It's interesting that two of the suits—Wands and Swords—seem to progress towards an undesirable result (overwhelmed/ruined) while Cups and Pentacles work towards a desirable result (happiness/financial stability.)  I wonder if there's any mileage in thinking about those different journey 'results.'

I think Wands and Swords are both seen as 'active' suits, while the other two are seen as more 'passive' suits?  But what is that telling us?  That action leads to undesirable ends, while being passive brings fulfillment?  Seems an odd thing, if that's the case....

Hi @Chariot! I'm really jazzed you made this comment. I didn't respond right away because I have been thinking about it a little. I still don't have an answer, but I thought it might be useful to break it down a little and look at all of the suits' information side by side:

Wands

• Creative Endeavours, Personal Development, Growth
• Desirable cards in the middle of # cards
• Fire - Masculine
• Yang - Active

Cups

• Human Sentiments, Love, Relationships
• Desirable cards at the end of # cards
• Water - Feminine
• Yin - Receptive

Swords

• Human Ambition and Consequences of Pretention, Loss, Martyrdom, Costs of Aggression
• Desirable cards in the middle of # cards
• Air - Masculine
• Yang - Active

Pentacles

• Humanity's Physical and Material Realm, Finances, Comfort, Industry, Tillage
• Desirable cards at the end of # cards
• Earth - Feminine
• Yin - Receptive

To preface this, I do not look at gender as black and white but prefer to see it as gender spectrum. However, I think it's interesting that your observation refers to the two suits associated with masculine elemental energy. If we consider the # cards to be a scale of increasing intensity, I think it makes sense a little. When analyzing the themes seen in Wands and Swords from a lifelong perspective, would you think it's more important to find a balance?

i.e, life isn't all about ambition (swords); if you make it that way, you may find that your relationships (cups) will faulter.

or, life isn't all about the things you have (pentacles); if you make it that way, you may find that you have been ignoring your own ambitions (wands) at the cost of security (like settling for a career you may not want).

What I'm starting to see here is that the yin/yang suits can be easily looked at and analyzed as I have above. It's amazing that their suit qualities can be observed in such a plain yin-yang fashion. 
------------------
I don't have a big conclusion or anything, but dang... tarot is rad.

Yes, it certainly is rad!  Now that I'm getting just beyond just the divination stage of learning, so many things ABOUT tarot are attracting my attention!  It's not something somebody just thought up on the hoof, is it?  A lot of tradition and beliefs have gone into it, including how we use it today.

I was just reading out of the Yellow Fairy Book, one of Andrew Lang's fairy story collections last night, and ran across a story about a 'fairy' who had four sons who represented the four 'directions.'  These books were published in the early 1890s, about 20 years before the RWS deck was formulated.

The first son in the story represented South—he dealt with fire, warmth, and the Sun itself.  Then there was West—a son who was so turbulent and uncontrollably emotional that his mother sent him to live under the sea. The son who represented North was slow, dependable, and rather dull—and he represented Earth.  And her favourite son was the one who represented East—and he was all about quick action and thought.

I mean ...these were collected a long time ago ...yet there are the four tarot suits!  In a so-called 'fairy tale!'  Love it when these kinds of connections and bits of folk wisdom and tradition crop up in unexpected places.

As to the balance you refer to, I like some of the aspects you picked out.  The fact that for Cups and Pentacles, the 'happy' cards are at the end.  And for the other two suits, the happy cards are in the middle ...kinda.  But both of these suits have happy cards at the start as well.  And so does the Wands suit, with plenty of happy cards although they do tail off towards negative at the end.

But all of the cards in Swords are relatively unhappy cards aren't they?  Two of Swords, Four of Swords, 6 of Swords, and possibly 7 of Swords as well aren't universally depressing ...but they're not exactly cheery either, are they?  The others are just ...oh, dear....

It's a strange situation, as Swords is supposed to be about thought and decisive action—neither of which is an inherently negative thing.  Yet most of the Swords cards are quite negative, and none are actually happy cards.  Even the ones I cited here.  Two is an uncomfortable stalemate.   Four is rest and recuperation from stress or illness.  (Not a sweet-dreams kind of sleep.)  Six is escaping some negative situation; it's not a travel-for-fun card.  Seven seems sneaky and not necessarily benign, even though the upright card indicates success with the venture.

One of the reasons I use reversals in my readings is to counteract the negativity inherent in the Swords suit.  

What about trying to find a positive, negative and neutral take on each card and each suit? Tarot is incredibly nuanced. Swords can somethings be really positive. I find I forever have to think about this negative card in this positive position in a negative reading but with a positive outcome. You have to have a spectrum of ideas to think through 🙂

1 hour ago, DanielJUK said:

What about trying to find a positive, negative and neutral take on each card and each suit? Tarot is incredibly nuanced. Swords can somethings be really positive. I find I forever have to think about this negative card in this positive position in a negative reading but with a positive outcome. You have to have a spectrum of ideas to think through 🙂

I prefer to lessen the guesswork when doing a reading, though.  If a card can be either positive or negative, it helps to be able to tell which aspect is intended in a given reading position.  At least it is for me.

I usually apply positive aspects of the Swords cards to the reversed cards —although not always. But, for example, the reversed 2 of Swords I might interpret as 'the stalemate is over, a decision has been reached, etc.'  Unless the broken stalemate results in war, that's usually a positive thing!

