Minor Arcana Meanings: The Four Suits, Numbers and Court Cards
Nobody needs to memorise 56 cards. Learn four suits and ten numbers, and every card of the Minor Arcana tells you its meaning before you open a book.
Most people who start with tarot learn the big names first: Death, the Lovers, the Tower. Then they shuffle, lay three cards, and what turns up is the Six of Pentacles, the Two of Wands and the Page of Cups. That is no accident. Of the 78 cards, 56 belong to the Minor Arcana, so they make up most of every spread.
When I began reading cards as a young woman in Izmir, I tried to learn all 56 by heart, one keyword list after another. It did not work. What worked was the thing an older reader showed me one afternoon over tea: the Minor Arcana is not a list, it is a grid. Four suits across, numbers and court ranks down. Know the rows and the columns, and you can read any square.
That grid is what you find here. The big cards of the deck, from the Fool to the World, have their own article on the Major Arcana meanings.
The four suits and their elements
Each suit has an element, and each element has a part of life it speaks about. That is the first half of every Minor Arcana card: the suit tells you where something is happening.
Wands
Fire. Everything you want and set in motion: plans, ambition, career, a project that keeps you awake at night in a good way. Wands are fast and impatient. On the cards they are living branches with small leaves, because what they describe is still growing. When Wands turn up, the question is what you are going to do.
Cups
Water. Feelings, love, friendship, family, also intuition and longing. Cups move slowly and they fill or empty: look at whether the cups on the picture are standing, raised or knocked over. When Cups turn up, the question is what you feel, and for whom.
Swords
Air. The mind: thoughts, decisions, words, truth, and the fights and worries that come from them. Swords have the hardest pictures in the deck, which is why beginners fear them. Mostly they do not show what happens to you, they show what goes on in your head. When Swords turn up, the question is what you think and what needs to be said.
Pentacles
Earth. Everything you can touch: money, work as daily labour, the home, the body, time. Pentacles are the slowest suit. What they promise comes late and stays long. When Pentacles turn up, the question is what you are building, and what it costs.
If you know ordinary playing cards, you already know the suits. Wands became clubs, Cups became hearts, Swords became spades and Pentacles became diamonds. The game of cards and the tarot are cousins.
The numbers from ace to ten
The second half of a card is its number. I read the ten numbers as one story that every suit tells in its own way: something starts, grows, hits trouble, recovers, is tested and comes to an end. The number tells you how far along a matter is.
Ace
The seed. A pure beginning, an offer, a hand holding out the symbol of the suit from a cloud. Nothing has been done with it yet. An ace is a chance, not a result.
Two
A counterpart appears. A choice between two things, a balance, a meeting of two people. The two is always about a pair, and the question is whether the two sides work together or block each other.
Three
The first growth. Others join in, something becomes visible to the outside world. Threes are about what happens when a matter is no longer yours alone, for better or for worse.
Four
Stability and pause. Four corners, four walls. A four gives rest and safety, and at the same time it can become too tight. Something stands still here.
Five
The crack. Every five in the deck shows friction: a quarrel, a loss, a shortage. Fives are uncomfortable and necessary, because without them nothing would move past the comfort of the four.
Six
Recovery. After the five comes help, movement, a way out. Sixes are about giving and receiving, and about things slowly getting easier.
Seven
The test. You stand alone with your matter and have to judge it: defend it, wait for it, choose, or look closely at what you are doing. Sevens ask whether you really mean it.
Eight
Movement and effort. Things speed up or you set to work in earnest. Eights show what you do with your strength, and sometimes how you tie yourself up with it.
Nine
Almost there. The fullness of the suit for one person alone: what you have reached, or what you carry, on your own. The nine is the last breath before the end.
Ten
The end of the cycle, with its full weight. A ten is the suit at its maximum, and that can be a full house or an overloaded back. After the ten, a new ace begins.
The court cards: page, knight, queen, king
Sixteen cards show neither a number nor a scene but a figure. They are the cards beginners find hardest, because they can mean two things: a real person in your life, or an attitude you are taking or should take. I always try the attitude first. If a specific person then comes to your mind without effort, it is probably them.
Page
The learner. Curious, new to the matter, a little clumsy. A page often brings news or a first small step in the area of his suit. The Page of Cups is a shy message of affection, the Page of Pentacles is someone who starts to study or save.
Knight
The one on the move. A knight pursues the matter of his suit, and how he rides tells you how. The Knight of Wands storms off, the Knight of Pentacles sits on a horse that stands still. Knights are about pace and about the risk of overdoing one thing.
Queen
Mastery turned inward. She knows her element from the inside and takes care of it. The Queen of Swords sees through an excuse in a second, the Queen of Cups listens until you have said what you really mean. A queen is not necessarily a woman.
King
Mastery turned outward. He takes responsibility, decides and leads. The King of Pentacles keeps a business or a household on solid ground, the King of Wands inspires others to follow. A king is not necessarily a man, and not necessarily older than you.
