- Journey of the Four Suits.

When we study the progress of a suit, it can be done in two ways – from the Ace to the Ten or from the Ten to the Ace. The ‘meanings’ of the cards do not vary much in the sense of the word, but our way of looking at the progress of the journey within the suit can certainly be affected positively. Without much ado, let us look at the journey from both perspectives for all the four suits.

Let us begin with the suit of Wands.

Number	Meaning	Number	Meaning
Ace	Beginning of the Energy, the first conception.	10	Burdens and responsibilities are weighing you down.
2	The need to explore, stepping out of set boundaries.	9	Taking a load off, but being careful and ready for next challenge.
3	The journey has already begun a small next step.	8	Energy moves swiftly and smoothly towards goals.
4	Harmony, celebration, initial stability and success.	7	Emotions must be tackled while trying to maintain the balance between energies within and without.
5	Chaotic energies scattered in all directions, several things to do.	6	Glory, success. Balance has been found.
6	Glory, success, balance and leadership achieved over the chaos of before, direction gained.	5	Scattered energies, too many directions to go to.
7	Emotions are unstable, but the balance and hold over the energies must be maintained at all costs.	4	Harmony is restored. Celebrations. Stable ground has been achieved.
8	Balance has been smoothly achieved, energy moves fast.	3	Need for something more has arisen. A journey has been undertaken to find what is sought.
9	Being defensive because of past hurts, but ready to take on the next challenge.	2	Finding, looking for something beyond what has been achieved so far, looking for meaning of all things.
10	Burdens of responsibilities, self involvement.	Ace	The source of creative energies has been revealed, finding the root of all creative energies.

The suit of Cups from both these perspectives will be as follows:

Number	Meaning	Number	Meaning
Ace	Emotional contentment, happiness, fulfillment.	10	Happy family, emotional connections.
2	Attraction, sharing of emotions, a healing friendship.	9	Self satisfaction, abundance, aloneness.
3	Celebration, a group of like minded friends.	8	Stepping away from emotional bonds.
4	Boredom, defensiveness, no motivation, sudden opportunity, focusing on dream idea rather than on what is before you.	7	Facing ones dreams, desires, fantasies and fears.
5	Sadness, depression, loss, grief, crying over spilt milk.	6	Finding the faith within to give of one’s emotions, blooming emotions.
6	Trust, flowering of emotions, being able to give, faith from within.	5	Sadness over what is lost, grief.
7	Imagination, fantasy, desires, fear of the unknown, unable to take the next step towards your goals.	4	Listlessness, boredom, focusing on the lost dream of the ideal.
8	Walking away from emotions to be alone, stepping out of emotional bonds.	3	Finding a group of like minded people and letting go, celebration.
9	Abundance, self satisfaction, being happy all alone.	2	Finding a healing friendship.
10	Happy family, emotionally connected group.	Ace	Reaching emotional fulfillment and satisfaction.

The suit of Swords from both perspectives would be as follows:

Number	Meaning	Number	Meaning
Ace	Truth, idea, inspiration, idealism, principles.	10	Pain, hurt, backstabbed, peak of mental stress.
2	Choices, defensiveness, waiting for intuitive guidance, not wanting to see.	9	Worry, sleepless nights, nightmares, unable to get over the pain of the past hurt.
3	Heartbreak, betrayal, pain.	8	Denial, not moving on, staying where you are not wanting to take any proactive decisions.
4	Taking a break, gratitude for lessons learnt from pain of past.	7	Convincing self of one’s own correctness or rightness with regard to past, cheating self about events of the past.
5	Bully, gossip, scandal, fight, winning or walking away.	6	Moving on to emotionally calmer place but with baggage.
6	Moving on to a place of calmer emotions but with mental baggage.	5	Fighting back with words – slander, gossip, or walking away from gossip regarding past.
7	Cheating, lying, stealing, diplomacy and tact.	4	Finding the peace within one self, being grateful for past hurts, acceptance of past.
8	Self imposed limitations, binding one self down.	3	Facing and dealing with the pain head-on, dealing with heartbreak.
9	Nightmares, sleepless nights, worry, unable to face one self.	2	Being defensive but wanting to make the right choices intuitively and putting emotions of the past behind.
10	Pain, stabbed in the back, new dawn.	Ace	Reaching the glory of truth and wisdom.

The suit of Pentacles from both the perspectives can be described as follows:

Number	Meaning	Number	Meaning
Ace	Material benefits come, a way is seen.	10	Financially stable home, loyal friends.
2	Juggling finances or jobs, feeling like an actor caught up in a play.	9	Finding creativity and beauty within abundance and prosperity.
3	Construction, planning and spiritual blessings combine to create a structure in life.	8	Learning a skill or trade and perfecting it.
4	Holding on to what one has, being money minded, feet on the ground.	7	Planting the seed and seeing it grow and blossom.
5	Poverty, being left out in the cold, finding true friends in adverse conditions.	6	Finding the balance between giving and receiving, being generous, getting unexpected benefits.
6	Receiving gifts of money, being generous, finding a balance between giving and receiving.	5	Finding true friends in adverse conditions, being overly giving can lead to poverty.
7	Patiently waiting for the fruit of one’s labors to ripen.	4	Holding on to what one has got.
8	Learning and perfecting one’s skill at a job or a talent, apprenticeship.	3	Using one’s talents successfully to create or construct stability with proper planning and blessings.
9	Being well-off, comforts of abundance of material resources and creative energies.	2	Juggling finances, being caught up in one’s act.
10	House full of wealth, homecoming, financial fulfillment.	Ace	Finding the way to material benefits from the Universe.

So we can see that the ‘meanings’ do not really change much, but a perspective change definitely occurs.

Please note that the ‘meanings’ given here are by no means comprehensive or complete. These charts are merely for informative purposes and only provide a glance at the ‘meanings’ of the cards.