understanding the minor arcana
Understanding the Minor Arcana can be challenging…but it' doesn’t have to be.
The Tarot deck is comprised of 78 cards, with a total of 56 Minor Arcana cards and four Nobles (Page, Knight, Queen and King) in each suit.
The Minor Arcana are split into four suits which each represent various aspects of life. This makes for 14 Minor Arcana cards per suit. Numerology can be employed to comprehend the deeper meaning behind the numbered arcana, ranging from Ace through 10.
The Suits of the Minor Arcana
Wands (Staves or Spears): The first suit represents a long object, whether it be a staff or wand by name. It encompasses growth, ideas and creativity. It is associated with the element of fire and the season of spring.
Cups- This suit represents emotional desire. The filled cups are symbolic of filled emotions. It encompasses affairs of the heart, desires and the inner self. It is associated with the element of water and the season of summer.
Pentacles (Shields or Coins): This suit is a round object of some sort, ranging from shields to coins. It represents material possessions. It encompasses money, wealth, health, prosperity and property. It is associated with the element of earth and the season of autumn.
Swords (Knives or Daggers): This is the suit of all things with sharp edges. It represents the intellectual self. It encompasses ideas, thoughts, morality, and strife. It is associated with the elements of air and the season of winter.
The Noble Cards of the Minor Arcana
The Page: The Page is a bearer of messages and the harbinger of communication. This card represents youth and the beginnings of maturity.
The Knight: The Knight is a traveler, one who brings change and good
deeds into the world. This card represents new relationships, friendship, courage and stability.
The Queen: The Queen is a strong female. She has the ability to lead, listen and guide. She represents the completion of relationships, jobs and projects, also a strong emotional person who knows where they are going and what they want.
The King: The King is a strong male figure. He is the leader of the suit, the end of it and the highest mark. He represents a mature and wise person who knows what they can and cannot accomplish.
The Number of the Minor Arcana
One/Ace: Represents beginnings, action, will, new ideas, creative power, potential, first causes, primary impulses, and positive activities.
Two: Represents partnerships, relationships, polarities, balancing, duality, choices, patience, stillness, and positive and negative.
Three: Represents synthesis, growth, creativity, abundance, collaboration, friendship, artistic expression, refining plans, and preparing to take action.
Four: Represents foundations, discipline, work, order stability, solidity, tangible achievement, and practical attainment.
Five: Represents new cycles, change, progress, shifts, adjustment, fine tuning, instability, challenge, versatility, freedom, and courage.
Six: Represents balance, health, beauty, harmony, contentment, relaxation, satisfaction, equilibrium, marriage, family, and sympathy.
Seven: Represents Spirituality, wisdom, perfect order, the macrocosm, religion, luck, magic, and multiple options.
Eight: Represents victory, will, success, regeneration, rebirth, reevaluating, putting things in order, and setting priorities.
Nine: Represents compassion, integration, movement, flexibility,
fulfillment, attainment and benevolence.
Ten: Represents transition, renewal to a new cycle, completion, wholeness, mastery, excess, and overabundance.