samantha
Yes, there is a "layering" to it, a bit like a two-tiered "cake." I read EDs mainly in "triplets, with a focus card and two modifiers. In a five-card line there are three of these: two "side" cards that I read first to see if they are strengthened or weakened, after which I apply both of these to the central card in the line in a "weighted" manner which is somewhat intuitive rather than strictly mechanical. This is where I got the "humid weather" idea in my example.
In your layout, the Water card is bracketed by two cards that are elementally unfriendly to one another, suggesting a weakening effect. It seems to me the Golden Dawn would have stopped there, but I believe there is more to see: the Air card is neutral to Water and the Earth card is friendly, and the interaction of all three comes across as unremarkable, so I would say "mildly weakened" in keeping with the model.
The second Earth card is bounded by a neutral (although "complementary opposite" is my new favorite description) Fire card and another friendly Earth card; the upshot looks like a "modest strengthening."
So we have the central Earth card modified by a somewhat "watered-down" but friendly Water influence and a rather "empowered" Earth card. On balance, it seems to me the outcome would be more likely than not to meet your expectations. Would I "take it to the bank?" I think I would be inclined to.
Has anyone ever thought to quantify the "somewhat" " modest" "mildly" etc into percentages ?! I'm trying to keep a track on them in my mind as they yo yo up and down (or perhaps more like scales)
Thanks for going through this - always good to know the outcome is as bad as you feared ! You were right - I had gone to the pages of tarotelements.com to get my ideas, which does seem to be Golden Dawn inspired. I can't see myself moving beyond that at present - so perhaps the truths I glean will only be partial ones ? Still, got to start somewhere....