Similar: Major Arcana, Tarot, Tarot Card
The Tarot cards are divided into two segments, called arcanas. There are 78 cards in each Tarot deck, 56 minor arcana cards are meant to complement the 22 major arcana. The minor arcana is divided into four suits.
The four Tarot suits are:
- Wands: Related to life purpose, energy, and motivation.
- Pentacles: Involving material things, career/hobbies, and successes.
- Swords: related to thoughts, words, and action.
- Cups: related to feelings, intuition, and connections to others.
If you were to look at a regular set of playing cards: The suit of cups corresponds with hearts, swords corresponds with spades, pentacles corresponds with diamonds, and wands correspond with clubs.
Each suit in the minor arcana has ten numbered Tarot cards (all with roman numerals) and four court cards. All of the court cards are represented by royalty – the queen, the king, the knight, and the page.
While the Major Arcana focuses on overlying themes, the minor arcana more often focuses on your daily life and what experiences you may have in relation to your questions.
In a Tarot reading, interpreting these cards will help you align your actions with the questions you have put forth. While these cards feature people, they are more likely to represent archetypal energy in Tarot readings, although sometimes they can point to an actual person.
Want more? Learn more about Tarot.Â
