Every tarot deck is a little different, but most traditional tarot decks can be divided into two portions, referred to as the Major and Minor Arcana. These sections help both newcomers and experienced tarot readers alike navigate through the intricacies of the individual cards by providing systems of meaning. These are like signposts, helping you find your way through all 78 unique cards, each of which is filled with visual metaphors and complex meanings on its own.
While the Major Arcana represents significant events and turning points in our lives, the Minor Arcana deals with the day-to-day aspects of our lives. The Major Arcana images are dramatic, archetypal, and often instantly recognizable: a star, a magician, an empress. The Minor Arcana can feel less compelling at first glance, but sometimes a little bit more challenging to interpret visually. Just like the Major cards, they are filled with visual symbolism and complexity that are important to their meaning. Despite their designation, these cards are no less important. In fact, they are vital to the fabric of your life.
The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits, each of which covers a different aspect of life. These suits are typically named the Cups, Swords, Wands, and Pentacles, though you may see them named in other ways. For example, the Wands may be called the Rods, or the Pentacles called the Coins. When they appear, they indicate active engagement with a particulate area in your life. Cups represent inner life, emotion, relationships, and matters of the heart. Swords represent intellectual life, our thoughts, ideas, and communication. Wands represent creative life, where we find our passion and energy. Finally, Pentacles represent material life, the concerns of, finances, career, and shared resources.
Beyond the indications of the suit, each card’s number and position in the cycle help inform the concerns for the card. Much like the Fool’s Journey in the Major Arcana, the Ace through 10 cycle of each suit provides a progression through challenges into different kinds of self-knowledge you need to grapple with in your daily life, and the page, queen, and king each represent specific aspects of a given suit. Knowing what the Aces share in common, for example, can be combined with knowledge of the themes of the suit to help you understand the basic interpretations of the card. This is a great tool to get started, and to follow along with your favorite reader as well.
The concerns crop up constantly, and the four suits help us understand the elemental aspects of our daily processes. The cycles they reveal often help us process hidden emotions and patterns we did not know we are creating in our habits, and they provide insight into our choices. By exploring the Minor Arcana, we can gain a deeper understanding of how we build our path one step at a time. When the many Minor Arcana cards arrive in your reading, make sure to take the time to listen to the messages they carry for you.