Trelawney's Tarot Tarot Reading

[abigaileire]

No: HPFGUIDX 135793

leslie41 wrote:
> But it's not just muttering. She's doing a reading.  She pulls out 
> the two of spades (conflict), seven of spades (ill omen), ten of 
> spades (violence), and knave of spades—"A dark young man,
possibly 
> troubled, who dislikes the questioner."
> 
> Trelawney is doing, in fact, a tarot card reading.  Spades are the 
> lesser arcana's version of swords, and the brief interpretations 
> that Trelawney gives as she walks support this. 

Abi replies:

One teeny problem I have come across, in the interview on TLC:
"JKR: It is the tradition to have four houses, but in this case, I 
wanted them to correspond roughly to the four elements. So Gryffindor 
is fire, Ravenclaw is air, Hufflepuff is earth, and Slytherin is 
water"

Gryffindor is fire, hmm?  And the symbol of Gryffindor is the sword, 
as in the sword that belonged to the founder.

So if JKR goes by this correspondence (a lesser used correspondence, 
but still common enough --- have had many a discussions on this 
myself!) then the spades in Trelawney's reading would be in fact from 
the fire suit.

The interpretations given in the OP were for the swords as considered 
the air suit.

So, here is a brief interpretation of the fire suit cards, as taken 
from "78 Degrees of Wisdom"

2:  He is bored, his accomplishments have only served to wall him 
in... [the] love of batle and challenge can leave one with no real 
satisfaction in actual accomplishments when the fight has been won... 
Here one person stands alone, walled in by his success."

7:  "... a card of conflict... here we see the battle itself... 
[fire] expect[s] to win, and they usually do... we become defensive 
and committed to fighting through an earlier experience of winning, 
staying on top... only later does the habit of constant battle close 
them in."

10:  "His [fire] eagerness has involved him in so many situtations 
that now, paradoxically, that very energy is weighed down with 
commitments and problems... He or she has made the situation and 
needs to realize that other approaches are still possible."

knave:  I was taught that when doing a tarot reading with playing 
cards, the "jack" was the knight, or, was a combination of the knight 
and page.  
According to 78 Degrees of Wisdom:  
Page:  "indicates the start of projects, and in particular an 
announcement to the world, and ourselves, that we are ready to begin 
either a project... or a new phase of life."
Knight:  "represents eagerness, action, movement for its own sake, 
andventure and travel.  Without some grounding influence all this 
excitement can dissipate itself as he tries to fly in every direction 
at once."

Maybe I am reading too much into her comment during the interview.  
  
However, if she was consistent, then the cards were actually fire 
cards.  Wonder which she actually meant?

~abi