Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
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Minor Arcana

56 of 78 entries in Tarot. Click any to see everything it connects to.

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The fifty-six suit cards of the tarot: four suits of fourteen, running ace to ten and then through the court cards. The suits (most often Wands, Cups, Swords and Coins or Pentacles), are conventionally matched to the four classical elements, and the numbered cards are read through the number as much as through the suit. They are the older half of the deck: the suits descend from ordinary playing cards, while the trumps were added to them.

Facts
Overview
What Defines This Grouping
The four suits of the tarot pack: the cards the tarot shares with the ordinary Italian playing-card pack, from which they were taken. 2
Size of the Traditional Set
56 suit cards: four suits of fourteen, ace to ten plus four court cards 2
Origins
Origin of the Name
"Minor Arcana" is a coinage of the nineteenth-century French occult tarot; in the original game these were simply the suit cards. 3
Directory
Category
Tarot 1

Ace of Wands

Minor Arcana
2 links

Two of Wands

Minor Arcana
3 links

Three of Wands

Minor Arcana
3 links

Four of Wands

Minor Arcana
3 links

Five of Wands

Minor Arcana
3 links

Six of Wands

Minor Arcana
3 links

Seven of Wands

Minor Arcana
3 links

Eight of Wands

Minor Arcana
3 links

Nine of Wands

Minor Arcana
3 links

Ten of Wands

Minor Arcana
3 links

Page of Wands

Minor Arcana
1 link

Knight of Wands

Minor Arcana
1 link

Queen of Wands

Minor Arcana
1 link

King of Wands

Minor Arcana
1 link

Ace of Coins

Minor Arcana
2 links

Two of Coins

Minor Arcana
3 links

Three of Coins

Minor Arcana
3 links

Four of Coins

Minor Arcana
3 links

Five of Coins

Minor Arcana
3 links

Six of Coins

Minor Arcana
3 links

Seven of Coins

Minor Arcana
3 links

Eight of Coins

Minor Arcana
3 links

Nine of Coins

Minor Arcana
3 links

Ten of Coins

Minor Arcana
3 links

Page of Coins

Minor Arcana
1 link

Knight of Coins

Minor Arcana
1 link

Queen of Coins

Minor Arcana
1 link

King of Coins

Minor Arcana
1 link

Ace of Cups

Minor Arcana
2 links

Two of Cups

Minor Arcana
3 links

Three of Cups

Minor Arcana
3 links

Four of Cups

Minor Arcana
3 links

Five of Cups

Minor Arcana
3 links

Six of Cups

Minor Arcana
3 links

Seven of Cups

Minor Arcana
3 links

Eight of Cups

Minor Arcana
3 links

Nine of Cups

Minor Arcana
3 links

Ten of Cups

Minor Arcana
3 links

Page of Cups

Minor Arcana
1 link

Knight of Cups

Minor Arcana
1 link

Queen of Cups

Minor Arcana
1 link

King of Cups

Minor Arcana
1 link

Ace of Swords

Minor Arcana
2 links

Two of Swords

Minor Arcana
3 links

Three of Swords

Minor Arcana
3 links

Four of Swords

Minor Arcana
3 links

Five of Swords

Minor Arcana
3 links

Six of Swords

Minor Arcana
3 links

Seven of Swords

Minor Arcana
3 links

Eight of Swords

Minor Arcana
3 links

Nine of Swords

Minor Arcana
3 links

Ten of Swords

Minor Arcana
3 links

Page of Swords

Minor Arcana
1 link

Knight of Swords

Minor Arcana
1 link

Queen of Swords

Minor Arcana
1 link

King of Swords

Minor Arcana
1 link
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The Minor Arcana

This group holds the fifty-six cards of the Minor Arcana, the four suits of the tarot (traditionally Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles), each running from Ace to Ten and adding four court cards. Where the Major Arcana carry the great archetypes, the Minor Arcana are read as the everyday circumstances, actions and feelings of ordinary life.

The browser will find the fifty-six Minor Arcana across the four suits. The entries describe each card's imagery and meanings. The atlas notes that the suited cards descend from ordinary playing cards and that their divinatory meanings are a later, chiefly modern, development.

Sources
2. The Game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City
Michael Dummett, Duckworth, 1980on the Italian pack and the tarotView the Source
3. A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot
Ronald Decker, Thierry Depaulis and Michael Dummett, St Martin's Press, 1996on the invention of the occult tarot vocabularyView the Source
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