Apart from the symbolic orientation typically used in tarot reading (left refers to “the past,” right shows “the future,” up reveals matters and down conceals them), there are directional suit dynamics to consider. When you think of it in those terms, the assignment of the function of Spirit alternately to the tarot suits of Fire (typically Wands) or Air (most commonly Swords) is perfectly understandable. Their buoyant elemental energy “rises,” heralding aspiration and inspiration, while, at least in the realm of physics, Water (and almost any liquid of low viscosity at ambient temperature) “falls” in seeking the lowest point of any system it enters, where Earth is waiting patiently for it. In practical terms using standard meanings, Wands might be seen as actively “rising to the occasion” while Swords could denote “rising expectations” (or perhaps only “rising tempers”), and Cups may on one hand signify “that sinking feeling” of conflicted emotions and on the other a “settling out” or “smoothing over” of turbulence; for its part, Earth – having fallen as far as it can go – simply “abides.” Due to their innovative, forward-looking mobility, Air and Fire could be considered both idealistic and impractical, while Water and Earth are more retentive of past impressions (they “take a shape” and hold onto it).

As I see it, these elemental mechanics should play a part in every reading as a way to “stratify” the influences according to their intrinsic nature, and can be brought to bear on the courts and trumps as well as the small cards by using the sign-and-planet correspondences of astrology. The idea of “preponderance or deficiency according to dignity” – an abundance or absence of any interpretive factor(s) – in a reading plays very well with these assumptions. While not necessarily negative, these asymmetrical conditions can be a handful as with any imbalance. In her book Tarot Decoded, Elizabeth Hazel offers many illuminating insights on this subject.

Numerous Wands could reflect a scattering of one’s energy – “too many irons in the fire” – and an inability to focus on any one, while no Wands could mean a lack of energy or enthusiasm to take on a task (or possibly just a “down-time” of total inactivity – not always a bad thing).

Many Swords might mean endless conflicts and disagreements or a wealth of innovative ideas, depending on which implication the rest of the cards support, while a lack of Swords energy suggests a “mental block” or “drawing a blank” – inability to see the point in a situation.

Lots of Cups could imply a surfeit of sentimentality that masks rational inconsistencies in the outlook, while no Cups gives the impression of absent or suppressed feelings where a little sensitivity might be called for.

A multitude of Pentacles (aka Disks or Coins) can indicate either mundane plenitude (and maybe an unexpected “windfall”) or a heavy load of responsibility, while no Pentacles could describe an impractical state of affairs that offers little “purchase” in coming to grips with it.

In most cases there will be a mix of influences with no one element dominating the forecast. A surplus of a particular energy might convey either an “embarrassment of riches” or a case of “sensory overload” that can be sorted out and reliably quantified, but a shortage of one or more is where it gets interesting. Like a bodily function that “takes over” for one that has been disabled (think of the brain “rewiring” itself after a stroke), it might be possible to press a different suit into service to offset the deficiency, especially where an elementally “friendly” or otherwise cooperative suit is present. Air can stand in for Fire (some tarot writers have even swapped their suit correspondences) and Earth has sympathies with Water as a passive mode of expression. The context of the question – and helpful input from the querent – should lend itself to this determination.