Tarot Journey with Leisa ReFalo

Order and Elemental Attributions of Suit
Most tarot readers and most tarot decks us the following elemental attributions for the suits. The order and gender come from the order and gender of the letters of the Tetragrammaton.

Element
Tetragrammaton
Gender
Suit

Fire
Yod
Male
Wands

Water
Heh
Female
Cups

Air
Vau
Male
Swords

Earth
Heh
Female
Pentacles

Order and Element Of Rank
There is less agreement on how to associate Rank with [...]

Card 1. East-Swords-Air: This position represents mind, thoughts, ideas and beliefs.
Card 2. South-Wands-Fire: This position represents energy, intuition, creativity.
Card 3. West-Cups-Water: This position represents emotions, love and relationships.
Card 4. North-Pentacles-Winter: This position represents health, home, finances and material things.
Card 5. Center-Major Arcana-Spirit: This position represents your spiritual path.

There are three hebrew letters and therefore three Major Arcana cards that correspond with elements.

 
3 Mother Letters
 

Tarot Keys
 

Aleph
Ox
Air
0. The Fool

Mem
Water
Water
12. The Hanged Man

Shin
Tooth
Fire
20. Judgment

The order of the 3 Elemental trumps is in the same order as described in [...]

Rider-Waite, Golden Dawn and Thoth
Knights - Queens - Kings - Pages

Element
Tetragrammaton
Gender
Rider-Waite Rank
Golden Dawn Rank
Thoth Rank

Fire
Yod
Male
Knight
King
Knight

Water
Heh
Female
Queen
Queen
Queen

Air
Vau
Male
King
Prince
Prince

Earth
Heh
Female
Page
Princess
Princess

Fire: Knights

RWS
Golden Dawn
Thoth

Knight of Wands
King of Wands
Knight of Wands

Knight of Cups
King of Cups
Knight of Cups

Knight of Swords
King of Swords
Knight of Swords

Knight [...]

Elemental Attribution Systems from Around the World
Greece: Four Humors
Middle Ages health was though to depend on a balance of four fluids, or humors, in the human body:  fire corresponded to blood; air to yellow bile; water to phlegm; and earth to black bile. The notion that health depended on the balance of the [...]

Comparison of the Knights and Kings By Suit
Wands - Cups - Swords - Pentacles

Element
Tetragrammaton
Gender
Rider-Waite Rank
Golden Dawn Rank
Thoth Rank

Fire
Yod
Male
Knight
King
Knight

Water
Heh
Female
Queen
Queen
Queen

Air
Vau
Male
King
Prince
Prince

Earth
Heh
Female
Page
Princess
Princess

Wands

RWS
Golden Dawn Magical
Thoth/Crowley

Knight of Wands
King of Wands
Knight of Wands

King of Wands
Prince of Wands
Prince of Wands

Cups

RWS
Golden Dawn Magical
Thoth/Crowley

Knight of Cups
King of Cups
[...]

The use of elements to understand the world predates written history. Cultures around the world have traditions that use elements to understand the building blocks of reality. Each culture has its own set of attributions for color, element, direction and quality. There doesn’t seem to be any universal principles to the way these were assigned. [...]