The reversed 9 of Swords might be 'the period of worry and fear is lessening, and things are looking better.'  The reversed 3 of Swords might be something along the lines of 'heartbreak is easing and healing has begun.'  This kind of thing.  Reversed 4 of Swords might mean 'the enforced period of rest is coming to an end' ...although there could be a negative aspect of that as well, ie "you're not getting the recuperative rest you need."  It all depends on the situation and the other cards, really.

8 hours ago, Chariot said:

As to the balance you refer to, I like some of the aspects you picked out.  The fact that for Cups and Pentacles, the 'happy' cards are at the end.  And for the other two suits, the happy cards are in the middle ...kinda.  But both of these suits have happy cards at the start as well.  And so does the Wands suit, with plenty of happy cards although they do tail off towards negative at the end.

There's a Kabbalah reason for this. I'm not a kabbalist by any means ... but this principle has worked its way into Tarot whether we like it or not:

the denser suits (water and earth) do well in the denser planes [earth plane]

the subtle suits [air and fire] do well in the subtle planes [mental, causal] but suffer in the dense planes where their energy is no longer pure.

@Chariot said << But all of the cards in Swords are relatively unhappy cards aren't they?  Two of Swords, Four of Swords, 6 of Swords, and possibly 7 of Swords as well aren't universally depressing ...but they're not exactly cheery either, are they?  The others are just ...oh, dear....One of the reasons I use reversals in my readings is to counteract the negativity inherent in the Swords suit.  >>

LOL I 100% embraced the malefic aspect of the Swords. I read by Vedic Astrology and associate Swords with Saturn, the Great Malefic. There are malefic planets and benefic planets ... and I'm ok with having a whole suit be malefic or benefic.

According to Jyotish, Saturn wants to help you pay off your karmic debts and progress spiritually ... and often that's through suffering, limitations, sickness, and the like. The point is to learn from these things. I had to get away from the notion of positive or negative ... as this so often boils down to "pleasant" vs. "unpleasant".

To me, even a malefic planet giving me a malefic experience ... is still trying to help my soul grow. Of course not every client in a swords situation wants to hear this ...

7 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

What about trying to find a positive, negative and neutral take on each card and each suit? Tarot is incredibly nuanced. Swords can somethings be really positive ...

As per above ... I had to get away from "positive" or "negative" and go with benefic or malefic just to keep my thinking on a higher plane than positive = comfortable for my ego. But you touch upon a deep and essential neutrality of every card and every experience. A malefic planet or card might give you suffering ... but if that suffering teaches you compassion ... hasn't that malefic experience actually helped your soul to evolve? Likewise a benefic planet or card may give you an experience of pleasure and ease ... but if that ends-up making you lazy and complacent ... hasn't it actually stunted your soul's growth?

Jyotish teaches us to honor the mix of malefic and benefic. The right mix is what a soul needs to grow. And yes, too much suffering can break a person ... I don't mean to make light of this ... this is why I honor the right MIX. Too much of either can stunt a soul or even destroy it.

11 minutes ago, Misterei said:

There's a Kabbalah reason for this. I'm not a kabbalist by any means ... but this principle has worked its way into Tarot whether we like it or not:

 

the denser suits (water and earth) do well in the denser planes [earth plane]

the subtle suits [air and fire] do well in the subtle planes [mental, causal] but suffer in the dense planes where their energy is no longer pure.

 

@Chariot said << But all of the cards in Swords are relatively unhappy cards aren't they?  Two of Swords, Four of Swords, 6 of Swords, and possibly 7 of Swords as well aren't universally depressing ...but they're not exactly cheery either, are they?  The others are just ...oh, dear....One of the reasons I use reversals in my readings is to counteract the negativity inherent in the Swords suit.  >>

 

LOL I 100% embraced the malefic aspect of the Swords. I read by Vedic Astrology and associate Swords with Saturn, the Great Malefic. There are malefic planets and benefic planets ... and I'm ok with having a whole suit be malefic or benefic.

 

According to Jyotish, Saturn wants to help you pay off your karmic debts and progress spiritually ... and often that's through suffering, limitations, sickness, and the like. The point is to learn from these things. I had to get away from the notion of positive or negative ... as this so often boils down to "pleasant" vs. "unpleasant".

 

To me, even a malefic planet giving me a malefic experience ... is still trying to help my soul grow. Of course not every client in a swords situation wants to hear this ...

As per above ... I had to get away from "positive" or "negative" and go with benefic or malefic just to keep my thinking on a higher plane than positive = comfortable for my ego. But you touch upon a deep and essential neutrality of every card and every experience. A malefic planet or card might give you suffering ... but if that suffering teaches you compassion ... hasn't that malefic experience actually helped your soul to evolve? Likewise a benefic planet or card may give you an experience of pleasure and ease ... but if that ends-up making you lazy and complacent ... hasn't it actually stunted your soul's growth?

 

Jyotish teaches us to honor the mix of malefic and benefic. The right mix is what a soul needs to grow. And yes, too much suffering can break a person ... I don't mean to make light of this ... this is why I honor the right MIX. Too much of either can stunt a soul or even destroy it.

This is what I call… Temperance. 😍

Truly, I approach tarot (and life) exactly this way. Thank you for sharing.

Very interesting observations. Thanks so much for sharing. 🌷