The Minor Arcana

Now that we have covered all 22 cards of the Major Arcana, it is time to consider the 56 remaining cards known as the Minor Arcana.

The minor arcana is divided into four suits, in much the same way as a simple deck of playing cards, only the names of the suits will change and there are four Court Cards per tarot suit not three as with playing cards:



Clubs             become    Staffs or Wands
Hearts           become    Cups or Chalices

Spades          become    Swords
Diamonds     become    Pentacles or Coins


In a tarot deck, each suit contains a set of four Court Cards (King, Queen, Knight and Knave) followed by cards numbered 1-10, known as Pip Cards.

Each suit is also associated with one of the four elements, social status and abilities:

Wands        Fire         Less well off people                              Creativity
Cups          Water     Professional/Vocational people         Emotional
Pentacles  Earth      Merchants/ Dealers                             Material
Swords     Air           People who weld power                      Reason


Fire              Has the ability to bring warmth and re-birth, but also destruction if not controlled. It represents our creativity, ambition and insiration. As such it becomes the element that governs our desires, projects and achievements.

Water          When in it's normal state, the fluidity of water represents the ebb and flow of our emotions, relationships and affairs of the heart.  If frozen it can represtent challenges or stagnation. As steam, it could represent emotional turmoil and a tendancy to over react. It governs the suit of Cups, which are good containers when handle correctly, but if knocked off balance, can readily spill their contents.

Earth           This is the element that realates to all things material, work, business, money and wealth. Success or failure will depend upon how strong the foundation is. Did you start on firm ground or soft? It is easy to see why when you consider where the worlds ecconomic wealth hails from. Whether it is precious metals, gems, gas or oil, all need to be removed from the Earth.

Air                Represents issuse surrounding character, intelligence, communication and values. As this element governs the suit of swords, it often suggest challenges that will test the mettle of a persons character, intelligence, communication skills and personal values.



Starting tomorrow, we will look at each card of the Minor Arcana commencing with the Ace of each suit. I hope you will all continue to follow through to the end.



Blessed Be.

Eva