Hogwarts Houses and suits of the Tarot

[neotoma]

twistedchick and I had a lovely Saturday afternoon together. We went to the Bead Museum, and then wander around the area between Chinatown and the Archives, talking and admiring artwork.

In the course of drinking several cups at a cafe, we talked about several things, from the Tree of Life, the various memory modes -- visual, aural, kinesthetic -- and Tarot suits as representations of personality traits.

When looking at the Tarot, the four suits of the Minor Arcana -- Wands, Swords, Coins and Cups -- represent will, logic, material pursuits, and emotions.

When mapped onto the Hogwarts House system, of course Hufflepuff is Coins. The suit of Coins (also called Pentacles, Discs, or Diamonds) represent the material world. Earthly pursuits -- including sex, so go Hufflepuffs!-- the arts, craftsmanship, and all things connected to the day to day are all in the Coins. Its element is earth.

Gryffindor House is Cups (also Cauldrons, Vessels, or Hearts), the suit of emotion and intuition. Don't be confused because Harry used Godric's sword in Chamber of Secrets; it was a physical tool, not a mystical representation of Harry's personality. Gryffindors go with their guts and trust their feelings more than any other Hogwarts house; thus they are well represented by Cups. The associated element is water.

Slytherin is Swords (also Blades, Daggers or Spades). The suit of Swords is logic, rationality and intellectualism, the sharp edge and the hard road. It's the path of the difficult and the necessary. It is also the suit that signifies trouble and choices the most. Given that Slytherins excel at taking rules and use them to their advantage and Swords represents political and legal concerns, it fits very well in with the Slytherin ability to manipulate the system. Air is the element of Swords.

Last, Ravenclaw is Wands (or Batons or Clubs). It is the suit of the will, inventiveness, and perception. Ravenclaws aren't well represented in the books, mainly being arm-candy; hopefully HBP will give them a light more to do so we can know them better. It is interesting that Flitwick is the Charms master, and thus the first one to show students how to use their wands. The element is Fire.

I know this is quite at odds with others' musings on the Houses in Tarot, but I think it reflects the personalities we've seen in canon better.

Comments

[ldybastet.livejournal.com]

That was a rather interesting take on the Tarot suits. I have used the Tarot for myself and others for many years, and I can see your thinking making sense. Certainly Slytherins are Swords, the cutting intellect for instance. Even if there are some air-heads (sorry) in Slytherin as well: Crabbe and Goyle for example. In one way though, Air, which is also a symbol of mental faculties, would describe the Ravenclaws too. I think it depends on what symbols and what school of thought one is most used to.

This has given me food for some thought, and I will probably continue to muse over this. :-)

[hermione-lupin.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I beg to differ, actually. I think Swords should be Ravenclaw -- logic, rationale, intellectualism -- with Wands as Slytherin -- will, invention, and perception. Ravenclaw is Air; Slytherin is Fire, if Gryff must be Water -- as I agree; at first Cups got me, but on second thought, it's reasonable.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Owwie, tiny writing.

I'd say that you were onto something what with the Ravenclaw symbol being the eagle and their supposed interest in knowledge, but that Slytherins in the books are more judgemental and legalistic than the Ravenclaws, who are more dreamers and idealists. Wisdom is supposed to be the trait of the Eagle house, while the Snake is *cunning*.

In other words, Ravenclaws will build you castles in the air; Slytherins will try to charge you rent.

As to Gryffindor and Slytherin having to be in opposition, I don't think so. Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses have so much trouble getting along because they are *similiar* -- they each have *mutability* as a significant trait, the mutability of water and the mutability of air. It's just that what they do with their talents and the emphasis they put on things that causes friction.

[twistedchick]

Swords, being air, are also concerned with verbal cutting -- communications. Sharp words. I think it fits Snape very well.

And Saturday was great fun.

[cheshyre]

A few years ago, I came up with a different set of associations.

I first linked the Hogwarts houses to the four elements, and then from those to their associated Tarot suits.

Here's what I came up with:

House:	Element:	Suit:
Gryffindor	Fire	Swords
Hufflepuff	Earth	Pentacles
Ravenclaw	Air	Wands
Slytherin	Water	Cups

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

I think that one of the problems when talking about elements and tarot suits is that the elements mean very different things in tarot than they do in astrology so that maybe they don't line up the same in the two systems

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

See, I can't agree with Slytherins being water. They're a bunch of devious, rule-lawyering drama queens; that's either Swords or Wands. Gryffindor is full of emotion-driven hotheads with hero complexes; that's Cups or just possibly Wands.

