Minor Arcana: Ruling Elements & Realms of Consciousness
The multi-dimensional nature of the foundation on which tarot is structured is fascinating. The 78 cards that comprise a tarot deck are divided into two groups: major arcana and minor arcana. (The word arcana means "secret" or "mystery.")
The 22 major arcana cards represent major life milestones or lessons, while the 56 minor arcana cards deal more with day-to-day events.
Minor Arcana
The minor arcana is sub-divided into four suits:
Swords/Spades
Cups/Chalices
Wands/Rods
Pentacles/Discs
Each suit includes cards ranging from the Ace (or zero) through to the King.
And there are four court cards within each suit are assigned additional associations:
King/Shaman
Queen/Priestess
Knight/Son
Page/Daughter
To begin reading the tarot from a level that goes beyond simply calling on intuition and personal interpretation of a card's meaning, you must first start with a foundational understanding of the structure underlying the composition of the cards.
Suits & Courts
The four suits are representative of both a natural element and a realm of consciousness:
Swords: Air / Mental
Cups: Water / Emotional
Wands: Fire / Spiritual
Discs: Earth / Physical
In addition, the court cards embody their own natural element:
King: Air
Queen: Water
Knight: Fire
Page: Earth
Minor Arcana Example Breakdowns
So for example, when you pull the King of Wands, it's of value to run your initial perceptions, born from the images on the card, through a lens that takes into account that the foundational nature of the Wands is spiritual.
Wands are rooted in fire, passion, inspiration, action, and creativity. And because we're looking at the King, these characteristics are tinged with the King's personification of the mental realms and the qualities associated with Air.
**To grasp how the blending of characteristics might be weighted, I like to think of each minor arcana suit as a family. And within each family there are four characters (the court cards.)
For the King of Wands, we would understand that the most basic level, this card was born into a family with spiritual/fire elements. This card differentiates from the other 13 cards in its suit by exhibiting its unique tendency towards Air or the mental and intellectual realms.
**Let's move to another example.
If we were to look at the Page of Cups, it would be important to filter our intuition through the foundational nature of the Cups which is emotional.
Cups represent the fluid nature of feelings, emotions, empathy, and love. Blended with the Page's personification of the physical realm we need to consider the qualities associated with Earth.
This combination of elements and realms of consciousness continues throughout the minor arcana:
The foundational nature of Swords is mental. Swords deal with everything related to thoughts, communication, intellect, and observations.
The foundational nature of Pentacles is physical. Pentacles deal with everything related to stability, health, and wealth.
The Queen's personification of the emotional realm is ruled by Water.
The Knight's personification of the spiritual realm is ruled by Fire.
Additional Minor Arcana Associations
Taking it a step further, we can also begin to understand how each suit is aligned to a season (whether that be an actual season indicated by traditional weather patterns), or a season of life:
Swords: Winter / Old Age
Cups: Spring / Childhood
Wands: Summer / Youth
Discs: Autumn / Middle Age
And this is just the beginning. The minor arcana cards are also indicators of the zodiac (astrological signs), masculine/feminine traits, and shared personal themes running through the human experience.
If you're interested in going into more detail, this is a great post with tons of information, including connections to Jungian philosophy.
And if you want to learn more about reading tarot cards or other ways to develop your intuitive reading abilities, be sure to check out the free workshops and online classes I offer!