing I was saying was flipping the switch either until I heard myself tell her that she and I are 5 element people in a 4 element culture.

And that we get confused because we're timid so we try to hang out in the 5th element where we don't have to conflict with others for resources. In fact, that's not workable. The technique is to fully engage the four elemental reality to the reach of our capacity and then by our natures bring in the 5th element to resolve the unresolvable. And that always looks messy and troublesome. We need to remember that it NEEDS to look messy, troublesome, and unresolvable from a 4 element viewing otherwise there's no point in fighting our way past our timidity. If it can be resolved in a 4 element dynamic, we don't need to get involved.

IT would be a different story if we knew how to succeed in a 4 element dynamic as 5 element people. There are those who excell in that. I have no idea how to close the gap.

She understood completely and went off to solve the unsolvable.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

Spirit/soul/being is introduced when I hear the phrase "5 element people". There are the concerns of life largely defined by the four elements. This is nice, but life does not stop here. Life would be much more "tidy" if all a person did was get X amount of each and then hunker down with contentment. Things don't work this way.

I suspect the reason is the fifth element, that of spiritual definition/longing/wonderment. A host of questions arise. These questions have few answers because the 5th element is a paradox of being both messy and straightforward. I believe the root of the paradox is that we try to fit the 5th element into a human box, something more easily done with the other elements, and the 5th element just does not fit like the others.

Can the tarot encompass the 5th element? I believe the major arcana take on this role. The archetypes hold clues and glimpses of the 5th element. The challenge is that there is no declarative statement made. Each deck approaches the major arcana differently. The result is a tantalizing slice of the 5th element. The whole definition escapes singular tarot decks.

Where can the fifth element be found? I strongly suspect that the Kabala (sp?) Tree of Life is a more complete definition. The challenge is that the definition is wrapped in layers of nuanced understanding. The realization of the 5th element in the Tree becomes an ecstatic event, one that is not easily communicated to others.

[chimerae.livejournal.com]

It's western european tradition that's 4 element based.

Eastern traditions are 5 element - If you look up your chinese horoscope, for example, you'll find that you have an animal and an element -- I'm an Earth Dog for example. I'm told african dagra traditons also operate off of 5 elements.

It is a good point that the major arcana can represent a 5th element, but because they are viewed as the "higher" ascended form of the others, it's not the same sort of balance. In a similar way, I believe our culture places a higher value on swords than cups -- resulting in the evenual devauation of both.

As as to "real" and and the human box -- I think reality is far more complex than 4 or 5 elements. I perceive the elements as human symbolic translations of complex experience. Neither the symbol nor the experience is "The Big Real" and yet both are venues to touch and begin to apprehend. And, they're appropriate for us. The difference in the choice of symbolic systems is important because it predeterimes what we can talk about. Like trying to talk about relativity physics without a strong math language -- or trying to talk about "computers" with someone who's whole reality is microsoft based and who only views mainframes and machine code and macintosh as an annoying Other.

I guess if I was talking to a computer person instead of Susi, I might have said that we're Macs in a Microsoft world.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

I'll echo your comment about swords. While it is a good thing that there is communication, a swords-only version of communication can be everything from insensitive to destructive. Swords are about giving and receiving communication. Swords also tie into the 'intellectual' decisions based on the communication. This can become a vicious cycle. The communication drives the decisions that foster communication and so on. The final outcome is one devoid of emotion (cups) or grounded practicality (pentacles).

I believe that 'big business' runs off a swords model when numbers equating to profits and growth supplant other factors in decision-making. I've got some past notes about why there are 'bad' cards in the minor arcana. I'll post these in the near future

[greensh.livejournal.com]

ah... there is the answer. The 5th element has an ecstatic viewing. We can attempt to define the 5th element with books and cards, but the 5th element slips away from these 'four element' boxes.

I am reminded of a saying about pornography. "I know it when I see it" says the critic/observer. The fifth element shares this sentiment. I know when porn or the 5th element are present when I see them, and sense their abscense when I do not. The results are good, bad and ugly. Overall, messy and sometimes quite pleasurable. (smile).

[chimerae.livejournal.com]

A couple of years ago, one of my mentors, Joyce Omer, asked me to consider the dynamic of Celebration versus Ritual as a context to view my bumpy progress through cultural experiences.

From this point of view, I am a Celebrationist. That is to say, where I am, that's where the Party is . . .it might not be a good party but by God. . . there it is.

Celebration -- what I understand you to refer to as the ecstatic here -- without Ritual is almost universally recognizable because humans FEEL it. That sounds good but it's not because uncontained experience overruns all the boxes willie nilly. I came to understand that placed into the context of culture, I had two services that I could offer, but that I had to take responsibility for the differing consequencs of both.