The Minor Arcana of the Tarot

The four suits of the Tarot — Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles — are visual descriptions of four different aspects of life; these are the Minor Arcana. The four suits express the entire range human experience. In one sense, they give even greater detail to the Fool’s Journey as expressed in the Major Arcana. Each individual suit focuses on a particular facet of the Fool’s Journey.

The Numbered Tarot Cards in the Minor Arcana

Each suit of the Minor Arcana is divided into two separate yet equally important groups — the numbered cards and the court cards. There are ten numbered cards in each suit. These numbered cards allow you to see the more ordinary experiences related to the particular suit. They detail events and people, as well as fleeting states of mind or feeling.

Each numbered card represents a typical experience, and every person will eventually face these experiences during the course of a lifetime. The numbered cards are most commonly interpreted as related to events in the world at large, often referred to as the outer world.

The Court Tarot Cards

There are four court cards in each suit. These are: Page, Knight, Queen, and King. These cards do not typically describe events that an individual experiences. Instead, they are character types relating to a sphere of life. The particular sphere of life involved is determined by the suit of the court card in question.

The Pages represent the more delicate qualities of each individual suit. The raw essence of that suit, so to speak. The Page represents a more fragile form, the one that needs care and protection before its qualities can develop and reach its full potential.

The Knights represent the energetic and questing spirit of the suit. This is the aspect that wishes to explore and experiment. This card is also the most volatile, like an unpredictable adolescent who still requires guidance.

The Queens represent the stable, receptive, and nurturing qualities of each suit. The energy of these cards is concentrated and directed. This results in an even greater power. It is the embodiment of feminine qualities, which is appropriate, since it is the only female in the court.

The Kings represent the directive, controlling qualities of each suit. The Kings’ energies are very masculine and dynamic. His is the energy of materialization and of action. He is fully mature, and sometimes very dominating and overbearing.

The Suit of Cups in Tarot

Cups represent the element of water. It has been said that all life emerged from water, that water is where all life begins, and so Cups are generally considered to come before the other three suits. Water is changeable, with no real shape, and yet it is as powerful as rock. The sea is both beautiful and dangerous all at once. So too is this suit, the suit of feeling and emotion.

The cards of the Suit of Cups are all about the development of feelings through life. They address the way feelings change and deepen as life continues. Cups are associated with the heart, and often with love; this may be spiritual or romantic love, but this suit is the essence of all relationships.

The Suit of Wands in Tarot

Wands represent the element of fire. It is said that fire can transform everything it touches, but without being transformed itself. Fire is volatile and a catalyst that causes change in the other elements. In this way, it is like the creative center of the mind.

The cards of the Suit of Wands are related to the imagination and the challenges it encounters. These challenges may include the over-use of imagination without restraint. Wands, as a catalyst, are a good thing, but they can be very dangerous when taken to extremes — much like fire itself.

The Suit of Swords in Tarot

Swords represent the element of air. It is said that air is the breath of the spirit, and symbolizes the logical mind. Air gives a subtle structure that must exist before any act of creation can take place. But air, like the sword, is double-edged, and so it is inherently dangerous.

The cards in the Suit of Swords are related to the rational and logical mind. The development of the mind is a contrary thing, including the quarrels and conflicts that thoughts and words can bring, along with the clarity and understanding which follow quiet contemplation. This suit can be perplexing and difficult to interpret. However, with contemplation comes understanding. If you wish to understand the message of the Suit of Swords, you have only to look within yourself.

The Suit of Pentacles in Tarot

Pentacles represent the element of earth. It is said that all life is formed of earth, and earth is both the beginning and the end of all things. Earth can be molded and shaped into whatever is desired, but it can consume as well. Earth symbolizes the practical side of life.

The cards of the Suit of Pentacles are related to reality. They represent having to deal with all that life can bring, such as requirements and challenges, as well as the disappointments that inevitably appear. This is a suit of practicality.

The Minor Arcana has a broader message than the Major Arcana, but not quite so deep. It is only combined in a spread that they can offer a complete message.

Tarot Card Symbolism: The World Reversed

Some Tarot readers choose to read all cards as upright, regardless of their position. Others choose to interpret reversed (upside down) cards that appear in a Tarot spread as having a different meaning. But these meanings are much more than simply the opposite of the upright meaning. Reversed Tarot meanings are complex and deserving of study, if you choose to read reversed cards at all.

For those who do interpret reversed meanings, the World reversed can imply that you won't be happy to see this particular phase of your life come to an end. In other case, the ending in question can't come fast enough for you and that, indeed, it is still some way off into the future.

Tarot Card Symbolism: The World of the Major Arcana

The World is the twenty-first card of the Major Arcana of the Tarot. It is the embodiment of accomplishment, satisfaction, and a feeling of wholeness.

The Symbolism of the World Card

This card is represented by a naked woman dancing high in the sky, surrounded by a green wreathe. She is watched by four creatures — a human, a bull, a lion, and an eagle. These represent the four fixed zodiac signs — Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio. The woman is the sacred center of all things.

The World bears the number “21,” and it's associated with a feeling of completeness for the Fool, who encounters the World after his meeting with Judgment.

The General Interpretation of the World Tarot Card

When appearing in a spread, this card implies a sense of integration and achievement. It is a period of triumph and victory, of the conclusion of a journey. This card usually indicates that a goal has been reached after much hard work and toil.

It is also the beginning; the place where the Fool spent his innocent youth; the point where he stood as he was about the step off the cliff. It is the source of all things. The cycle of the Major Arcana ends where it began. The circle is complete.

The Inner Meaning of the World in Tarot

The World is associated with the experience of wholeness. This image of completeness is the ideal goal, sometime to be eternally strived for. However, this concept is not something that can be possessed, but rather something that must be lived. Perfection is beyond the reach of all, but the inner peace represented by this card is achievable.

This card, the World, is the final card of the Major Arcana, and so it is the end of the Fool’s long journey. It is the culmination of many trials and errors, and lessons learned. However, this card is also the seed of new life, the beginning of a new and unique journey. The Fool will once again start on his path to enlightenment, journeying through the Major Arcana, as if for the first time. And so the cycle continues.

The Fool will bide here a while, safe within the sense of completeness and oneness, before he once again becomes the Fool, and steps off the cliff onto his journey toward enlightenment.

The World is encountered by the Fool after he meets Judgment. He will bide here a while before he once again becomes the Fool, and steps off the cliff onto his journey toward enlightenment.

Tarot Card Symbolism: Judgement Reversed

Some Tarot readers read reversed (upside down) meanings during their Tarot readings. You may choose to reversed meanings when a card appears upside down, or you may read all cards as upright. If you wish to readall cards as upright, simply turn all reversed cards so they are upright.  If you wish to read reversed meanings into your Tarot cards, some reversed cards have very specific meanings.  Judgement is one of these cards.

The reversed, or negative, version of this card denotes dissatisfaction with the outcome of a project or a phase of life.  You may be displeased because you didn't try hard enough or because the project just didn't work.  There are lessons to be learned here, but nevertheless, it is time to move on and try something else.  If legal matters are in the air, this is a warning that they may not work out to your satisfaction.