Tarot Card Interpretation & Meaning - The Minor Arcana


The Minor Arcana, though basically considered somewhat less spiritually important than the “Majors” in the tarot deck, are actually far from minor. They 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.) In exactly the same way as playing cards are, they are broken out into suits, which are called different things in different decks.

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 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 suit so beginners are advised to consider starting with one well known deck (e.g. the Rider-Waite) learning and working with that one for several months to a year or more, before branching out to other decks, to cut down on confusion.

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Ace of Cups
2 of Cups
3 of Cups
4 of Cups
5 of Cups
6 of Cups
7 of Cups
8 of Cups
9 of Cups
10 of Cups
Page of Cups
Knight of Cups
Queen of Cups
King of Cups
Ace of Cups Reversed
2 of Cups Reversed
3 of Cups Reversed
4 of Cups Reversed
5 of Cups Reversed
6 of Cups Reversed
7 of Cups Reversed
8 of Cups Reversed
9 of Cups Reversed
10 of Cups Reversed
Page of Cups Reversed
Knight of Cups Reversed
Queen of Cups Reversed
King of Cups Reversed
 
 
Ace of Pentacles
2 of Pentacles
3 of Pentacles
4 of Pentacles
5 of Pentacles
6 of Pentacles
7 of Pentacles
8 of Pentacles
9 of Pentacles
10 of Pentacles
Page of Pentacles
Knight of Pentacles
Queen of Pentacles
King of Pentacles
Ace of Pentacles Reversed
2 of Pentacles Reversed
3 of Pentacles Reversed
4 of Pentacles Reversed
5 of Pentacles Reversed
6 of Pentacles Reversed
7 of Pentacles Reversed
8 of Pentacles Reversed
9 of Pentacles Reversed
10 of Pentacles Reversed
Page of Pentacles Reversed
Knight of Pentacles Reversed
Queen of Pentacles Reversed
King of Pentacles Reversed
 
 
 
 
Ace of Swords
2 of Swords
3 of Swords
4 of Swords
5 of Swords
6 of Swords
7 of Swords
8 of Swords
9 of Swords
10 of Swords
Page of Swords
Knight of Swords
Queen of Swords
King of Swords
Ace of Swords Reversed
2 of Swords Reversed
3 of Swords Reversed
4 of Swords Reversed
5 of Swords Reversed
6 of Swords Reversed
7 of Swords Reversed
8 of Swords Reversed
9 of Swords Reversed
10 of Swords Reversed
Page of Swords Reversed
Knight of Swords Reversed
Queen of Swords Reversed
King of Swords Reversed
 
 
Ace of Wands
2 of Wands
3 of Wands
4 of Wands
5 of Wands
6 of Wands
7 of Wands
8 of Wands
9 of Wands
10 of Wands
Page of Wands
Knight of Wands
Queen of Wands
King of Wands
Ace of Wands Reversed
2 of Wands Reversed
3 of Wands Reversed
4 of Wands Reversed
5 of Wands Reversed
6 of Wands Reversed
7 of Wands Reversed
8 of Wands Reversed
9 of Wands Reversed
10 of Wands Reversed
Page of Wands Reversed
Knight of Wands Reversed
Queen of Wands Reversed
King of Wands Reversed