Magician table edge (again)

The previous thread on this subject seems to be reaching a natural conclusion and the others are getting very old, so I thought I'd start a new one to share some ideas I've had recently.

DIN is a primitive root meaning to rule or (by implication), to judge. It's the root of Adonai, meaning ruler, lord, or sovereign. Of The Magician Waite says, "On the table in front of the Magician are the symbols of the four Tarot suits, signifying the elements of natural life, which lie like counters before the adept, and he adapts them as he wills.

I've been looking at those three panels on the edge of the table and the dove or bird is obvious. The next two aren't as clear. It looks to me like the center one is a river, or two branches of a river flowing into a body of water.

Middle Panel

If it is, then the last one must be mountains. They're very wavy and I've had a hard time deciding if they're mountains or water. But many of the other mountains Pamela drew are also wavy, it just seems to be her style.

I believe only three panels were intended and they correspond to Salt, Mercury, and Sulphur. Salt/Solidity/Mountains, Mercury/Fluidity/Water, and Sulphur/Energetic/Bird. Or they could also correspond to the Material world, Emotional (Psychic) world, and Mental world respectively. What makes me think this is because of something Waite mentions in his comment on Temperance, "...it is the analogy of solar light, realized in the third part of our human triplicity." And in his comment on The Magician, "It is also the unity of individual being on all planes, and in a very high sense it is thought, in the fixation thereof."

Below's a picture that illustrates how the panels might correspond to the suit symbols. Mountains=Penatacle, River/Lake=Cup, Bird=Wand, and DIN=Sword.

Correspondences

It looks to me like three scenes from nature corresponding to Earth, Water, and Fire with DIN corresponding to Air or Will. Of the Ace of Swords Waite writes, "...conquest, triumph of force. It is a card of great force."

It's not shown, but the Sword would be in his left hand, directing by Will the Fire from above, symbolized by the Wand in his right hand.

I think you're right on count of the three panels being Salt, Sulphur and Mercury. Qabalistically, the Magician is above the four elements, in essence, they haven't been "invented" yet. These three basic rules are the table upon which the four elements rest. I think they are liquid mercury (an ocean), the eagle of salt and lion of sulphur.

Notice how the Fool and the Magician have similar layouts, descending diagonally from a top corner. Since the Fool's orientation is Masonic in origin, according to Paul Foster Case, with his face to the North-West, and it can be surmised the sun at the top represents Keter; perhaps the Magician completes the Supernal triangle. However, he is seemingly reversed as well. Either this is to complement the Fool's orientation or, more interestingly, we are looking at reflections of the two figures, seen from behind and above. Holding the two cards up to a mirror "corrects" both their orientations. Both the wand and the sun have the same color, white which, according to Liber 777, represents the "brilliance," of the Aces representing Keter according to the King scale.