Minor Arcana and the Four Suits: Number Cards from Ace to Ten

The Minor Arcana is the second group in a tarot deck, and it holds 56 cards. They split into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Coins. Each suit has ten number cards, Ace to Ten, plus four court cards. In this lesson you learn what each suit covers and how the numbers move forward inside a suit. The court cards come in the next lesson. By the end, you read a number card you have never heard of, roughly, just from its suit and its number.

What does the Minor Arcana describe?

The Major Arcana shows the big situation in your life. The Minor Arcana shows the ordinary moments inside that situation: who you talked to today, which bill you paid, which task you sat down to finish.

Say you argue with a friend one evening and the Five of Wands comes up. The card does not say the friendship is over. It says that on that evening both of you defended your own view out loud. When you make up the next day, the reading changes too.

That is why Minor Arcana cards show what sits in your own hands. When a reading holds many Minor Arcana cards, you change the matter you asked about this week through your own steps.

Four suits, four elements

Every suit has an element, and the suit's subject comes from that element. Check the suit before you read the card and you already know half the story.

Wands are fire. Desire, drive and the urge to get something done live in this suit. On the morning you get up and sit back down to a half-finished project, a Wands card comes up.

Cups are water. Love, hurt, longing and closeness belong here. When a message arrives from someone you have not seen in ages and you feel warm inside, that is a Cups moment.

Swords are air. Thoughts, words, decisions and worry sit in this suit. The hour you state your opinion clearly in a meeting belongs to Swords. So does the hour you lie awake at night turning a problem over in your head.

Coins are earth. Money, the body, the home and work done with your hands belong here. The evening you add up the month's spending or reorganize the kitchen is a Coins card. Some books call this suit Pentacles.

Which suit leads a reading?

In a three-card spread, when two cards come from the same suit, you look at your question through that suit's eyes. Say you ask about work and two Cups appear. The matter is less about pay and more about the relationships where you work. What really wears you down there is a cooling between you and one person.

The same thing happens when you ask about a relationship and two Coins appear. The matter is less about feelings and more about a shared budget, the order of the home or the everyday tasks you share. The card does not say feelings are unimportant. It tells you to talk about the practical side first.

When all four suits appear separately in one reading, the question is a broad one. In that case, look first at the suit of the card in the Your next step position.

How the numbers move through a suit

The ten number cards of a suit show how a task moves from start to finish. Learn a number once and you use it in all four suits.

Ace. The suit's subject appears for the first time. A wish, a feeling, an idea or a money offer enters your life.

Two. Two things stand face to face. The Two of Wands is planning between two paths; the Two of Cups is two people growing closer.

Three. The first result arrives. A plan shows its first real outcome, or a closeness between two people opens up to a group of friends.

Four. Things settle into place. You pause for a while, hold on to what you have or rest.

Five. The settled order gets shaken. An argument, a letdown or a tight spot enters the suit's subject.

Six. After the upset you recover. You get recognition, receive help or move to a calmer place.

Seven. You stop and weigh what you have. You assess a choice or look at what your effort has earned.

Eight. Things speed up or change direction. News arrives, you settle into a skill or you leave a place behind.

Nine. You reach the final stretch. Most of the effort is done; you either enjoy it or feel how tired you are.

Ten. The suit's subject reaches its furthest point. In Cups this is happiness at home; in Wands it is the extra load you carry.

One number in four suits: the Five

The meaning of a number stays the same, and the suit carries it into its own subject. Five means an upset, so in the four suits it becomes four separate scenes.

The Five of Wands is the team meeting where everyone wants to talk at once.

The Five of Cups is the letdown you feel when an invitation you were waiting for never comes.

The Five of Swords is the day you win an argument but leave a friend hurt.

The Five of Coins shows money running short and the difficulty of asking for help. This card has nothing to do with health or illness. When the end of the month gets tight and you ask someone close to you for support, that is the scene the card shows.

Reading a number card step by step

Say you open Today's card in the morning and get the Eight of Coins. First look at the suit: Coins is the earth suit, and its subject is work done with your hands. Then look at the number: the Eight is where things speed up and you settle into a skill. Put the two together and the reading is ready.

Today you learn a task by doing it carefully, again and again. You spend half an hour tidying the same spreadsheet, and by evening you finish that same job in ten minutes.

The card's own page adds detail to this reading. The suit and the number give you the direction before you even open that page. Each number card is also tied to a decan, a section of one zodiac sign; you meet that in the Tarot and astrology lesson.

When a suit card comes up reversed

A reversed number card does not change the subject of its suit. Wands still mean desire, and Cups still mean feeling. What changes is how you act in that area.

With a reversed Cups card, you either swallow a feeling or show it out of all proportion. If a friend hurts you and you say nothing for a whole week, that is the scene of the card.

With a reversed Coins card, money or housework either gets neglected or takes over the whole day. You see both readings with examples in the How to read a reversed card lesson.

For now, this is enough: the suit names the subject, the number names the stage of the task, and the card's direction names how you act at that stage.

Practice

Write the four suits side by side on a sheet of paper and add each element underneath. Then write one scene from your own week under each suit. Under Wands, a task that got you excited. Under Cups, a moment that moved you. Under Swords, a matter that keeps nagging at you. Under Coins, a bill you paid.

If your Today's card comes from the Minor Arcana the next day, look at the sheet. Find the scene that matches the card's suit, and take one step on that scene that same day.