Chapter 1

How Element
Readings Work

I tried to keep the structure of each reading very basic. These spreads are based on the alchemical signs for each element. I found that this simplicity worked beautifully with the particular elements. For water, for example, there are three things/cards that can “get in your way.” In my readings, I find that it’s seldom just one thing in our history that keeps us from being emotionally healthy. In the air reading, you have one thing to hold on to. One focus. What is your truest, most honest desire. Can you rely on your skills, your degree, your mental acuity? What is that thing that will open the door to the rest of your satisfaction with work and with exercising your mind?

What Are We Asking?

Each reading, except for spirit, has the same three questions in different card configurations. When you aren’t sure where to go or what to do, you want to start with the basics:

• What can you hold on to?
• What can pull you forward?
• What gets in your way?

These three questions will help you find your reset button.

What Can You Hold On To?

What are the things in your life—in relation to heart, body, mind, home, and soul—that are currently supporting you or are things that you can begin to lean on. These are people, organizations, or spiritual beliefs that are already in your life that you can rely on. Sometimes it’s as simple as faith. Sometimes it’s reaching out to people you really don’t want to reach out to.

For example, in the fire reading, you get the Three of Pentacles and the Queen of Wands in this position. You can hold on to your crew—the Three of Pentacles talks about teamwork. You can reach out to your support system, or if you haven’t got a great one in regard to health, to a gym or a physician. Reach for someone or something that is very near to you that will be easy to hold. The Queen of Wands tells us that you have confidence and motivation. She’s the kick-start that you’ve already got in your life. She shows up to remind you that you can do hard things and tells you to get out of your own way.

What Can Pull You Forward?

Think about the tools that can unstick you from a place of stasis. What are the resources that you have access to that will move you out of this spot? These don’t have to cost a lot of money or take a lot of time to find. You can ask friends, colleagues, and family members for assistance. The thing that can unstick you might already in your possession. That thing might also be a change of mind or heart.

In the air reading, cards 4, 5, and 6 ask this question. What are the things that can move you away from that boring job? What do you need to finish that degree? If you pull the Fool, the King of Swords, and the Three of Cups, you would see that you need to take a chance (Fool), that you need to talk to someone who is “in charge” (King of Swords), such as a headhunter or someone one step up from your current boss, and that you can find answers in your group of friends (Three of Cups). You would ask among your friends if they know of any positions or if they know anyone who could have a conversation with you. I’ve had this happen in my own life. After posting on Facebook that I was being laid off, a friend immediately reached out and said, “I know a guy who’s looking for an HR person.” Within two weeks I had a new job.

What Gets in Your Way?

These cards represent the internal and external obstacles that you come across. They can be old challenges or new, internal or external. These can be people or situations, emotional or mental states. Sometimes your obstacles will be memories. Honestly, memories are sometimes the hardest things to work through. The past will swoop in out of nowhere like a specter and tell you don’t deserve or need good things and blam—you’re back to square one.

In the water reading, there are three cards that ask what gets in your way. Let’s say you pulled the Devil, the Six of Cups reversed, and the Five of Wands. The Devil tells a story of temptation and vice that you haven’t been able to shake. The Six of Cups reversed say that you have been feeling a little petty and pouting a bit. And there is a component in the Five of Wands of getting involved in drama that doesn’t belong to you. All these things together can distract you from your goal and keep you looking behind or beside you instead of straight ahead.

The Use of Elemental Dignities

Since these are elemental readings, you can find another layer of interpretation to the spreads. This is optional, but can help you decide which part of the reading to focus on first. The best explanation of elemental dignities I’ve ever seen is by my beloved Barbara Moore in her 2012 Llewellyn Unbound post titled “Elemental Dignitaries,” so I totally lifted it (with permission, of course):

Applying elemental dignities to a reading is simple. When interpreting a card, consider the cards that are next to it. Using the elemental relationships described below, weave the effect into the meaning of the card.

For example, let’s say we are looking at the 3 of Cups (a spontaneous, unexpected joy or pleasure). Next to it is the 5 of Wands. Technically, it doesn’t matter if it is 5 or any other number. What matters is the suit. In this case, it is Wands, or Fire. Wands/Fire is the opposite of Cups/Water, therefore weakening the card. The spontaneous joy or pleasure will not be quite as joyful or pleasurable as it could be; it is weakened or diminished by the presence of Wands/Fire.

One way to think about elemental dignities is to think of a card as a word and the card next to it as a modifier. The modifier can indicate an intensification of meaning like underlining or adding an exclamation point does in writing. A modifier can also diminish the impact by adding “kind of” or “meh” to the sentence.

• Cards of the same element strengthen each other greatly.
• Wands (fire) and Swords (air) are both considered active and support each other.
• Cups (water) and Pentacles (earth) are both considered passive and support each other.
• Wands (fire) and Cups (water) are opposites and weaken each other.
• Swords (air) and Pentacles (earth) are opposites and weaken each other.
• Wands (fire) and Pentacles (earth) have little effect on each other.
• Swords (air) and Cups (water) have little effect on each other.

When an element is strengthened, it does not always mean that it is a positive situation. It means that the experience is stronger or intensified, whether positive or negative.

Fire and Air are considered active. This means the energy is active, it moves, it creates, it acts; it also indicates swift movement. That is, if this energy is present, it is moving around making things happen and happen quickly.

Water and Earth are considered passive. That is, the energy is passive, it is still, it is reactive, it is shaped; it also suggests slower movement. Passive energy waits for something to happen, hence the idea of slowness, and then reacts.

