Minor Arcana
The Minor Arcana are the 56 tarot cards divided into four suits: Cups, Swords, Wands and Pentacles. Each suit runs from Ace to Ten and is completed by four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen, King). Where the Major Arcana speak of great themes, the Minor Arcana tell the story of daily life: concrete situations, gestures, relationships and the practical tasks of everyday living.
How they are organized
You can picture the Minor Arcana as a deck of four families, close to an ordinary playing-card set. Each suit carries an element and an area of life. The numbers unfold a progression, and the court cards stage people or attitudes you recognize around you, or within yourself.
What they illuminate
When Minor cards dominate your spread, look at practical ground: your work, your bonds, your money, your energy right now. They often answer the how and the where. Read them as cues from daily life, a mirror held toward your days rather than toward some grand destiny.
Sources
- , Tarot for Your Self (1984)
- , The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910)