Fitting for this forth post is a topic we have not covered yet: the structure of the tarot. (In numerology, the number 4 represents secure foundations.) Knowing the structure of the tarot helps us gain a clearer understanding of the overarching energies prevalent in the tarot.
The 78 cards of the tarot are divided into two parts: the major arcana and the minor arcana. The word arcanum (plural arcana) means secret knowledge. The major arcana consist of 22 cards, numbered 0 The Fool to XXI The World. The 56 cards of the minor arcana are divided into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.
The minor arcana
We’ll start with the minor arcana. Within each suit of the minor arcana, there are 10 numbered cards (Ace to 10) and four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen, and King). The four suits in the minor arcana correspond to the four elements: fire = wands, water = cups, air = swords, and earth = pentacles. Note: These correspondences may change depending on which system you are using. The only right or wrong answer when it comes to tarot is what feels right or wrong to you.
Here are some keywords to help us remember what each suit represents.
Wands (fire): passions, desires, drives, ambition, purpose, job
Cups (water): love, emotions, feelings
Swords (air): thoughts, the mind, the ego, conflict, challenges, truth, knowledge
Pentacles (earth): the physical world, finances, the body, security, the home
Take out each suit of your deck and flip through it. Do you see where these themes are expressed in the illustrations throughout the suit? For example, the grief and hurt felt in the Five of Cups stems from love, or the loss of it, in this case.
Knowing the general mood of each suit can help us when it comes to interpreting the cards in a reading. If we get a majority of one suit, this tells us that the qualities of that suit are having a strong influence on the situation. For example, if we are asking about something related to career or work and a lot of cups come up, we could infer that a lot of emotions are involved in whatever is going on. Perhaps strong personal feelings overshadow the work, or there may be drama in the workplace.
Here is another example. If we are asking about our romantic partner and get a lot of swords, maybe the problem is not love or the emotional connection, but certain thought patterns. There could be different ideas about where the relationship is headed. A well-devised strategy and good communication may be exactly what are needed to make things work out. We could try thinking of new ways to approach the bumps in the “relationship” road.
The major arcana
Now that we’ve taken a look at the 56 cards of the minor arcana and talked about the elements associated with each suit, let’s go back to the 22 cards of the major arcana. The major arcana are sometimes considered the fifth element (spirit). Through the story told from 0 The Fool to XXI The World, these cards illustrate the path to individuation. It can help to think of the minor cards as life’s day-to-day activities, and the major cards as life’s bigger lessons. The major arcana teach us how to grow as individuals and become true to who we are.
We’ll go back to our examples above to see how the major arcana can affect the same readings. Say we are asking about work again, but this time we get a majority of major arcana, followed by cups as the next most common suit. In this case, whatever may be going on at work will have a major impact on our lives. We will want to pay close attention to how we are processing the situation and our emotions towards it. These are the greatest opportunities for intimate, personal growth.
Or we have a majority of major arcana followed by swords in a reading about a romantic relationship. This would be an ideal opportunity to work on becoming a better communicator about our getting our needs met, while making sure the other person’s needs are met too. The lessons we learn from developing this strategy will be extremely important in how we approach future situations.
As always, these interpretations will depend on how the cards interact with the others in the reading. The more we work with tarot, the easier it will be to make the leap from having an understanding of the basic meanings to interpreting how the cards affect a particular situation. Our intuition is what allows us to pinpoint the meaning of the cards in each particular reading. By developing our sense of what feels right and learning to trust it, we will see our accuracy improve and confidence soar.
Blessings,
Violet