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The Minor Arcana of occult or divinatory tarot consist of fifty six cards, which are closely related to the deck of fifty two playing cards used in most modern card games. It comprises four suits, derived from the older Latin playing card suits most commonly named Wands or Batons, Cups, Swords, and Coins (also called Pentacles or Disks), although there are a wide variety of different names and suit symbols used in different decks.
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Symbolism
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Often, the suits are associated with one of the four classical elements, with a common set of associations being the following: Wands with fire, Cups with water, Swords with air, and Coins with earth.[citation needed] In other sets of associations, Fire is occasionally exchanged with air for the Swords suit. Other associations are also possible:
| Latin suit[1] | French suit | Element | Class | Faculty |
| Wands (Staves / Batons) | Clubs | Fire | Peasantry | Creativity and Will |
| Coins (Pentacles) | Diamonds | Earth | Merchants | Material body or possessions |
| Cups (Chalices) | Hearts | Water | Clergy | Emotions and Love |
| Swords | Spades | Air | Nobility and Military | Reason |
Each suit has 14 cards, being Ace (One), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Page, Knight, Queen, King. These last four are called the court cards, and often have different names in different decks. One common variation in some decks is the replacement of the original page and knight, with a prince and princess. There are Italian playing card decks which have a page, maid, knight, mounted lady, king and queen.
Modern decks often have the numbered minor arcana cards (Ace to 10 of each suit) named and numbered, although many resemble early decks in that there are no titles or numbers on those cards. The numbered minor arcana cards usually have the appropriate number of symbols for the suit depicted, and the court cards usually have the corresponding person depicted holding the symbol of their suit.
Modern divination decks, especially if based on the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck (circa 1910), will often have a symbolic scene depicted on the numbered Minors, although this was generally not the case before the Rider-Waite-Smith deck was published. Before this, with only the exception of a handful of decks, the numbered cards of the Minors showed merely a geometric arrangement of the appropriate number of suit symbols.
Some decks reverse the correspondence of Swords to Air and Wands to Fire and, instead, have Swords representative of Fire and Wands of Air.
Cards by Suits
Wands
Pentacles
Cups
Swords
See also
References
- ^ Dee, Jonathan (2002). "Introduction to the Minor Arcana". in Liz Dean. Tarot, An illustrated guide. Silverdale Books. ISBN 1-856056-85-6.
External links
- Iconography of Tarot cards / many examples
- Information on the Tarot, its history and use from ancient divination
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