Four armed or forewarned?

In a previous post I promised to follow up on how the 4 power objects of  Vishnu were related to the 4  card suits of the Tarot Minor Arcana. Well, after doing a bit of research I discovered that not only are there are several Hindu gods with four arms, but I also could find no research saying that Vishnu’s power objects were related to the Tarot card suits, so what follows is simply my best guess.

First of all, who is Vishnu? Vishnu is one of the major Hindu Gods, each of whom have a distinct role in the world. While Brahma is the creator god and Shiva is the destroyer, Vishnu is known as the preserver. His job is to maintain the balance between good and evil that gets us through our daily lives. This is interesting since the Minor Arcana cards represent everyday people and events.

Vishnu’s power objects are the mace, the conch, the discus and the lotus. Here are my guesses as to how they might relate to the Tarot suits of wands, swords, coins and cups.

• The Mace matches visually with the suit of Wands. Vishnu’s mace stands for physical and mental strength. In the Tarot, wands represent the element of fire and the qualities of energy, optimism and eagerness.
• Vishnu’s Conch shell is blown to produce the primordial sound of creation: OM. Though it is not visually similar, since it’s operated by the element of air that might link it to the Tarot suit of swords (air) which rule thought and direction.
• Vishnu’s Discus is a weapon with the ability to destroy evil. It is also associated with the wheel of time. Visually it certainly matches up with the Tarot suit of coins. Coins are associated with the element of earth and the material world, and of course, money. I can’t find an easy link here, but the phrase that “money is the root of all evil” springs to mind- and the wheel of time is a reminder that everything in the material world will eventually pass away - perhaps Vishnu’s discus can protect us from the destructive side of materialism.
• ​Vishnu’s Lotus and the suit of cups seem like a perfect match. The lotus represents Vishnu’s abode on the water, creativity, purity, divinity, spiritual liberation, creation and birth. The Tarot suit of cups represents the element of water: feeling, depth, divine inspiration, nourishment and fertility. 

So maybe there’s a connection and maybe there isn’t. In doing the research for this post I learned that there have been so many versions and interpretations of the card suits through the centuries that any direct connection between Vishnu and today’s Tarot is probably not a thing. But that does not make it any less fascinating to consider.

​Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear if you have any further ideas and information on this subject.
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