Wherefore Intuition?
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Many (if not most) tarot writers who discuss the cards in psychological terms relate the element of Fire and the suit of Wands to Carl Gustav Jung’s function of “Intuition.” Here is my rebuttal.
After a good deal of reading and contemplation on the subject, I’ve come to the conclusion that the metaphysical fit between the four classical elements of Empedocles (Fire, Water, Air and Earth), and by extension the four suits of the tarot (Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles), and Jung’s four psychological “functions” (intuition, thought, feeling and sensation) is not an especially precise one. It’s certainly reasonable to equate the discriminating qualities of Air/Swords with Jung’s thinking principle; the fluid, sensitive nature of Water/Cups with feeling; and the tactile perception of Earth/Pentacles with sensation. But Fire/Wands as intuition does nothing for me; it’s almost as if Fire had to go somewhere and there was only one spot left.
Let’s think about it. While Water precipitates downward to fill a vessel, Air is a subtle, pervasive element that moves in every direction, and Earth symbolizes the sensate (and sensual) underpinning of all physicality, Fire — even in its most attenuated form — moves inexorably upward and outward. Intuition would seem to be more a combination of Air and Water in that it “imbues” the consciousness with its insights, devolving from outside the individual psyche (Plato called its origin the “Soul of the World”), while the “spark” of Fire is often internally generated in the form of motivation. For that reason, I’ve settled on “aspiration” as the psychological essence of Fire since it embodies all of the attributes of ambition, initiative, enthusiasm and desire that the suit of Wands signifies (and that the faculty of “intuition” does not express).
As I see it, intuition is chiefly evanescent and non-linear in its operation (like the malleability of Air and Water) rather than inspiring and overwhelming in an impassioned way (like the urgency of Fire). Not every insight qualifies as a dramatic “epiphany;” even the “Aha!” moment of realization is typically thought-provoking rather than gut-wrenchingly visceral as might be expected of an intense incitement of some kind. Fire would seem to be projected into the world most of the time while the other three gravitate inward, investing the character with their properties. Fire is the element of actively “doing” without much forethought while Earth is more about being “done to” by circumstances and the other two deliberate (and even dither) in a conditional way before acting. So I decided to “demote” intuition to become an ancillary aspect of thinking and feeling since it partakes more of the coolly immersive nature of Air and Water than of the ardent immediacy of Fire; mental/emotional comprehension of inner reality is where it excels. While it could be argued that intuition transcends the other two by being more rarefied and thus “nobler,” I believe they’re “all of a piece” in their focus while aspiration of the fiery kind stands apart as proactive rather than reactive. (Earth, of course, has its own agenda.)
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on June 19, 2023.
