Hearts are great: We all need one to live, and we could usually do with a few in our bridge hands. But how much do you know about the suit and what it represents?

Here’s a look at a few fascinating facts about the card suit and its various associations.

Hearts Represents the Water Element

There are four elements and four card suits, so it’s only natural for the two to eventually have started becoming associated with one another. For hearts, it represents the element of water, which in turn is associated with the planets Venus and Mars, with the wind direction of West and the color blue.

It’s not all that important to know unless you’re an alchemist, but still interesting.

The Suit of Hearts Represented the Church

Closer to the Middle Ages, card suits were said to represent the four arms of the then-governance: Spades represented the army, while clubs stood for agriculture, diamonds for merchants and the suit of hearts meant the church.

Ironic, since the church didn’t exactly “heart” cards or card playing back then: Most card games and decks were considered the work of the devil.

The Song “Queen of Hearts” Was Written by Hank DeVito

Even though the song Queen of Hearts was made famous by singer Juice Newton, it was written by artist Hank DeVito and first performed by Dave Edmunds. The Newton version was a Billboard #2 for two weeks.

In Tarot, Hearts Represents the Suit of Cups

If you’re a tarot card player or reader, the suit of hearts is equivalent to the tarot suit of cups and can be substituted accordingly when working with a regular card deck. Fortunes can be read just fine with a regular card deck: It’s just that a lot of people never imagine to try.

The King of Hearts is Called “The Suicide King”

The King of Hearts can be called several things, many of them too inappropriate to list here (but you can learn them on the poker circuit) thanks to the fact that he’s the only King in the deck with a sword through his head. Must be pretty uncomfortable!