Tarot 101: The Elements
We’re back again with more Tarot 101! After doing a brief overview of the major arcana last time and focusing on the fool’s journey, now we are going to turn to the minor arcana. Just like the major arcana post, this is a general overview of the cards, starting with the elements. We will be diving in deeper in a later blog but for now here is an introduction to the minor arcana.
Just because these cards are called the minor arcana does not make them unimportant compared to the major arcana. In terms of learning about your deck and the meanings of cards the minor arcana are almost more important because there are more of them; over twice as many minor as there are major arcana. Also the minor arcana cards tend to lend themselves better to interpretation depending on the specific deck you are using and are usually associated with smaller, daily life happenings instead of the huge existential ideas of the major arcana.
The minor arcana consists of suits and runs from Ace to King much like a normal deck of cards. We’re going to start by talking about the four suits. Some decks don’t use these traditional names so be aware of that. However, it’s usually quite obvious which suit they mean, especially if you have an understanding of what these suits stand for! Each suit is attached to a different element and those elements are associated with different characteristics. In reverse (upside down) the cards have different meanings that are usually opposite of the upright meaning but not always.
Understanding the elements can help you immensely in beginning tarot reading. Without memorizing anything aside from these basic elements you can already read cards at a basic level by using this knowledge and the picture on the card.
For example, if you were to do a 3 card spread and a majority of the cards are cups, that tells you this is an emotional issue or the person has a lot of feelings about the problem, depending on if the cards are upright or in reverse. If there are pentacles, perhaps there are some money problems or they are unmoving on an issue. All the elements mix and match for an interpretation that you can now begin to decipher. Take this information in conjunction with the photos on the cards and you can give a simple reading!