The Minor Arcana
The Minor Arcana consists of the remaining 56 cards of the deck. These cards are divided into four suits: Cups, Swords, Pentacles and Wands. Each suit has 14 cards beginning with Ace and numbering through Ten with four additional Court cards (Page, Knight, Queen and King). The Minor Arcana represents themes and patterns occurring in day-to-day life. While the Major Arcana offers perspective into the higher influences and turning points, the Minor cards provide insight into smaller decisions regarding the daily ups and downs. Don’t forget that these daily decisions add up over time to create a larger scale picture of life, so never underestimate the messages that these cards bring.
Each suit in the deck represents an overall theme. Cups refer to our emotions, intuition, love, relationships, spiritual experiences and inner states of being. Swords rules our intellect, thoughts, ethics, morals and harmonies/disharmonies of the mind. Wands are indicative of creativity, growth, action and enterprise. Pentacles are ruled by wealth, security and material concerns. All four elements are represented in the Minor cards including Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Pay attention to which suits are being drawn as they may indicate areas of life that require more thought, energy and focus. The cards we draw are not always the cards we want, but they are the cards necessary to pass along important messages to guide us along our way.