Reading over your essays, I have to disagree with you. If George Washington was anything, he was a Hufflepuff; especially in the way he epitomized the gentlemanly ideal of the time, and how he was quite scrupulous in his endeavors. Jefferson was a Ravenclaw (and a particularly unpractical one -- look at his money troubles); Franklin was a Slytherin, a particularly adept one who talked the French into supporting the Revolution.

[amberdiceless.livejournal.com]

LOL! I think everybody must have their own set of associations. IIRC, I had mapped Greyffindor to Swords/fire, Slytherin to Coins/Earth, Hufflepuff to Cups/Water, and Ravenclaw to Air/Wands.

It's amazing how many different sets of correspondences-of-four can be found that will apply to the Hogwarts Houses, starting with color, which is of course canonical. I can't help but wonder whether JKR did that on purpose...

here from d_s

[maychild.livejournal.com]

Although, if you did it by colour it might look something like this:

Red / Fire / Gryffindor
Yellow / Air / Hufflepuff
Blue / Water / Ravenclaw
Green / Earth / Slytherin

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

So what was your reasoning to make Gryffindors the suit of Swords? They're very entertaining, but I not what I'd think of rationalist or logicians.

I can see how Ravenclaw might be Wands and Air, but not how Hufflepuffs are water or Slytherin is earth. Did you base it on House colors?

[amberdiceless.livejournal.com]

Well, honestly, I think the Sword of Gryffindor did make that part seem like kind of a gimme. :) I was taking the House colors into account (though I remember thinking at the time that Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's were kind of backward for the purpose.) I also looked at the compass points and about 40 other correspondences-of-four, as well as the temperaments and specialties of the Heads of House and other well-known members, known wand woods used by various people, and what little we know of the Founders.

*Looks up file* Okay, first off, not every source I found agreed on which items possessed which qualities--like which compass point to assign to Cups, or which element or color belonged to Wands. This made for some wildly differing interpretations (for example, I don't remember seeing Swords related to intellect before; to me they've always represented aggression and conflict.) Which jives with what I already knew of the Tarot; my husband and I have several different decks, each with its own set of meanings for the suits. I had to look for general trends and just go with what made more sense to me.

Earth/Pentacles/Green, according to what I found, also has the following associations (among others, some of which don't work as well, but that was true for all the Houses no matter how I arranged them:)

Cold & dry, material gain, money, birth, death, jewels, metals, wealth, mystery, power, skill, prosperity, respectability, unscrupulousness, misanthropy, greed, attention-seeking, inertia, domineering, yew, law/lore, roots, creeping animals, the physical plane, power. There's a lot in there that reminded me of Purebloods, the Ministry, Voldemort (particularly the Yew, which is his wand wood, and the birth/death part,) and, well, Slytherins.

Fire/red/swords: hot & dry, active, luminous, energy, spirit, heat, flame, blood, life, will, healing and destroying, eruptions, explosions, passion, anger, power, inspiration, desire, freedom, drive, transmutation, eagerness, enthusiasm, resolution, courage, faithfulness, irritability, intemperance, stubbornness, vengefulness, resentment, aggression, violence, oak, willow, mahogany, sun, light, gold, dragon's blood (the plant), the spiritual plane, charisma. Very Gryffindor, I thought.

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are a bit sticky, because practically everything I found suggested that Hufflepuff's color should be blue and Ravenclaw's, yellow. Which means that you can assign Air and Wands, Water and Cups as you prefer, depending on whether you go by the House's color or its general temperament. I wound up disregarding color and made Hufflepuff Water/Cups (emotions, love, nurture, sensitivity, intuition, devotion, modesty, compassion, seriousness, cordiality, empathy, trust, sincerity, intuition, beauty) and Ravenclaw Air/Wands (diligence, clearness, communicativeness, capacity for penetrating, wisdom, Logic, Analysis, Discernment, Decisiveness, the mental plane, thinking, intellect, higher logic.)

There's an awful lot of room to play--for example, depending on which systems you're taking into account, snakes or creeping animals show up in three of the four columns. Take your pick! :)

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

Yeah I see it differently (Gryffindor-Wands, Ravenclaw-Swords, Hufflepuff-Cups, and Slytherin-Pentacles) but it's interesting to see how easy it is to argue completely conflicting ideas