Elements and Court Cards
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 Elements. Most systems agree that the Queen is Water. This makes the Page or Princess Earth. The big question is how to assign the Knights & Kings. There seems to be a difference in the way that Waite attributed the Knights vs. the way Crowley and the Golden Dawn did. The Court Cards in these three decks do not appear to line up perfectly. The names are different and it appears that what they represent differs from deck to deck. Based on the images and how the cards are used, I propose that they relate in the following manner for elemental attributions:
| 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 |
Elemental Counter Change of the Court Cards
Court cards are a combination of elements. The Rank is the form or shape of the element. The Suit is the force or kind of energy.
| Wands | Cups | Swords | Pentacles | |
| Knight |
Fire of Fire | Fire of Water | Fire of Air | Fire of Earth |
| Queen |
Water of Fire | Water of Water | Water of Air | Water of Earth |
| King |
Air of Fire | Air of Water | Air of Air | Air of Earth |
| Page |
Earth of Fire | Earth of Water | Earth of Air | Earth of Earth |
Elemental Counter Change Illustrated with the Rider-Waite Tarot
| Wands | Cups | Swords | Pentacles | |
| Knight |
 Fire of Fire |
 Fire of Water |
 Fire of Air |
 Fire of Earth |
| Queen |
 Water of Fire |
 Water of Water |
 Water of Air |
 Water of Earth |
| King |
 Air of Fire |
 Air of Water |
 Air of Air |
 Air of Earth |
| Page |
 Earth of Fire |
 Earth of Water |
 Earth of Air |
 Earth of Earth |