I don't do divination, and I don't interpret cards, I just look at them as a work of art, or even a philosophical work that incorporates various Western religious concepts. I'll start here with the Vitae Tarot, which is the most widely circulated. Before analyzing each card, it is important to understand the basics. The four elements are present throughout the cards, both explicitly and implicitly, and play a key role. The Jewish "Kabbalah" can be said to use the Tarot as its quotidian visual representation. However, since this is an extremely esoteric and obscure subject, and there are many different schools of thought, it requires more systematic and specialized study, so I hope that you can find professional books on this subject that are suitable for your own state and experience. I hope you can find a specialized book on this subject that suits your own state and experience. Or I will explain my personal understanding in detail when I have time. So let's start with the four elements.
The idea that water, fire, earth, and air make up the material world has been around for a long time, and in the millennia before the eruption of modern science, it was they who laid the foundations of natural science, natural philosophy, medicine, and so on. We will not discuss right and wrong, but only state the historical and objective facts. The ancient Greeks believed that everything visible was composed of a mixture of these four elements. Aristotle added a fifth element - Ether. Let's let go of this element that is laughed at by modern scientists. From our modern scientific point of view, in the primordial period of the Universe there was a time when the Universe was united in a general "super-force", and the forces gradually fell apart to form the four forces with which we are now familiar - the gravitational force, the electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force. These forces have been experimentally confirmed to exist and are currently used in various fields of science and technology. So let's think about this: the universe was indirectly formed by these four forces to create the Earth we live on, and at the beginning of the Big Bang the universe also existed in the early form of the ancient "four elements," which comprise all of the chemical elements we currently know. With the awe of the universe and our desire for scientific exploration to analyze these four ancient elements.
EARTH
First, let's look at earth. The planet we live on is filled with a wide variety of rocks and minerals that support and secure the soil necessary for vegetation. The two most common elements in the earth's crust are oxygen and silicon, at 46% and 28% respectively. This is also why the most abundant mineral in the earth's crust is silicon dioxide. This silicon is usually the main ingredient in the production of glass. Other metallic minerals in the earth's crust are refined into metals by fire. In the Tarot the word "pentacles" is translated as star coins and it is believed that coins are metal and therefore related to the earth element. This is a very nice association, but in reality it is not so simple and has several origins. The word "pentacles" first appeared in the 16th century and is of early French and Latin origin. Its original meaning was amulet. The earliest documents depicting pentacles come from the "Keys of Solomon" as a magical object, and not all of them have five corners, with the majority of them appearing as "seven-pointed stars" in this work. Sex maniac Crowley instructs that the "pentagram" is a ritual magical tool made of wax, gold, and silver, eight inches in diameter and half an inch thick. In the magic system of the Golden Dawn, the pentagram is a symbol "for the expression of the power of the inner self". It is the element necessary for the incarnation of God in the world of the quotidian. The earthly world is the planet we live on. So simply translating earth as just the element of earth is not comprehensive enough to grasp the deeper meaning.
WATER
Let's take a look at the element water, whose chemical formula is h2o, as we all know. This visualizes that it is a combination of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Each hydrogen atom is attached to one side of the oxygen atom and carries a positive charge, while the oxygen atom carries a negative charge. This polarizes the water molecules, similar to a magnet, with positive and negative poles that maintain some sort of balance. Due to the interaction of the two poles, the water molecules stick together, creating tension, which allows substances to float. Although water does not dissolve everything, it can traditionally dissolve more substances than any other liquid, such as salts, sugars, acids, bases, a portion of gases and organic matter. The Tarot card that corresponds to the element of water is cups, which usually translates to chalices, and that's pretty well understood, cups are for water. But there is also a deeper symbolism behind this. Cups as intuitive religious props, first of all, is a container, the container symbolizes the receptivity, water is the source of all life, is one of the divine manifestations, in the "Kabbalah" Tree of Life system, water is the highest receptivity power round quality "BINAH" (BINAH) elemental symbol. In the Kabbalah system of the Tree of Life, water is the elemental symbol of the highest receptive power, BINAH. When personal awareness returns to the source of all awareness, it is like a drop of water returning to the ocean. The receiver is in a way the same as the giver, which is another huge kabbalistic topic, but to give you an example, let's say that your friend has kindly invited you to his house for dinner. On the face of it, your friend is a giver, and you are a taker when you accept his invitation. But if you accept his offer with the same joy and gratitude, your positions are reversed and you give him joy and fulfillment. It is very important that everything is in a constant state of change and flow to find balance, and when it is out of balance it can bring disaster and all kinds of negative effects.
