The Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana are 56 cards separated into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles.

As Tarot descended from poker suits you may be able to remember them that way. Wands are clubs (action); Cups are hearts (emotion); Swords are spades (communication); and Pentacles are diamonds (material possessions).

Of the 56, there are 16 Court Cards (four per suit), also known as Royal or Face Cards. Court Cards depict the individual suit’s energy within different types of people in different stages of life.

The other 40 cards are numbered cards: Ace (1) through Ten for each suit. Each card is either fully illustrated with a unique drawing like my tarot deck or is a “pip” card which uses repeating patterns similar to poker cards.

The cards of each suit are progressive energies from a new beginning to completion. In Alchemy the archetypal four elements or energies combine to form the world and are ranked in Tarot according to alchemist elemental “weights”, Wands, ruled by Fire, are first and considered the lightest element since Fire always flows up. Next is Cups because Water always flows down from the heavens. The third heaviest alchemist element is Air since it flows across the earth. The forth and final suit is Pentacles ruled by Earth which is the heaviest element that all others act upon.

All the suits correspond to four elements and together the suits and elements correspond to various facets of everyday life and those we meet.

WANDS:

Fire, action, passion, purpose, inspiration, ambition, Spirit, creation. Represented by the western zodiac signs of Leo, Sagittarius and Aries. Read about the Suit of Wands.

CUPS:

Water, emotions, feelings, relationships, love, intuition, connection, subconscious. Represented by the western zodiac signs of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. Read about the Suit of Cups.

SWORDS:

Air, communication, intellect, thought, aggression, strife, force, movement. Represented by the western zodiac signs of Gemini, Aquarius and Libra. Read about the Suit of Swords.

PENTACLES:

Earth, career, health, money, physical possessions, fertility, education, building, business. Represented by the western zodiac signs of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. Read about the Suit of Pentacles.

COURT CARDS

Depending on your intuition, you can read Royal Cards as actual people, as personality traits or as phases in a journey or endeavor. These cards are very mercurial according to the individual doing the reading.

PAGE:

Naivety, children, dreamers, messengers, muses, young-at-heart adults, inexperience in a particular area or the beginning of a journey, fresh, unbiased.

KNIGHT:

Young adults, teenagers, action, idealism, mobility, impulse, initiation, determination, vitality, passion, advantage, adventure, enthusiasm.

Knights are paired historically with horses. Only two knights are pictured with horses in my deck but I thought it important to list the historical correlations of the horses.

The Knight of Wands rides a blonde horse whose function is to battle.
The Knight of Cups rides a pale horse whose function is to cut down.
The Knight of Swords rides a white horse whose function is to conquer.
The Knight of Pentacles rides a black horse whose function is to determine.

QUEEN:

Inwardly mature, fertile, nurturing adults who are subtle in their reign, intuition, support, reliability, presence, femininity, beauty, provision, knowledge, alignment, leads by example.

KING:

Mature experienced adults who have reached the pinnacle of suit’s energy and authority, outwardly mature, masculinity, order, representation, control, status, wisdom, command, domination, strategy, sound judgement, territoriality, leads by actions and setting guidelines.

Each Court Card has the element of their individual suit associated with them but also a royal element capturing the energies of all the royal cards of like-kind. This royal element is secondary to the suit element.

All Pages are associated with Earth.
All Knights are associated with Fire.
All Queens are associated with Water.
All Kings are associated with Air.