Elemental Dignities

Elemental Dignities, or EDs, aid the Tarot reader in achieving greater depth to their readings and this post will introduce simple ways to practice.

If you use positional based readings, such as the Celtic Cross Spread, then the spread itself will assist you in assigning the level of importance to each card. For example: the 10 of Swords in the past position would have a different level of importance than if it was in the hopes/fears or outcome position. In fact, it could be argued that the hopes/fears has the greatest bearing (perhaps more so than the outcome position) on assigning importance.

With non positional spreads, such as Opening of the Key, then EDs are what guide us to allocate importance. They do that because the 4 Elements interact with each other in certain and unusual ways. Also, the EDs help us understand when a card, such as the 10 of Swords, does not warrant concern.

The Interaction Of The Four Elements

The interactions of the Four Elements are:

1. Fire and Air are active cards
2. Water and Earth are passive cards
3. Fire and Water are enemies (they stress and weaken each other)
4. Air and Earth are enemies (they stress and weaken each other)

All other combination are friendly to each other.

For instance, if an Air and Earth card are next to each other, then we can say that they are enemies that weaken each others influence. The 10 of Swords (Air) and The 7 of Disks (Earth) would indicate a stale mate. The active energy or Air is canceled by the passive energy of Earth. Nothing is happening here.

In a divinatory sense we could say:

A course of action that somebody refuses to give up. Nothing is gained by staying the course. In fact, Air probably feels trapped by Earth because the plan is not working and stubbornness is indicated.

The best way to practice EDs is to think about them throughout the day. If something sudden happens, classify that as Fire. If something pleasant happens or you see a beautiful painting, classify that as Water and so on.

Incorporate these Elements into your everyday life so that when you do a 10 card reading and 6 of those cards are Fire, you will then know or understand why this situation is changing rapidly (or rather you will understand what it feels like when an abundance of an Element is present). This situation is unstable, unpredictable and rapid.

Consequently, try and identify when there is a lack of an Element in any given situation. For instance, a relationship that has grown cold would have a lack of Water.

Practice all this as a bit of fun. Don’t take it too seriously, but try and recognise Elements at play within your life.

In terms of practicing for the Tarot:

Deal out 2 card combinations and ask yourself if the Energy flow is neutral, passive or active. Look for the combinations that are Fire and Water or Air and Earth, and try and see why it not only neutralizes the Energy, but why it weakens both cards influences. There’s no need to try anything fancier than working out the energy flow because when it comes to viewing whole strings of cards – this practice will stand you in good stead.

I’ll write a separate post on how to practice 3 card combinations. These types of combinations are really the building blocks for all non positional based spreads – including Opening of the Key.

(Theoretically) Related Posts:

• An Introduction To The Elemental Dignities Compendium
• Three Ways To Accurately Predict When Events Will Happen
• Tarot and Astrology: going back to basics with a look at perception
• Showing the structure behind the Astrological Associations
• Timing and Predicting when Events will Happen with Astrological associations

Tagged as: Elemental Dignities, tarot card readings, Tarot Tutorials