Orbifold Tarot — Major Arcana and the Elements

Maveriker

One method of reading the Orbifold's Majors, or even reading when Majors are absent, is looking at the Elemental associations. Traditionally, each Major Arcana card is associated with an element: Air for The Fool, Water for The Moon, Fire for The Emperor, Earth for The Hermit, and so on… so if there is a dominance of any one Element, the reader can relate one (or more) of the Majors that are associated to that Element… but it can be a little ambiguous, as several Majors are classically Air, so which one to choose?

In the Orbifold Tarot, I’ve taken this concept a little further, and (gasp!) changed some of the associations. Each Major is associated to one, two, three, or all four Elements, with two cards that have no Element at all: The Void and Death.

The breakdown is as follows

Single Element:

The Fool — Air
The Devil — Fire
The Moon — Water
Justice — Earth

Two Elements:

Strength & The Sun — Air and Fire
The High Priestess & The Lovers — Fire and Water
The Hermit & The Star — Water and Earth
The Chariot & Judgement — Earth and Air
The Emperor — Fire and Earth
The Hierophant — Air and Water

Three Elements:

The Empress — Fire, Water, and Earth
The Hanged One — Water, Earth, and Air
The Tower — Earth, Air, and Fire
Temperance — Air, Fire, and Water

All Four Elements:

Manifestation
The Magician
The Wheel
The Universe

So when there are spreads or relationships between cards that feature a certain combination of Elements, these can then be related back to a Major.

For instance, the Queen of Air, Water of Air has common elements with the Hierophant in this deck — this is a merging of thought and emotion, of the conscious intellectual mind and the intuitive, subconscious mind. Many Queens of Air/Swords make excellent teachers, as well as spiritual leaders and guides, so this relationship can add new depth and shading to readings where Air and Water are dominant.

The attached mandala shows these associations visually, with the pure elements at he extreme top, bottom, right, and left, and the combinations either between the four directions or moving inward toward the centre.

These will also relate to the Court Card Elemental associations.
 

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