Knowing which suit you belong to can help you identify your spiritual strengths and weaknesses, and can show you how you are perceived by others.

Each suit of the Tarot represents specific aspects of life, and they also correspond with the four main elements of the earthly realm. Are you the creative type, the dependable one, the clever thinker, or the action hero? Keep reading to see if you notice a connection with any of the following descriptions…

Cups: The suit of Cups represents the element of water and this is associated with the emotions. The extremes of our feelings are characterised within these cards, i.e., from loss and deep despair, through to joy and the most overwhelming sensation of all—true love. Other characteristics of this element include: the psyche, fertility, imagination, intuition, dreams, sensitivity and spiritual serenity.

Look through this suit and notice the water symbolism. Flowing rivers are everywhere and a fish even pops its head out of the Page’s cup! When a card from the suit of Cups turns up in a spread, it’s going to relate to matters of the heart. It could be dealing with friendships, relationships, or a person’s heart-felt dreams. Love is the attribute for the Cups, and romance flows when these cards dominate a spread.

Pentacles: The attribute for this suit is earthiness. Physical or material qualities are represented by these Tarot cards. Money, the natural world, assets, security, the home, and business matters are the main focus — and this is not too surprising as this suit used to be called ‘Coins’. The emphasis of this suit is upon the material things you value in life. The suit of Pentacles is also about physical and financial strength, or a lack thereof.

Swords: The element of air is linked to the suit of Swords. Take some time to spread this suit before you, and you will see how these cards often feature clouds and windblown landscapes. Swords are magically suspended in the air to emphasise this element. Air is associated with the mind, so the intellect, worries, mental conflict, ideas, teaching, and studying is the main focus of Sword cards. This suit is all about your attitudes and beliefs. It shows how you respond to mental challenges and your ability to communicate with others.

Wands: The suit of Wands represents the fire element and its qualities of enthusiasm, creativity, and inspiration. The attribute of Wands is energy, and in general, the Wands cards exude optimism, valour, and confidence. Even when the characters of the Wands cards are not actively engaged, they are ready to defend, explore, toil, or party!

Some people are a mixture of the qualities of two or more suits, in general though, a person’s basic nature can be summed up as a particular suit.

How Does Knowing Your Tarot Suit Help You?

Recognising your Tarot suit can help you to make the most of your positive qualities, because then you are aware of appropriate work and relationship situations which are suitable for your personality type.

Knowing your suit-type can also help you to learn Tarot more easily, because different types of people learn in different ways.

A Cups personality will look at the relationships between the cards, and may want to take time to lay the cards out in rows, so they can see which cards are next to each other. They’ll create a story weaving its way through each suit.

Pentacles people will get the most benefit by reading a book from the beginning and working their way through, doing the exercises as they go.

People represented by Swords are thinkers. They will want to take their time, using reason and logic to learn the cards. After they have thought about all of the principles involved, then they will deal out some cards and try some readings.

A Wands person seeks adventure and gets bored easily, so skipping from one book to another as their mood takes them, will be their way of learning Tarot.

Can we really know our own Tarot suit? Or will we simply look for character traits that we want to attribute to ourselves — and then claim that suit?

If we are honest we can discover the qualities within the descriptions that are appropriate. But if you’re not sure if you can be truthful about your personality…ask the cards! Do a reading using the question, “Tell me what I need to know about my personality.” One of the suits will dominate the spread…and if you look closely at the cards, you will probably gain much more insight about yourself than you ever imagined!