TAROT FOR BEGINNERS BY BARBARA MOORE

Elemental Dignities

Many readers use a technique called elemental dignities. This is different than scanning a spread, but it is similar in that it uses the same elemental relationships listed on the opposite page. Instead of scanning the reading as a whole, when applying elemental dignities, we look at whatever card we are interpreting. We consider the cards that are next to or above or below it. Using the elemental relationships, we consider the effect on the particular card we are looking at.

For example, let's say we are looking at the Three of Cups (core meaning: a spontaneous, unexpected joy or pleasure). Next to it is the Five of Wands. Technically, it doesn't matter if it is five or any other number; what matters is the suit. In this case, it is wands, or fire. Wands/fire is the opposite of cups/water, therefore weakening the card. The spontaneous joy or pleasure will not be quite as joyful or pleasurable as it could be; it is weakened, or diminished, by the presence of wands/fire.

One way to think about elemental dignities is to think of a card as a word and the card next to it as a modifier. The modifier can indicate an intensification of meaning, like underlining or adding an exclamation point does in writing. A modifier can also diminish the impact by adding "kind of" or "meh" to the sentence.

Using elemental relationships, whether in scanning or in dignities, is easiest and least confusing when just applied to the Minor Arcana. However, many people do include the Major Arcana, associating each of those cards with a different element. I have not discovered a system of Major Arcana elemental association that seems at all elegant or sensible, so I do not use one at all. Using the elemental energy of the Minor Arcana will work very well, at least to start. Later, you can decide for yourself about the Major Arcana. 

For more information on elemental dignities, see Paul Hughes-Barlow's site: http://supertarot.co.uk.