Minor Arcana

An Introduction to Minor Arcana Meanings

Although often considered somewhat less spiritually important than the majors in the tarot deck, the minor arcana meanings are actually far from minor. Cups, Pentacles, Swords, and Wands are archetypes or representatives for the day-to-day events in our lives, including the ones that are of major importance to us. They can include marriage, the birth of a child, job loss, and any other of a million different things.

• Cups
• Pentacles
• Swords
• Wands

Minor Arcana Meanings Acquire New Subtleties as You Get More Experienced

One of the things that makes tarot such an interesting and multi-faceted divination tool is the fact that over time, astrological, elemental, and other associations have developed for each suit. For example, the suit of Swords is generally associated with the element of air, and Wands with fire.

This is not something that beginners are advised to pay a great deal of attention to, however, as different decks have different associations; for example, the Art Nouveau Tarot has Wands associated with air and Swords with fire.

The Face Cards

The Minor Arcana, like playing cards, also have court or face cards in each suit. One major difference being that typical playing cards have “King, Queen and Jack” whereas tarot cards almost all have four face cards per suit in the minor arcana – generally called something along the lines of “King, Queen, Knight, and Page.”

Again, these suit cards can be called different things in different decks, so beginners are advised to consider starting with one well known deck, e.g. the Rider-Waite, and learning and working with that one for several months to a year or more, before branching out to other decks, so as to cut down on confusion.

Index | Major Arcana | Minor Arcana: Cups | Pentacles | Swords | Wands