The Minor Arcana and the four tarot suits
The Minor Arcana are the 56 cards of the tarot organized into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Each suit has an element and an area of life, and each card combines its suit with a number or a court rank. Learn the four suits and the ten numbers, and you can read most of the deck.
By Wendy Zhang, Founder of Solacely · Updated
The four suits
| Suit | Element | Area of life | Zodiac signs | Playing cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wands | Fire | action, ambition, creativity | Aries, Leo and Sagittarius | Clubs |
| Cups | Water | feelings, love, intuition | Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces | Hearts |
| Swords | Air | thought, truth, decisions | Libra, Aquarius and Gemini | Spades |
| Pentacles | Earth | work, money, health | Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo | Diamonds |
Wands
The suit of Wands is the tarot’s suit of Fire. Its 14 cards describe drive, ambition, creative work and the courage to act, from the first spark of the Ace to the heavy load of the Ten.
Cups
The suit of Cups is the tarot’s suit of Water. Its 14 cards describe feelings, love, friendship, intuition and imagination, from the overflowing Ace to the contented family of the Ten.
Swords
The suit of Swords is the tarot’s suit of Air. Its 14 cards describe thoughts, words, truth and conflict, from the clarity of the Ace to the hard ending of the Ten.
Pentacles
The suit of Pentacles is the tarot’s suit of Earth. Its 14 cards describe work, money, health, home and the slow building of something that lasts, from the gift of the Ace to the wealth of the Ten.
What the numbers mean
Every suit runs from Ace to Ten, and each number carries the same stage of a cycle in every suit. The Five of Cups and the Five of Pentacles are both about loss, one of feeling and one of money. Combine the number with the suit and you have the core of the card.
| Ace | Beginnings: the pure gift of the suit, a seed or an opening. |
|---|---|
| Two | Balance, choice and partnership: two forces meet. |
| Three | Growth and collaboration: the first result appears. |
| Four | Stability and rest: structure, sometimes stagnation. |
| Five | Conflict and change: loss or challenge that forces movement. |
| Six | Harmony and recovery: things settle after difficulty. |
| Seven | Assessment and strategy: testing what is worth your effort. |
| Eight | Movement and mastery: speed, skill or a change of direction. |
| Nine | Near completion: the suit’s energy at its fullest, for better or worse. |
| Ten | Completion: the cycle ends, and the next begins. |
The court cards
Each suit has four court cards. A court card can describe a person in your life, a side of your own character, or the approach the moment needs. Their suit tells you the temperament: a Queen of Swords speaks plainly, a Queen of Cups feels deeply.
| Page | A student, a message or a fresh start. The suit’s energy as curiosity. Often a young person, or the beginner in you. |
|---|---|
| Knight | Action and pursuit. The suit’s energy in motion, sometimes to excess. Often a young adult, or a phase of moving fast. |
| Queen | Inner mastery. The suit’s energy held, felt and nurtured. A mature person, or a quality to grow in yourself. |
| King | Outer mastery. The suit’s energy directed and governed. A person of authority, or a call to take charge. |
Reading suits in a spread
- A dominant suit shows where the situation really lives: action (Wands), feeling (Cups), thought (Swords) or practical matters (Pentacles).
- A missing suit in a larger spread shows what is being overlooked. A Celtic Cross without Cups, for example, may be light on feeling.
- Repeated numbers repeat a stage: three Fives point to a period of change and friction, three Aces to several beginnings at once.
- Elements meeting can support or strain each other. Fire and Air feed each other, Water and Earth too, while Fire and Water, or Air and Earth, pull apart.
Frequently asked questions
How many Minor Arcana cards are there?
There are 56 Minor Arcana cards: four suits of 14, each with ten numbered cards (Ace to Ten) and four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen and King).
What are the four tarot suits?
Wands (Fire), Cups (Water), Swords (Air) and Pentacles (Earth). They correspond to clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds in ordinary playing cards.
What do tarot court cards represent?
Court cards can stand for people in your life, for sides of your own personality, or for an approach the situation calls for. Pages learn, Knights act, Queens hold and nurture, Kings lead.
Are Minor Arcana cards less important than Major Arcana?
They carry a different kind of weight. The Major Arcana describe big themes; the Minor Arcana describe the everyday events and choices through which those themes play out, which often makes them the most practical cards in a reading.