The Minor Arcana
The 56 Minor Arcana cards, in four suits, describe concrete everyday life rather than the fate-level themes of the Major Arcana.
The four suits
| Suit | Element | Focus | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Suit of Wands | Fire | will, action, creativity, career, passion | Active, outgoing and direct; the question is often "should I do it, and how?" |
| The Suit of Cups | Water | emotion, relationships, intuition, the inner life | Fluid and highly receptive; the question is often "what am I feeling, and how is the relationship going?" |
| The Suit of Swords | Air | thought, communication, conflict, truth | Sharp and rational, which can also wound; the question is often "what am I thinking, what was said, what is the argument about?" |
| The Suit of Pentacles | Earth | material things, the body, money, daily life | Stable, slow and tangible; the question is often about money, health or concrete results |
The way the four elements support or oppose one another is the basis for understanding how the suits interact (see Elemental Dignities). Fire and Air are friendly (both are active and outward), and so are Water and Earth (both are inward and receptive). Fire and Water oppose each other, as do Air and Earth.
The temperament of each element
The table above gives each suit's area of focus and a broad character label. This section adds a finer comparison of the four elements, which helps tell apart two suits that both look active or both look inward:
- Fire (Wands): masculine and outward. Of the four it is the most visible, tangible energy. What a Wands card describes can usually be read straight from the action in the picture, with little guesswork, because a Fire person tends to act on a thought almost as soon as they have it. It corresponds to Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. Its strengths are drive, optimism, directness and the nerve to take risks; its weaknesses are impulsiveness, a quick temper and a certain bluntness, so that unless something is said outright, the subtext gets missed. Fire gives light and heat, and it can also burn, so Wands cards often carry a hint of risk or even danger.
- Water (Cups): feminine and inward. It needs time alone to recharge. It corresponds to Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio. Its strengths are sensitivity, warmth, helpfulness and consideration; its weaknesses are moodiness, touchiness and suspicion. A Water person who feels their affection has not been treated well can turn resentful and find indirect ways to make the other person realize they have been hurt, instead of confronting them openly. Water flows, yet if nothing stirs it, it stays fairly still; once it is disturbed, the ripples and swells last a long time.
- Air (Swords): masculine and outward, but what goes outward is ideas rather than action. Swords people enjoy putting their thoughts into words, and debating and exchanging views is a satisfaction in itself. It corresponds to Aquarius, Gemini and Libra. Its strengths are intelligence, planning, strong communication and efficiency; its weaknesses are a bluntness that can hurt, impatience, and opinions that change so quickly they seem fickle. Air also moves outward, but it cannot be held and leaves no trace, which is why the Swords suit is more abstract in meaning than the other three.
- Earth (Pentacles): feminine and inward, but in a different way from Water. Water takes in feelings; Earth takes in security and material foundations. Like the ground itself, it quietly carries everything, and it gives back only what has been sown. It corresponds to Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. Its strengths are practicality, order, steadiness and care for health; its weaknesses are stolidity, stubbornness, slowness to react and an overly practical outlook.
Fire and Water are often compared directly. Fire speaks to what someone has done for a matter, how firm their will is and what they are willing to give; it is outward action. Water speaks to what someone feels inside and what they hope for from a relationship; it is inward feeling. Looking at the same situation through a Wands card and through a Cups card gives information on two entirely different levels.
One situation, four suits
The quickest way to grasp the character of the suits is to imagine the same situation handled by each of them. Say a friend is going through a hard time. Wands-style care means acting at once: getting in touch directly and arranging to do something useful. Cups-style care means quietly keeping an eye on how the friend is doing and offering emotional company and understanding; it may not involve many words, but the friend feels thought of. Swords-style care means starting a conversation, helping the friend work out where the problem lies, and talking the ideas through fully. Pentacles-style care means practical help: a meal, some money, steady company over a long stretch, showing concern through visible actions more than words. None of the four is better than the others. The same goodwill simply takes a different shape after it passes through a different element.
The structure inside each suit
Each suit has 14 cards in two groups:
- Number cards, Ace to 10: these show the suit's energy at different stages of development, and they are explained by one shared scheme, Numbers in Tarot. In any suit, a Three carries the sense of "first taking shape, with other people starting to get involved". For Wands that means having partners in a venture, for Cups celebrating with friends, for Pentacles getting recognition at work. The fastest way to learn the Minor Arcana is to understand the meanings of the numbers and the character of the suits separately, then combine the two to get each card's meaning, instead of memorizing 40 unrelated definitions. Overall, the number cards reflect the small, concrete matters of daily life that change easily. Being in a good mood and having dinner with friends today is one state; being alone and quiet tomorrow after the friends have gone is another. This kind of fluctuation is normal for the number cards, so there is no need to treat the situation shown on any one of them as fixed and final.
- Court cards, Page, Knight, Queen and King: these show the suit's energy as it looks in a person. That person may be one side of the querent, or a specific person in the querent's life; see The Court Cards. When a court card comes up in answer to a practical question, besides reading it directly as a person, the reader can approach it from two angles: whether someone with this temperament would succeed at the matter, or whether the state the card represents is mature. The more mature court cards (King, Queen) usually suggest the matter is on solid ground, while the less mature ones (Page) suggest it is likely to shift.
Relationship to the Major Arcana
The Minor Arcana describe specific events; the Major Arcana describe the larger theme those events sit within. In one reading, a Wands card paired with The Lovers and a Wands card paired with The Tower point to matters of completely different kinds. The minor cards supply the details, and the major cards supply weight and direction. A spread with very few major cards and many minor ones usually means the querent is in a phase of everyday routine, with no fate-level turning point under way.