AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’ve made several attempts to come up with a reliable method for timing future events with the tarot cards. So far, success has eluded me because every innovation has remained susceptible to producing irrational answers that don’t accurately reflect the context of the question (e.g. short-turnaround situations too often receive grossly exaggerated long-term forecasts). The best I’ve been able to do is “finesse” the predictions along a “floating” time-line as shown in the table below. I’ve posted it before but believe that it deserves more thorough scrutiny.

As a rule, Fire is considered the most numinous of the classical elements because in Qabalism it doubles for Spirit. Its energetic action nominates it as the most expeditious in delivering results. Although some would swap the two because we can see Fire but Air is invisible, Air is deemed second in mutability and fluidity, and therefore it’s the runner-up in promptness. Water is thicker and slower than Air and Earth is glacial in comparison to the rest. These are the common “ballpark” assumptions used in many “day/week/month/year” timing models.

Number theory, hierarchical rank/posture and astrological considerations also figure in to modulate the relative swiftness one way or the other. (Note that the seasonal periods indicated do not represent target windows but merely the “soonest” or “latest” in arrival. Regarding the “posture” of the court cards, mounted is the earliest, standing is tardier and seated is the most delayed, all adjusted according to suit.)

The finesse I’ve applied is to break the floating time-line into six sub-categories as shown in the table:

“Very Soon,” occupied by the first three Major Arcana, the Fool, the Magician and the High Priestess, along with the Tower, representing the volatile Uranus, the fleeting Moon, the nimble Mercury and the urgent Mars; the four Aces and the Knights of Wands and Swords;

“Fairly Soon,” the signature of the next two trump cards, the Empress and the Emperor, plus the Lovers, corresponding to the “Spring” factors of Venus, Aries and Gemini; the Twos and Threes; the Pages of Wands and Swords; and the Knight of Cups;

“Sooner Rather Than Later,” encompassing the Chariot, Strength and the Sun that relate to the “Summer” period; the Fours and Fives; the Queen and King of Wands; and the Page of Cups;

“Later Rather Than Sooner,” including the Hierophant, the Hermit, Justice and the Wheel of Fortune that – except for the Hierophant’s link to the plodding Earth-sign Taurus – are associated with the “Autumn” change-of-seasons in Virgo, Libra and (by a metaphysical stretch) Sagittarius roped in by the Wheel’s Jupiter connection; the Sixes and Sevens; the Queen and King of Swords; and the Knight of Pentacles;

“Delayed,” involving Death, Temperance, the Star and the Moon, all cards that represent the “mid-Autumn” through “late-Winter” months and the signs Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquarius and Pisces; the Eights and Nines; the Queen and King of Cups; and the Page of Pentacles;

“Greatly Delayed,” represented by the Hanged Man (Neptune), the Devil (Capricorn), Judgement (Pluto) and the World (Saturn) as symbols of the more ponderous planets and the sign of the Winter Solstice; the Tens; and the Queen and King of Pentacles.

This system isn’t perfect, but rather than relying on the Golden Dawn’s model with its “Chaldean” zodiacal months that I’ve never found accurate in “real-world” terms, I tried to roll in more philosophical assumptions based on archetypal, numerological and hierarchical distinctions as well as the seasonal associations of astrology. I’ve come up with a set of loose ranges that can be adapted to the temporal complexion of any question through the use of a little common sense. These classifications will apply when one of the designated cards appears: 1) as the “outcome” card of a reading; 2) in an assigned “timing” position of the spread used; or 3) as part of a preponderance of several cards from the same range regardless of spread position.