Guess what, folks! I’ve got a new BOOK! This one started way back in the pre-pandemic age, when I started brooding over how the four classical elements—Fire, Water, Air, Earth—showed up in tarot.
I mean, sure, we all know that Cups are watery. I’ve got a cup of water right here next to me on the desk. But what about the zodiacal water signs, Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces? That’s the Chariot, Death, and the Moon in Tarot. What story do they have in common? And even more important, what do they have to do with the Hanged Man?! who represents the element of water in modern tarot.
At the time, I was working on the Fortune’s Wheelhouse podcast with Mel Meleen, and you can hear us trying to work it out on the show. Over the years that followed, though, the elements came to dominate my own conversation with the tarot, and the way I read cards for people. The four stories began to take on shape and form: the Story of Fire wanted to ignite adventures and acts of heroism, while the Story of Water dreamt of sacrifice and surrender. The Story of Air tended to obsess over knowledge and its price, and the Story of Earth held fast to the dark mysteries of reproduction and rebirth.
Hunting for the thread of story in the major and minor arcana, I turned to myth, fairy tales, folklore. In the story of Persephone I found the rich soil of Earth; in the scriptural narrative of Eden I found the sharp breath of Air. In the lore of Odin I found the magic tidepools of Water, and in legends of heroic Hercules Fire burned across the sky. These tales, and many more, all found their way into 4 Stories: An Elemental Approach to the Tarot.
For me, 4 Stories is more than just yet another technique for reading tarot. We live in troubled times, when simply being human can seem like a daily challenge. To me, the web of Story offers comfort and reassurance that—no matter the ease or difficulty of what we face—meaning abides in all of it. When I bear 10 fiery wands on my back, I know my burden buys me a kingdom. When 8 cups threaten to drown me, I know that I shall wash up on the shores of peace, under a rainbowed sky.
We have always turned to storytellers to make sense of our lives and reconcile with Fate. As you read 4 Stories, I hope you will spread your cards beneath the starry sky and know that you, too, have a story worth sharing.