Card Captor Sakura>> The Cards
Elemental Cards
The Elemental Cards are the most powerful of the cards, and they represent the four elements of Nature according the Western tradition (Earth, Wind, Fire, Water. They all have the same amount of magical power, but they have different personalities, and so some of them are more agressive than the others, which makes them more dangerous.
1) The Windy
Element: Air/ Wind
In the Western esoteric tradition, air represents the mind and thoughts, communication, learning processes, intelligence, independence, the future (intuition), and coolness. Therefore, The Windy has a very subtle energy and she always acts in a very calm way, which makes her seem wise. Also, when Sakura draws the Clow Cards to read the future, The Windy is the first card that comes up, which means, according to Kero-chan, that the cards are ready to communicate with her.
The air signs in of the Zodiac are Libra, Aquarius and Gemini.
The color that represents air is yellow, thoug sometimes we see it represented by green, specially in Anime series. This is because air can be seen only when it makes the leaves of the trees move. If we take a close look at The Windy, we'll see she has some sort of yellow tiara on her head (in the Clow version of the card it is sometimes colored in green, it depends on the episode).
2) The Firey
Element: Fire
In the Western esoteric tradition, fire repesents passion, agressiveness, cheerfulness, leadership, self-expresion, self-confidence, self-assertiveness, ego drives, courage, pride, and sometimes selfishness. We can see this pride and courage in the attitude of The Firey, and even though this card has the exact same amount of magical energy as the other elemental cards, because of its passionate and agressive personality it is far more dangerous than the other cards (except maybe for The Earthy).
The fire signs of the Zodiac are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. Let me point out that Cerberus is a lion (symbol of Leo) and he gets his powers from The Firey.
The representative color of fire is red, and we can see a red stone on The Firey's head.
3) The Watery
Element: Water
Water represents feelings, emotions, religion, magic, the unconcsious mind, secrets, beliefs, the heart, sensitivity, love and tenderness. However, people influenced by the element of water can sometimes be extremely sweet and understanding, while some other times they can be very agressive and moody. It doesn't come as a surpruise, then, that The Watery is more agressive than The Windy. However, its agressiveness comes from its huge emotional world rather than from its pride, like in The Firey's case.
The water Zodiac signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.
The color that represents water is blue, which is why we can see a blue ornament on The Watery's head.
4) The Earthy
Element: Earth
Earth stands for traditions, ancient knowledge, the past, nurture, motherhood, structure, organization, solidity, reliablility and stability. Earth is everywhere, and it is the element where plants grow and people can live, which is why The Earthy looks like a gentle mother. She looks like a mature woman, unlike most of the other cards, which look like young people (except for The Windy, The Time, The Big, The Wood, The Light and The Dark). But exactly because we depend on earth to live, whenever it's instable or "angry" it becomes specially destructive for us. This is why The Earthy is so powerful and destructive underneath that peaceful look.
The earth signs of the Zodiac are Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo.
The representative color of earth in the western esoteric tradition is green becasuse it is related to plants and Nature. However, we can see this element represented by brown in many Anime series.
There is one card I would like to point out as a special case:
The Wood
This one is not considered an Elemental Card, but to me, it is almost one. First of all, even though this is a very peaceful and calm card, it was the only one powerful enough to defeat The Earthy, since, with its roots, the tree trapped and almost broke The Earthy to pieces. This event is based, in my opinion, on the five Chinese elements and the relationship among them.
In the Chinese esoteric tradition, the elements are not four but five: Water, Fire (so far, so good), metal (instead of air) and wood. Theoretically, the relationships between these elements form a circle of of destruction: Metal destroys wood (by chopping off the trees), fire destroys metal (by melting it), water destroys fire (by extinguishing it), earth destroys water (by turning it into mud), and wood destroys earth (the roots of the trees penetrate and break earth).
Therefore, form this poin of view, The Wood can be considered some kind of Elemental Card. We have to admit that, even though technically speaking it is not, it is pretty powerful. Also, let's remember that Clow used both, Chinese and Western traditions when he created the Clow Cards.
