Most of the cards in the Tarot deck are Minor Arcana cards. These cards fill out the deck, making it more balanced and complete. The 56 cards of the Minor Arcana are split into four suits. Each suit represents a different aspect of life and how energy manifests and moves through that area of life. Numerology can be used in conjunction with the Minor Arcana as the cards are numbered from 1 to 10 or Ace through 10. There are four nobles cards in each suit as well, the Page, Knight, Queen and King. This makes 14 cards in each suit.
The Suits of the Minor Arcana
Wands (Staves or Spears): This suit is associated with the force of will and creativity! Wands are sometimes referred to as staves but are usually represented by some form of wand-like stick. This suit encompasses growth, ideas and creativity. It is associated with the element of fire and the season of spring.
Cups This suit represents emotional desire. The filled cups are symbolic of filled emotions. It encompasses affairs of the heart, desires and the inner self. It is associated with the element of water and the season of summer.
Pentacles (Shields or Coins): This suit is often associated with a round object of some sort, ranging from shields to coins. It represents material possessions and resources. It encompasses money, wealth, health, prosperity and property. It is associated with the element of earth and the season of autumn.
Swords (Knives or Daggers): This is the suit of all things with sharp edges. It represents the intellectual self. It encompasses ideas, thoughts, morality, and strife. It is associated with the elements of air and the season of winter.
The Court Cards of the Minor Arcana
The Page: The Page is a bearer of messages and the harbinger of communication. This card represents youth and the beginnings of maturity.
The Knight: The Knight is a traveller, one who brings change and good deeds into the world. This card represents new relationships, friendship, courage and stability.
The Queen: The Queen is strong female energy. She has the ability to lead, listen and guide. She represents the completion of relationships, jobs and projects, also a strongly emotional person who knows where they are going and what they want.
The King: The King is strong male energy. He is the leader of the suit, the end of it and the highest mark. He represents a mature and wise person who knows what they can and cannot accomplish.
The Number Cards of the Minor Arcana
One/Ace: Represents beginnings, action, will, new ideas, creative power, potential, first causes, primary impulses, and positive activities.
Two: Represents partnerships, relationships, polarities, balancing, duality, choices, patience, stillness, and positive and negative.
Three: Represents synthesis, growth, creativity, abundance, collaboration, friendship, artistic expression, refining plans, and preparing to take action.
Four: Represents foundations, discipline, work, order, stability, solidity, tangible achievement, and practical attainment.
Five: Represents new cycles, change, progress, shifts, adjustment, fine-tuning, instability, challenge, versatility, freedom, and courage.
Six: Represents balance, health, beauty, harmony, contentment, relaxation, satisfaction, equilibrium, marriage, family, and sympathy.
Seven: Represents spirituality, wisdom, perfect order, the macrocosm, religion, luck, magic, and multiple options.
Eight: Represents victory, will, success, regeneration, rebirth, reevaluating, putting things in order, and setting priorities.
Nine: Represents compassion, integration, movement, flexibility,
fulfillment, attainment and benevolence.
Ten: Represents transition, renewal to a new cycle, completion, wholeness, mastery, excess, and overabundance.
When you're just getting started with Tarot, it can feel super intimidating to try and memorize all the cards and all the meanings associated with each one of them. The main strategy I teach my students to use is to focus on what the images portray. Each card tells a whole story while also building a platform for the story to continue in the depictions of the next cards. The story in each suit relates to aspects of the human experience that can be characterized as day-to-day interactions. The biggest favour you can do for yourself when first learning Tarot is to take your time learning and have fun. Right behind that, focus on the stories depicted in the cards and the metaphors and symbols that the story can correspond to.
Interested in learning more about Tarot? Essential Tarot Mastery is coming November 2022!
Alysa is a professional mystic who teaches and works with spiritual seekers from all over the world. Her dynamic personality and passion for the mystic arts are infectious. She loves to bring her wealth of metaphysical knowledge and depth of experience to her clients and students through providing intuitive and spiritual services. Known for her ability to blend fun with professionalism, Alysa offers nearly 3 decades of esoteric experience which includes the co-creation of the Sirian Starseed Tarot & the Seekers Oracle.
In her professional practice, Alysa is a master tarot reader & teacher, second-generation traditional western astrologer, numerologist, certified professional past-life regressionist, Reiki Master Teacher, Certified Life coach, published author, artist, and founder of North Star Mystic Academy, which opened in 2019.
Alysa lives and works in Ontario, Canada
Email: hello@northstarmystic.com
Web address: www.northstarmystic.com
Books by Alysa: www.AchilleaFortuna.com