In preparation of a project I want to start in the near future, I have been doing research and meditating on the subject of elements and their correspondences in regard to the Tarot. I have come to the conclusion that swords are fire. Though, before anyone starts viciously banging on their keyboard to let me know how wrong I am let me explain how I came to this conclusion.
The correlation with Swords of Air probably originated from A.E. Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot as his Tarot system is one of the most widely used today. In the RWS system, swords is correlated with air and wands fire. Deborah Lipp draws an interesting conclusion about this in her book The Way of Four;
"The Tarot suit of Air is Swords, although there is an interesting story behind this correspondence.
In 1910, Arthur Edward Waite published his book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot and his “Rider-Waite” Tarot deck. Waite was a Kabbalist and a member of the Golden Dawn magical lodge. His was the first deck to give all seventy-eight cards unique illustrations, and the first to draw associations between the Tarot and the Kabbalah. The Rider-Waite deck became he most popular and influential Tarot ever created, and its influences are seen in the vast majority decks available today.
However, Waite’s membership in the Golden Dawn included an oath of secrecy, so he hesitated to reveal too much in his deck or accompanying book. He decided to switch two of the elemental correspondences in order to preserver his oath. He couldn’t very well change the association of Cups to Water, since that’s a pretty obvious one, and Pentacles are mostly depicted as coin - and again the association between money and Earth is straightforward and obvious. But Swords and Wands are abstract tools, that were not in common usage at the turn of the last century. The Golden Dawn associated Air with Wands and Fire with Swords, so Waite reversed these two and filled his deck with Fiery Wands and Airy Swords.
If you’re a Tarot reader who has used Waite’s deck or a Waite-derived deck, it’s hard to break the mental picture of Air/Sword and Fire/Wand. Every Wand in Waite’s deck has little flames, salamanders, and orange colors, and every Sword has prominent clouds, sylphs, and a lot of light blue. Perhaps because most Witches read the Tarot, most associate the sword, or athame, with Air.
On the other hand, the original associate used by the Golden Dawn and others makes a good deal of sense. The Sword is the stronger and more destructive tool, and Fire is more destructive than Air. The Wand is the tool of the intellectual magician, but the Sword is the tool of the willful warrior (Fire is associated with will). Once you get to know the tools, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that a person wielding a Sword means business (has will), but a person holding a Wand might still be just thinking it over."
The Golden Dawn also associates the sword with the Sephirah Geburah and the planet Mars in some of their degree work.
Outside of the Golden Dawn, we can look to some of grimoires of western mysticism and esoterics that discuss the sword/fire relation and/or talk about the Golden Dawn's blind. Some of these grimoires Eliphas Levi's The Doctorine and Ritual of High Magic and I have talked about a specific part of said book regarding Powers of the Sphinx (which relates to the element correspondences as well), Franz Bardon's Introduction Into Hermetics, Stephen Skinner and Francis King's Techniques of High Magic, The Farrar's A Witches' Bible, and Stephen Skinner's The Complete Magicians Tables.
We also cannot forget to take into account the influences and contributions of Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders.
An interesting thing to note is that the tools from The Greater Key of Solomon, The Magus, and other systems that arose in that same time frame are numerous and Agrippa's foundation work (and other texts before it) did not necessarily have elemental correspondences. The Golden Dawn along with other people like Eliphas Levi seemed to reduce, codify, elementalfy, and attach other esoteric meanings to the working tools.
Outside of the Golden Dawn, we can look to some of grimoires of western mysticism and esoterics that discuss the sword/fire relation and/or talk about the Golden Dawn's blind. Some of these grimoires Eliphas Levi's The Doctorine and Ritual of High Magic and I have talked about a specific part of said book regarding Powers of the Sphinx (which relates to the element correspondences as well), Franz Bardon's Introduction Into Hermetics, Stephen Skinner and Francis King's Techniques of High Magic, The Farrar's A Witches' Bible, and Stephen Skinner's The Complete Magicians Tables.
We also cannot forget to take into account the influences and contributions of Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders.
An interesting thing to note is that the tools from The Greater Key of Solomon, The Magus, and other systems that arose in that same time frame are numerous and Agrippa's foundation work (and other texts before it) did not necessarily have elemental correspondences. The Golden Dawn along with other people like Eliphas Levi seemed to reduce, codify, elementalfy, and attach other esoteric meanings to the working tools.
In addition, there are other traditions to consider that have fire correlation with swords like the Janati.
Finally we have the differences and influences of the Qabbalah and Astrology. Frater Barrabbas touches on this;
"Using the Qabbalah or Astrology to determine the elemental attributes of
the four suits of the Tarot seems to produce two different sets of
associations. Where the Qabbalah is used, the order of elements begins
with Fire, then Water, Air and finally, Earth. When one uses Astrology
with Theosophic influences, the elements begin with Air, and proceed to
Water, Fire, and Earth.
The order of the four Suits of the Tarot does not change, and it begins with Wands or Scepters (Clubs), Cups (Hearts), Swords (Spades) and finally, Coins or Pentacles (Diamonds). The sequence is a hierarchy associated with the four levels of the European social order of nobility, clergy, military (land owners) and merchants (artisans). The element associations for these four suits differs whether Wands are considered to be Fire and Swords are Air, as in the Qabbalistic system, or whether Wands are considered Air and Swords Fire, as in the Astrological system. These two approaches have produced two different sets of associations, and have spawned two different systems of magick, in as far as the four elemental tools of magick are concerned. Both systems are substantiated by symbolic correspondences and either will work quite well. What is required is for the magician to adhere to one or the other, depending on what makes sense and works for the individual."
The order of the four Suits of the Tarot does not change, and it begins with Wands or Scepters (Clubs), Cups (Hearts), Swords (Spades) and finally, Coins or Pentacles (Diamonds). The sequence is a hierarchy associated with the four levels of the European social order of nobility, clergy, military (land owners) and merchants (artisans). The element associations for these four suits differs whether Wands are considered to be Fire and Swords are Air, as in the Qabbalistic system, or whether Wands are considered Air and Swords Fire, as in the Astrological system. These two approaches have produced two different sets of associations, and have spawned two different systems of magick, in as far as the four elemental tools of magick are concerned. Both systems are substantiated by symbolic correspondences and either will work quite well. What is required is for the magician to adhere to one or the other, depending on what makes sense and works for the individual."
For me, it honestly keeps circling back to the act of "to will", how it feels, and what makes the most sense in a magical and esoteric point of view. Though (like what mentioned in the above quote), I think it is important for everyone to find what feels and makes the most sense to them on the magical and esoteric levels - then remembering to be consistent about it.
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