When either Water and Fire or Air and Earth are present, the result is a weakening of both. They are opposites, fighting against each other, causing conflicting energy that will be evidenced in the situation.

The combinations of Fire and Earth or Air and Water are considered neutral. They have little or no effect on each other.

So, if you had a lot of wands (fire) in a water reading, you would want to take your time and be very deliberate with your choices, as these elements oppose each other. This could mean that you will eventually need to cut ties with a friend or partner, but not just yet. It might not be safe or in your best interest to do so right away. You may have more work to do to untangle the situation before you can walk cleanly away.

If you had lots of swords (air) in your fire reading, it’s time to move. These two elements encourage each other to make things happen. This could indicate the need for a medical checkup or that the time is exactly right to start walking while listening to Zombies, Run! This is a walking app that puts you in the story of a zombie apocalypse and helps you stay motivated while you exercise.

Using the elemental dignities is not required for these readings, but it can add some depth to the work that you’re doing. If you’re not sure which step to take first, or if you want to do all five readings and then are completely overwhelmed and confused about which to address first, this can help.

Where do I start?

If you’re like my client from the introduction and your whole life has blown wide open (or has gotten locked into a rut), it can be tricky to figure out which reading to start with. If you are looking for a whole-life reset, there are a few ways you can decide which reading to do first. I do encourage you to truly complete one element before you a start another. This isn’t a race, and there isn’t a prize for whoever tears through them first. The idea is to take a deliberate, rational view of your life, and then write a map for aligning it with your most authentic self. This ain’t nothin’, folks. You can’t wing it and expect lasting results.

Sometimes it’s blatantly obvious which element to start with. Your emotional self is just beaten down—water—or you’re desperately seeking a spiritual home—spirit. You feel like your house is so full of stuff that you just can’t breathe? Earth.

Sometimes, though, you just don’t know. Maybe you’re in the same house, job, and relationship that you’ve had for twenty years. You go to the same church or temple. Your friends are the same, you’re about the same physically, and so on. You’re looking for something to shake things up a little, right? So where to begin?

Process of Elimination

I’ve designed the following tarot spread to help you decide which element reading to do first. It’s kind of like that basketball thing where the teams play against each other to see who wins (googles frantically): the BRACKET. Thinger. I don’t know sports, you guys. Just go with me on this.

First, you need to pick your “teams.” I’ve picked the cards that I think have the most to do with the individual elements. You can pick other cards if you’d like. Remember, this is your process, so you do what feels right.

Earth: Ace of Pentacles

Air: Ace of Swords

Fire: Ace of Wands

Water: Ace of Cups

Spirit: The Fool

We are going to use a five-team single-elimination bracket. (By the way, before I wrote this book, I had no idea that you could string all of those words together to make a cohesive sentence. Learn something new every day.)

This is a series of short readings to see which you should start with. Also, it’s really fun to play with the cards like this.

Round 1: Earth vs. Air

Pull one card for each of your element indicator cards. This will tell you which element is the most urgent.

In this example, the Chariot carries with it more intent and motion than the Three of Cups, so you would choose air.

Ace of Pentacles (Earth)	Ace of Swords (Air)
Three of Cups	The Chariot

Round 2: Air vs. Spirit

In this matchup—the Devil isn’t really interested in moving you away from your vices, and the Eight of Wands is about being decisive, so spirit wins.

Air	Spirit
The Devil	Eight of Wands

Round 3: Fire vs. Water

The Knight of Pents is kind of stuck, and the Six of Wands is about celebration. The winner is water!

Fire	Water
Knight of Pentacles Reversed	Six of Wands

Round 4: Spirit vs. Water

The Two of Swords is a card of inaction, and the Queen of Wands is about to jump up, so our winner is water once again.

Spirit	Water
Two of Swords	Queen of Wands

And so, the best reading to do first is the water reading.

Determine Your Stressors

Another way to decide which to do first is to look at your stressors. Make a list of the things that are causing unhappiness and unrest in your life and see which problems align with each element.

What Is Stressing You Out?	Which Reading Should You Use?
Unhappy at work/school	Air
The stress of success	Earth if it’s financial Water if it’s emotional
Starting a new business	Earth if it’s financial Air if it’s planning
Injury or illness	Fire
Arguments in personal life	Air if you’re bored Water if you’re emotionally stressed
Can’t sleep	Air for anxiety Fire if it’s physiological
Family issues	Water
Legal issues	Air for planning Water if it’s an emotional stressor
Should I move?	Earth
Trying to become healthier	Fire for body
Empty nest	Earth for downsizing Water for emotional upset
Unemployment	Pentacles for housing stability Air for job hunting
Relationship issues	Water, water, water
Financial worries	Pentacles
Can’t find a partner	Water

Breaking them down like this could seem simplistic or trite, but we’re looking to simplify your life here.

Look at your problems—at the root of them—to see what is causing you the most frustration. That’s where you begin.

If you want to do more
than one reading

This is actually pretty cool. You can start with the most pressing thing and move on to the next element when you’re finished. The important thing about this is to not rush anything. Sometimes you can finish all that you need to in your emotional life in three months; sometimes it will take a year. Remember that the only person you’re competing against is yester-you.

I have a client who has been working on her air reading for over a year. She found that she doesn’t feel challenged in her position and is going back to school. She already has a master’s degree in one field, but that field didn’t serve her, so she’s moving to another. She’s said that she’s not going to do another element reading until she finds a new job in her new field. This is great for her. She is single-minded and really focused and wants to close the circle that she started before moving on to another project. That is the correct mindset to have with these readings. It truly is a project and the project is you.

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