In my previous post, I talked about some of the ways readers could interpret the major arcana cards. These big picture cards tend to follow the storyline of The Fool (0), and finding them in a spread denote “major” milestones for the querent. So what about the Minor Arcana? The second half of the tarot is composed of 56 cards and is broken down into four suits, each of which contain 14 cards. They can be broken down even further to the pip cards and court cards (that’ll be for a whole ‘nother blog post).

What makes the minor arcana so special?

Like I said before, the minor arcana are typically sectioned into four suits featuring the Wands suit, the Cups suit, the Swords suit, and the Pentacles suit. These suits are what give the Minor Arcana cards character since each mirrors a different aspect of life, like the Major Arcana. Unlike the Major Arcana, however, the Minor Arcana holds a temporary influence over your life. These cards may show events, interactions or energies that are changeable. The Minor Arcana can also represent personality traits or people, specifically with the court cards. Below, I’ll be providing a brief introduction and my thoughts on each suit.

The Four Suits: Troves of Intricacies

Trove One: The Wands Suit

Sidenote: I love it when a tarot deck starts with the Wands suit. The bold energy of these cards are just eager to be at the top. The Wands suit is the gas to your soul purpose and your motivation. This suit can represent your creativity and inspiration as well. If I could pick a word to represent this suit, it’s enthusiasm. There’s no hiding your face with this suit. It’s expressive and corresponds to where in your life you may need to be more adventurous and confident. The Wands suit encourages you to embrace new opportunities and your desires. This suit is commonly represented by the element of fire, and thus, shows parts of life where you can ignite your passion into action.

Trove Two: The Cups Suit

While the Wands suit is emotive and expressive, the Cups suit represents in-depth feelings. The Cups suits show feelings falling inward to the querent, as well as the emotional connections we have with others. This suit also represents love, personal development, and spirituality. The Cups cards can also speak on the capacity of the querent’s intuition. For instance, the Eight of Cups can signal a moment where the querent needs to understand when it’s a good time to walk away from something that doesn’t serve them anymore. The Cups tarot cards also correspond to creativity as well as the element of water, analogous to its fluid nature ranging from flowing into teensy crevices to being able to become a powerful toppling wave.

Trove Three: The Swords Suit

The Sword suit tends to mirror the qualities of the mind. For example, you can see the cards reflect beliefs, thoughts, ideas and attitudes. The Swords often represent challenging aspects of life like heartbreak, ego conflicts, power struggles, and anxiety. They show us the objective reality of a situation and can represent the double-edged quality of using your intellect. They can show us what we can accomplish through sheer will, like taking calculated action or having ambitious drive. This is where the Swords suit can be more positive where it can represent courage and truth. But more often than not, when seeing Swords cards in a reading, the querent is being called to strike a balance. This suit is ruled by the element of air, an intangible substance, though invisible, can create mighty influence.

Trove Four: The Pentacles Suit

The Pentacles suit is the most grounded suit. Settled into the natural abundance of the earth, this suit often speaks to what we do with our resources. How do you shape your reality with what you have? This suit often represents our finances, work life, and/or our material possessions. It can speak to our foundations, like family or ancestry, and speaks to points of progress in your manifestation. On that note, you want to look to these cards when you’re trying to manifest something in your life because they may show the progression or proof of manifestation. This suit can also show aspects of greed, overindulgence, and not effectively managing one’s resources. It can tell us which part of life may need attention so life is in balance, i.e. your health. The Suit of Pentacles is ruled by the element of earth and can show you where you need to be supportive, nurturing, diligent and connected to nature’s abundance.

Like I said before, these are just my thoughts on the suits. Other readers may disagree, and that’s okay with me. I’d like to do a more in-depth look at each suit at some point. But, for now, here are the Cliff Notes. If there’s anything you’d like to ask or comment, please feel free to leave one on this post.

Happy reading!