I taught a five-weekend "Living The Tarot" workshop years ago. Here is one of the interpretations I gave the participants:

The suits of the Tarot deck (Wands, Swords, Chalices, and Coins) represent the four different modes of colonization/imperialism/evangelism/conversion in the world:

Wands (Sceptres) represent colonization by a king's decree, or foreign policy.

Swords represent colonization by means of war, or forcible conquest.

Chalices (Clergy) represent colonization by religion.

And, finally, Coins represent colonization by commerce or trade, which was the main reason behind Spain's arrival in the Philippines.