The Minor Arcana & Four Suits

Having traversed our way through the major arcana of tarot, now let’s take a journey and learn all about the minor arcana. Whereas the major arcana generally signify big life changes in our lives, the minor arcana help us to understand our daily lives. Granted there can be some major events within the minor arcana but that is not typically the case. It will be up to you to determine exactly how the card applies to you or to assist your client in understanding. The minor arcana are made up of pip cards (cards numbered 1 through 10 in each of the 4 suits) and court cards (pages, knights, queens and kings in each of the 4 suits).

In Angel tarot the suits correspond to the four elements: fire, water, air, and earth. These correspond to the Rider Waite (RW) tarot as wands, cups, swords, and coins. Additionally, each suit corresponds to one of the four seasons. The general consensus is as follows:

  • wands = fire = spring
  • cups = water = summer
  • swords = air = winter
  • coins = earth = fall or autumn

Be mindful that this can get even more complicated as we add in other tarot decks such as the Power Archangel Tarot, Fairy Tarot, or Guardian Angel Tarot. So now let’s talk about the suits.

  1. Fire/Wands: The fire/wand suit represents parts of our lives where we have passion, excitement, and great desire. These cards can also represent our creative or artistic selves. Drawing a fire/wand card can signify any area of our lives where we have passion, whether it is human, animal, or something we do.
  2. Water/Cups: When we draw cards from the water/cups suit we are looking at some emotional aspect of ourselves. Water/cups cards can represent any area where we have a tendency to become emotional or where we feel an emotional attachment. Additionally, water/cups cards can represent intuition or spirituality.
  3. Air/Swords: Cards in the air/swords suit represent our intellectual selves. Often times air/swords cards represent new ideas and inspiration. Drawing air/swords cards can also represent communication (whether verbally or written), contemplation, or concerns like truth and justice.
  4. Earth/Coins: The earth/coins suit is different from the other three suits in that they represent matters outside of ourselves rather than within ourselves (see passion, emotions, and intellect). The earth/coins cards represent more daily activities like making money, paying bills, and providing for our families. Drawing  earth/coins cards can represent our community, society, or the environment.

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