← The tarot course · Lesson 3 of 6
The 56 everyday cards: wands, cups, swords and pentacles, numbers and courts.
If the majors are the big headlines, the 56 minor arcana are the fine print of daily life. They split into four suits, and each suit has ten numbers (Ace to 10) and four court cards (page, knight, queen and king).
Energy, action, projects, desire. Fire: what gets you moving.
Emotions, love, bonds, intuition. Water: what you feel.
Mind, ideas, conflict, truths. Air: what you think and say.
Body, money, work, the material. Earth: what you build.
The numbers mark a progression: the Ace is the seed of the suit, and from 2 to 10 it develops to its peak. The court cards stand for people or attitudes: the page learns, the knight acts, the queen nurtures from within and the king masters from without.
The Ace of Cups is the birth of a feeling; the 10 of Cups, emotional fulfilment. Same suit, two moments of the same journey.
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