Tirage en Croix & Suit Cards Tableau
A curious pattern, discovered through this Web site, is formed by numerologically summing and reducing the first four cards of each suit to a number less than 22. The result are the numbers of Major Arcana (trump) cards having symbolism relatable in theme or appearance to the suits. This numerological layout, Tirage en Croix, was used by the Swiss occultist, artist and author Oswald Wirth who applied it to his unique deck consisting only of Major Arcana cards, but here we apply it to the first four cards of each suit in the Minor Arcana.
See the following illustrations and notes. For our purpose here, the Major Arcana cards are counted as 0 to 21, Wands as 22 to 35, Cups as 36 to 49, etc., following their standard order in the deck.
Batons (also called Arrows, Wands, Clubs, Flame, Rods, Scepters, Staves, Sticks, Fire) represent the Spirit aspect of human existence. The suit is associated with the season of Spring, with its burgeoning of new life following winter, with qualities like inspiration, will, initiative, impulse-action-goal orientation, and the classical element of Fire.
Applying the numerological operation to the first four cards of the suit of Batons…
22 + 23 + 24 + 25
= 94
9 + 4
= 13
…produces card 13, Death bearing a scythe.
The scythe is a sharp blade on a long wooden stave: whereas the stave represents the vitality of life that grows, the blade on the stave represents the sudden termination of that life – and yet it is somehow instrumental to life. (A scythe appears represented in the Death card of most historic Tarot decks, including what may be the oldest surviving example, the Cary-Yale (Visconti di Modrone) deck.)
This numerological tableau is consonant with a philosophical idea of death as a natural outcome of life. Some have even called death the culmination, the ultimate blossoming, and the end of the pilgrimage of life. Additionally, if death is regarded not as a final end but as a passing to another form or level of existence, then that is in keeping with Fire as a symbol of transformative power.
Cups (also Cauldrons, Chalices, Blue, Hearts, Vessels, Water) represent the Emotion aspect of human existence. The suit is associated with Summer, with qualities such as receptivity, reflectiveness, fantasy, spirituality and intuition, and with the classical element of Water.
Applying the numerological operation to the first four cards of the suit of Cups…
36 + 37 + 38 + 39
= 150
1 + 5 + 0
= 6
…produces card 6, The Lovers.
Love and partnership as the developmental culmination of the journey of emotions is most fitting.
Note that, although early decks did not typically have pip cards illustrations depicting humans and human activities, the Two of Cups in the Pierpont-Morgan deck (also known as the Visconti-Sforza deck), which dates to around 1541, does have the words "amor myo" ("my love") in the card image. So, the association of two cups with love goes far back in time. Also, the Sola-Busca deck, which is unusual for its time in showing human figures on the pip cards, depicts a winged cherub, or Cupid (god of love), playing a violin — evocative of finer emotions, and their stimulus and stimulation.
Swords (also Blades, Daggers, Spades, Air) represent the (rational) Mind aspect of human existence. The suit is associated with the season of Autumn (Fall), with qualities such as those of rationality, forethought, analysis, deliberation, debate and communication, and with the classical element of Air.
Applying the numerological operation to the first four cards of the suit of Swords…
50 + 51 + 52 + 53
= 206
2 + 0 + 6
= 8
…produces card 8, Lady Justice with upraised sword.
This implies an ideal Mind that, through all of its activity and tensions, has developed order, balance and objectivity, here represented as impartial Justice with her scales and upward-pointing, double-edged sword.
Coins (also Diamonds, Discs, Pentacles, Spheres, Earth) represent the Body aspect of human existence. The suit is associated with Winter, and the classical element of Earth.
Applying the numerological operation to the first four cards of the suit of Coins…
64 + 65 + 66 + 67
= 262
2 + 6 + 2
= 10
…produces card 10, The Wheel of Fortune.
It shares circular imagery with the coins, and it conveys the impermanence of such material assets or status, and their being subject to luck, random factors, vicissitudes, disruption, revolution, and to larger cycles such as karma (and whatever even larger cycles of existence, of becoming, that they are part of).
Despite that Coins, and the Earth element, symbolize solidity and material constructs, the insight here is of the relativity of things that are in the end transient, or that must somehow flow or circulate for the functional health of the larger system of which they are part.
Of interest to us here, is the assocation of the four suits, the classical four elements – Fire, Water, Air and Earth – and the four aspects or dimensions of human existence – Spirit, Emotion, Mind and Body. Note also that this layout uses the cross form, an ancient symbol transcending cultures, which some have speculatively connected to the philosophical, classical four elements of ancient cultures. The classical elements are also associated in that order for each modality of the zodiac signs; for example, the cardinal signs that begin each season, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, are Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn associated with Fire, Water, Air and Earth respectively.
Modern science similarly categorizes the behavioral states of matter as solid, liquid, gas and plasma. But rather than being essential components as the ancients thought, these are states related to energy levels, and substances can change state depending on pressure and temperature – as ice can become water, or solid metal can become molten. Analogously, it might be useful to think of the four elements, for the purposes of Tarot, as categories symbolizing energetic or behavioral conditions that can change; from a spiritual perspective, we can consider this with respect to personal growth, the transformation of the self and personality.
As with the Lemniscate Tableau, the pattern works best with the order of the Justice and Strength cards given in older decks, rather than some modern decks where they are switched. The pattern is also broken if using the Visconti di Modrone deck, as that has more court cards than usual (altering the ordinal numbering of the suit cards), or if using a deck like the Sola-Busca where the trump cards differ radically from the standard.
Read more about the layout and how to interpret the meaning of the card positions: Tirage en Croix.