Have you ever been curious about the correct order of the tarot suits? I certainly have, and it seems like someone who visited the store yesterday had the same question. Let’s explore the answer and the philosophy behind it in today’s enlightening Q&A session with Joy.
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Q&A with Joy: The Question
As I was wrapping up my day in the office yesterday, Julie appeared at my door. Her mysterious demeanor always keeps me guessing — is it a reading request, a customer inquiry, or something else entirely? Intrigued, I followed her down the hall to the store, where she explained that a customer had a question she couldn’t answer, but she believed I could. I shook hands with the gentleman, who stood by the tarot decks with an oversized yellow-box Rider-Waite-Smith deck in his hands. He asked, “Is there a right order of the suits in a deck? Does one suit take precedence over another?” Phew! What a relief. I had pondered the same question years ago and discovered the answer to the right order of the tarot suits.
The Question:
What is the right order of the tarot suits?
Q&A with Joy: The Answer
The tarot was born when card makers added a trump suit to a deck in the fifteenth century for the purpose of playing trick-taking games. In the 18th and 19th centuries, French esotericists introduced qabalistic correspondences to the cards and the deck’s structure. In qabalistic philosophy, the four worlds represent the steps of creation, beginning from the spiritual level, then progressing through the emotional and mental levels before culminating in physical manifestation. These four worlds are associated with the classical elements: fire, water, air, and earth. As a result, we can determine the right order of the tarot suits by understanding the order of the elements. According to the Golden Dawn associations, Wands represent fire, Cups represent water, Swords represent air, and Pentacles represent earth. However, it’s important to note that not all tarot decks adhere to this system and may have different principles for determining the order of the suits.
Greek Philosophy and the Elements
The philosophy of the elements traces back to the pre-Socratic philosopher Empedocles, who postulated the existence of four elements and proposed that everything is composed of these elements through their interaction via the forces of Love and Strife, or the process of uniting and separating. Aristotle expanded on Empedocles’ ideas, ranking the elements based on factors such as heat, dryness, and weight. These concepts serve as the foundation for modern metaphysical philosophy. Fire, the lightest element, is hot and dry, with an upward motion, making it the first element in order of weight. Air, which is hot and moist, is denser than fire but still light, expanding outward in all directions. Water tends to pool and flow downward along existing paths. Earth, the heaviest and most solid element, has the least movement. Hence, it is the last element in order of weight. The masculine or yang energies, represented by fire and air, rise upward, while the feminine or yin energies, represented by water and earth, sink downward. Following this paradigm, the order of the elements is fire, air, water, and earth.
Understanding this philosophy is crucial in recognizing the differences between it and qabalistic philosophy.
Qabalistic Philosophy and the Elements
Qabalistic philosophy ranks the elements based on the Divine Name YHVH and the concept of the four worlds. YHVH, also known as the Tetragrammaton or the name of four letters, is the ineffable name of God and can be translated as the verb “to be.” Anagrams of these four letters form the past, present, and future tenses of the word, representing the underlying idea of the Divine as a creative process.
This concept is further developed through the idea of the four worlds. The highest world, Atziluth or the World of Emanation, corresponds to fire and symbolizes the initial spark or inspiration that emerges seemingly out of nowhere. The second world, Briah or the World of Creation, corresponds to water. It represents the dream state where you fantasize about the various ways to bring that initial idea to life. The third world, Yetzirah or the World of Formation, corresponds to air. Here, choices are made, and the best method for manifesting the initial spark is determined through editing and cutting away. Finally, we reach the fourth and final world, Assiah or the World of Manifestation, which corresponds to earth. Here, the final product is complete. The order of the worlds aligns with the order of the elements: fire, water, air, earth.
Precedence of One Element Over the Other
In qabalistic philosophy, there exists a polarity in the descent of energy. It flows from masculine to feminine, masculine to feminine, with fire, water, air, and earth alternating in that order. The interplay between yang and yin energies is vital to the creation process. Although Aristotelian philosophy also explains how the elements combine to create things, it tends to focus on their separation based on weight. Conversely, the qabalistic philosophy orders the elements through opposition, emphasizing their interaction, how they receive each other, and the resulting outcomes as the energy flows onward. Thus, it highlights the process of creation. The order of the worlds, and consequently the elements and suits in the tarot deck, establishes a specific order but does not create an inherent hierarchy wherein one suit takes precedence over another. Instead, each suit interacts with the others in unique ways.
The Answer: The Right Order of the Tarot Suits
Following the qabalistic philosophy of the four worlds, the correct order of the tarot suits is as follows: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.