Part-1 .. Part-2 .. Part-3 .. Part-4 .. Part-5
Decide what elements you are going to use. This is often determined by the deck, or decks you will be using.The elements most commonly used in most tarot decks are:
To these we need to add a 5th element, that of 'Spirit'.
If you have different elements then you are on your own but it shouldn't be to hard to integrate them into some type of system to your liking. That's entirely up to you.
Now you need to do one of the most important things in your study of Elemental Dignities. That's to define what the elements are going to mean in your system. Recall the words I quoted in the last tutorial by Aleister Crowley.
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Book of Thoth (Page 17) by Aleister Crowley (Uncle Al)
The word "element" does not mean a chemical element; it means a set of
ideas; it summarises certain qualities or properties.
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Here I'll give summarises it's equivalent American spelling and spell it summarizes. So what the elements are is:
So what does the idea of 'Fire' bring to mind? Air? Water? Earth? Spirit? What qualities and/or properties do each of these elements summarize? And most importantly what does each element mean to you?
Here are some very basic ideas, qualities, and properties for the five (5) elements.
| Fire | Motivation |
| Air | Intellect |
| Water | Feelings |
| Earth | Stability |
| Spirit | Spiritual Path |
Using the five elements and the above simple meanings you can come up with a multitude of elemental combinations and the ideas, qualities, and properties behind those elements.
Example #1:
Fire + Air = ???
Means very little but when you exchange Fire and Air for their ideas, qualities, properties, things begin to make more sense.
Fire + Air = ???
Motivation + Intellect = An action with some thought behind it. So ....
Fire + Air = An action with some thought behind it.
But, because there are no feelings involved (Water) and no stability (Earth)
this combo can be one that runs right over you without thought for feelings or
whether something is right or wrong.
Example #2:
Fire + Water = ???
Motivation + Feelings = An action motivated by feelings.
Note that this 'action motivated by feelings' has no intellect (Air) or Stability (Earth) and thus can be very unstable and volatile.
Example #3:
Fire + Earth = ???
Motivation + Stability = A motivated action that is kept grounded.
No intellect (Air) and no feelings (Water) and you have an action that is somewhat mired by stability. This combo to me most often represents treading water, swimming upstream, etc. On the other hand it can also mean that the over-zealous person is slowed down and grounded by the element of Earth.
Example #4:
Fire + Spirit = ???
Motivation + Spiritual Path = An action motivated by the spirit, or search for
spirit.
With this combo we probably have a person's first actual move toward higher spiritual enlightenment. Not the idea of moving toward higher spiritual enlightenment for that would be Air + Spirit (Intellect + Spiritual Path). The thought/idea has to come first - then comes the actual move/motivation (Fire + Spirit) toward higher enlightenment to reach your (hopefully higher) spiritual path.
Hopefully you can see the importance of the five (5) elements and their ideas, qualities, and properties by the above examples.
So you need to decide what elements you are going to use, assuming you have a choice depending on the tarot deck or decks you use. Then you need to define the elements the way you see them and/or the way your inner voice/guide(s) helps you to define them.
Don S.