Those who approach the tarot often focus on the major arcana, the twenty-two best-known allegorical figures. Yet most of the deck is made up of the minor arcana: fifty-six cards divided into four suits. It is they who describe everyday life, concrete situations and emotional nuances. Knowing the suits well means holding the basic grammar of every reading.
An origin in playing cards
The four suits are not an esoteric invention. Playing cards reached Europe in the late Middle Ages, and scholars link their suits to those of decks used in the Islamic world, particularly in the Mamluk sphere, where cups, coins, swords and polo sticks appeared. In Italy and Spain these suits were preserved almost intact, and they are the same ones still found today in Italian regional cards: cups, coins, swords and batons.
The tarot was born by adding to these four suits a series of picture cards, the trumps, which would later become the major arcana. Historically, then, the minor arcana are the oldest part of the deck.
Suits and elements
In the modern esoteric tradition each suit is associated with one of the four elements. The most widespread correspondence, established in Golden Dawn circles and adopted by the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, is as follows.
| Suit | Element | Symbolic sphere | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cups | Water | Emotions, affections, imagination | Receptivity, feeling, dream |
| Coins | Earth | Body, possessions, concrete work | Stability, resources, patience |
| Swords | Air | Thought, speech, conflict | Clarity, decision, tension |
| Wands | Fire | Energy, will, initiative | Momentum, passion, creativity |
It must honestly be said that not all schools agree. Some authors, especially in the French sphere, have associated wands with air and swords with fire, with symbolic arguments that are just as coherent. There is no absolutely "true" correspondence: there are different systems, and what matters is to use one consistently.
Cups: the world of the heart
Cups contain, welcome, receive. They are the suit of emotional bonds, sensitivity and inner life. A spread rich in cups suggests that the question touches above all on the emotional sphere, even when it seems to concern something else.
The shadow side of cups is excessive emotionality, the tendency to take refuge in dreams, emotional dependence.
Coins: concreteness
Coins, also called pentacles or discs in some modern decks, represent what can be touched: the body, the home, work, money, time. They are the suit of slow construction and patience.
Their shadow side is material attachment, rigidity, the fear of losing what one has.
Swords: the mind that cuts
Swords separate, distinguish, decide. They are the suit of lucid thought, but also of hurtful words, conflicts and worries. Many of the most difficult cards to read belong to this suit, because the mind can be both our most powerful ally and our worst torment.
Their shadow side is over-analysis, anxiety, harshness.
Wands: the fire of action
Wands are living branches, sometimes with shoots. They represent the energy that drives us to act, enthusiasm, creativity, ambition. They are the suit of projects being born and challenges to be faced.
Their shadow side is impulsiveness, scattered energy, aggressiveness.
Reading the predominance of suits
A simple and very useful method is to count how many cards of each suit appear in a spread. The predominance gives a first indication of the tone of the situation.
- Many cups: the matter is above all emotional or relational.
- Many coins: practical, financial or bodily aspects prevail.
- Many swords: the mind is in the foreground, with decisions to make or tensions to clarify.
- Many wands: there is energy in motion, an initiative, a drive to be directed.
- A missing suit: it may indicate a neglected area.
An example
Someone asks for guidance about a job transfer. In a six-card spread four cups, one sword and one wand come up, and no coins. Although the question is practical, the deck puts feelings in the foreground: perhaps the real knot is separation from loved ones rather than the financial side. The absence of coins suggests considering the concrete issues too, which have so far been neglected.
In short
- The minor arcana are fifty-six cards in four suits, historically the oldest part of the deck.
- The suits derive from the playing cards that reached Europe in the late Middle Ages.
- The most widespread correspondence links cups to water, coins to earth, swords to air and wands to fire.
- Alternative systems exist: what matters is to use one consistently.
- Counting the predominance of suits in a spread offers a first, valuable key to reading.
