One of the most intuitive—and powerful—ways to unlock the Minor Arcana is by understanding the Four Elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. These elements form the energetic backbone of the Tarot suits, infusing each card with personality, purpose, and perspective.
Pair them with numerology (Ace to Ten), and you’ve just deciphered 40 cards—over half the deck! This page will guide you through the elemental wisdom within the Tarot and show you how to build a personal connection with each.
🜂 Fire – The Suit of Wands (Internal Drive)
Keywords: Passion, drive, transformation, courage
Fire is raw energy—unpredictable, illuminating, and life-giving. It’s the creative spark that starts a project, the passion behind bold action, and the inner will that pushes you toward transformation.
Wands, tied to Fire, speak to your spirit, ambitions, and desires. They reflect your personal power, intuition, and the force that fuels your purpose. For me, wands is not just “action” as commonly described, but the desire to act – the motivation for action!
Shadow aspects: impulsiveness, burnout, arrogance, or feeling directionless.
🜄 Water – The Suit of Cups (Internal Feelings)
Keywords: Emotion, intuition, relationships, dreams
Water is fluid, receptive, and profoundly deep. It shapes shorelines, holds memory, and flows through our emotional world.
Cups are linked to matters of the heart—love, empathy, connection, and creativity. They show where your feelings flow and where they’re blocked.
Shadow aspects: emotional overwhelm, fantasy over fact, repression, or emotional detachment.
🜁 Air – The Suit of Swords (Internal Cognition)
Keywords: Thought, truth, clarity, communication
Air is invisible, but it moves everything. It’s the breath of insight, the sharpness of clarity, and the winds of change.
The Suit of Swords deals with the mind—your beliefs, judgments, choices, and conflicts. Like a blade, thought can be healing or harmful.
Shadow aspects: harsh criticism, mental chaos, miscommunication, cruelty.
🜃 Earth – The Suit of Pentacles (External Self)
Keywords: Stability, work, health, manifestation
Earth is the ground beneath your feet. Solid, nourishing, and patient, it grows what we commit to cultivating.
Pentacles are about the material world: money, health, home, and career. They remind us to stay grounded and take tangible steps toward long-term goals.
Shadow aspects: greed, stagnation, materialism, imbalance in work/life.
☆ Connecting With the Elements
To truly read the Tarot, you must feel the elements—not just memorize them. Go outside and experience each element:
- Fire: Light a candle, feel the sun on your skin, or watch a bonfire burn.
- Water: Swim, bathe, or simply watch rain dance on glass.
- Air: Sit in stillness on a breezy day. Breathe. Notice what thoughts arise.
- Earth: Walk barefoot, garden, or hold a stone in your hand.
Then, return to your Tarot deck. Lay out the cards of one suit. What do you feel now? How does the imagery reflect the energy you just experienced?
This elemental connection deepens your readings and helps you speak the language of the cards—not just recite it.
Choose one element to focus on this week. Live with it. Observe it. Let it teach you. Then explore how that energy plays out in your cards. You might be surprised at the insights that emerge when nature meets intuition.