A practical hint: when a court card describes a person, read the suit as their character, not their looks. Old books assign hair colours to the suits. In thirty years that has never helped me once.
How to work out any card
Now put the two halves together. Suit times number gives the meaning, and the picture on the card confirms it. Three examples.
Three of Cups. Cups are feelings and closeness. Three is the moment others join in. Together: joy shared with friends, a celebration, a circle of people who are good to you. Look at the card and you see three women raising their cups.
Five of Pentacles. Pentacles are money, body, home. Five is the crack. Together: a time of shortage, worry about money or the feeling of standing outside. On the card two figures walk through snow past a lit church window. The window matters: help is nearer than it feels. This card is one of the ones people dread, and I describe it more closely in the article on the feared tarot cards.
Eight of Wands. Wands are will and action. Eight is movement. Together: things suddenly go fast, messages arrive, a journey, a decision that falls within days. The card shows eight staffs flying through the air and no person at all.
The same works for the court. Knight plus Swords: someone who charges ahead with words and opinions, sharp and quick, and does not always look where he rides.
Upright and reversed
A reversed card is not simply the opposite. I read it as the same theme that does not flow freely: blocked, delayed, turned inward, or overdone. The Ace of Cups upright is a feeling that opens. Reversed, it is a feeling you hold back. The Four of Pentacles upright holds on to what it has. Reversed, the grip loosens, which can mean generosity or money slipping through your fingers. The cards around it decide.
A good way to practise the grid is one card each morning. How that works, and what to ask, is in my guide to the daily tarot card. In the app a free daily card waits for you every day, drawn from all 78, upright or reversed.
When one suit dominates a spread
Before I read a single card in a larger spread, I count. How many of each suit, how many court cards, which number repeats. That count often answers the question faster than any single card.
Many Cups. The matter is one of feeling, even if you asked about your job. Someone who asks about a contract and draws four Cups is really asking whether they will be happy there.
Many Swords. A lot is happening in the head. Worry, arguments, decisions that are being turned over and over. It rarely means disaster. It means: talk, decide, sleep.
Many Wands. Pace and drive. Things want to be done, not discussed. The danger is starting five things and finishing none.
Many Pentacles. The answer is practical. Money, time, health in the sense of daily habits, the place you live. Progress will be slow and solid.
A suit that is missing says as much. A relationship spread without a single Cup shows two people who are organising or arguing, but not feeling. A career question without Pentacles is still a dream and not yet a plan.
Many court cards mean many people have a say in the matter. A repeated number sets the stage: three fives are a rough stretch in several areas at once, several aces are a time of beginnings.
And if a spread such as the Celtic Cross shows almost only Minor Arcana, the matter lies in everyday life and in your own hands. Major cards describe the big turns. Minor cards describe Tuesday.
Common mistakes with the Minor Arcana
The first mistake is treating these cards as less important. In a three card reading the Minor Arcana usually gives you the most useful advice, because it is concrete. The Tower tells you something is collapsing. The Eight of Pentacles tells you to sit down and practise.
The second is learning keywords instead of looking. The Rider Waite Smith deck gave every numbered card a full scene, which older decks did not have. That scene is your best teacher. Who is on the card, what are they doing, where are they looking?
The third is being afraid of Swords. The Nine of Swords shows a person sitting up in bed at night, and what it describes is exactly that: worry at three in the morning, which is nearly always larger than its cause.
The fourth is reading every court card as a stranger who is about to enter your life. Most of the time the knight is you.
The Major Arcana tells you which chapter you are in. The Minor Arcana tells you what to do on this page.
Frequently asked questions
How many cards are in the Minor Arcana?
- Each of the four suits has ten numbered cards from ace to ten and four court cards: page, knight, queen and king. Together with the 22 Major Arcana, that makes the 78 cards of a tarot deck.
What is the difference between the Major and Minor Arcana?
The Major Arcana shows the large themes and turning points of a life. The Minor Arcana shows daily life: work, feelings, conversations, money. In a spread the major cards say what it is about, the minor cards say how it plays out and what you can do.
Which Minor Arcana suit stands for love?
Cups. The Ace of Cups, the Two of Cups and the Ten of Cups are the classic love cards. But a love question is not answered by Cups alone: Pentacles show whether something lasts in everyday life, Swords show what is not being said.
Can Minor Arcana cards answer a yes or no question?
Yes, roughly. Aces, threes, sixes and most nines and tens lean towards yes, fives and sevens rather towards no or not yet, and reversed cards put a brake on the answer. How I read a single card for a clear answer is described in the article on yes or no tarot.
Do court cards always stand for a person?
No. They can be a person, but just as often they describe a way of acting that the situation asks of you. If no one comes to mind, read the card as advice: act like this page, this knight, this queen or this king.