? Also we know that the Catholic sacrament is unleavened bread and wine, and that after the consecration of the wine it becomes the Holy Blood. However, in some of the more ancient sects, the chalice was actually used to contain blood, but not just blood, but female menstruation, and without any cultural bias, the vagina is the most complete symbol of the BINAH, which we have just mentioned, and which represents the highest receptive circle of the element of water. The vagina is receptive and dark, and contains the act of reproduction; it bleeds every month in relation to the cycles of the moon. Its salty discharge reflects the sea, which makes up most of the world.
FIRE
After water, let's talk about fire, how does it work? It is closely linked to air and needs three things to exist - oxygen, fuel, and heat. The intensity of fire is variable because it depends on oxygen, fuel, and heat, and with all three things under control, fire is the cornerstone upon which mankind has built civilization. On a micro level, our bodies also produce energy by "burning" oxygen and food. We can thank nature, and indeed the universe, for allowing the earth to have just the right amount of oxygen in the air; too little and we would suffocate, too much and our bodies would quickly crash and burn. The word "wands" in the Tarot is usually translated as scepters connected to the element of fire. The scepter is shown as a branch in the miniature cards, and it seems logical that the branch is the fuel, but the picture shows a branch with young shoots and leaves, which are difficult to ignite? Who builds a fire with watery branches? However, the scepters in the major cards are often shown with candle-like tips (we'll talk about the ones in the 3, 4, and 5 major cards later). Let's look at the intuitive translations first, "wand" can be translated as wand, scepter, and young branch. It makes sense that the small cards are the twigs and the big cards are the wands. Let's look at the stick that looks like a candle in cards 1, 7, and 21 of the Major Arcana. That is the Fire Scepter of the Golden Dawn. And why is the watery branch used as a symbol of the fire element in the minor cards? In the Kabbalah system, the No. 2 round substance is one of the Triangle of Transcendence, along with the No. 3 round substance BINAH, which we have just mentioned. "CHOKMAH is the highest symbol of the creative power of the fire element. Fire warms us in the fireplace, but when it is out of control, it signals pain and death. The sacred fire burns in every soul. In the symbolic system of Kabbalah, the symbol of the highest order of fire is the sun, in whose light the branches of the tree, which are the fuel of the fire, still have green shoots, and which is the strongest will and power not to let the fire get out of control.
Air
Finally, there is what we might call the "wind element", which is influenced by Japanese anime and video games; Air literally translates to air, but if you misinterpret it to mean wind, you'll miss a lot of interesting facts. Facts. Air is considered a "pure" element, but in fact the air around us is made up of various gases. Mainly nitrogen and oxygen, with less than 1% argon. With less than 1% argon, and even less carbon dioxide and krypton and helium. Thanks to the Great Creator for giving us the right amount of oxygen, we exhale carbon dioxide for plants to photosynthesize to make their food, which in turn releases oxygen for us to be able to see the sunrise every day. Although air is invisible, it does take up space and volume. We can observe this indirectly by holding an empty glass upside down in water. Okay, so the question arises, why does the sword "sword" represent air? In the Middle Ages, the sword was a sacred symbol of the knight's ability to dispel lies and ignorance. We need the symbolism of the sword to see the truth and essence, often our brain and eyes deceive us, the air is always reminding us that the world is much richer than our eyes and brain can see, just as we have just talked about talking cups to indirectly observe the air, and various modern telescopes to collect electromagnetic waves to observe the universe.