Understanding the Minor Arcana in the Tarot Card Deck

There are 40 Minor Arcana cards, divided into 4 suits: Cups, Coins, Swords, and Wands.
The Minor Arcana cards do not have names, except for the Aces. You can easily identify a card by its suit and number.
  • The Suit of Cups represents the element of Water. Cups represent love and imagination.
  • Coins represent the element of Earth. Earth represents what is real, material, or physical.
  • Swords represent the element of Air. They represent ideas, concepts, and beliefs.
  • The Suit of Wands represents the element of Fire. Fire relates to physical energy, enthusiasm, action, a love of challenges, and travel.
The following is a cheat sheet for the Minor Arcana. The table contains the four suits as columns, while the rows represent the numbers each card corresponds to.
The first column represents the main theme, which is the numerical meaning on which the interpretation of the cards is based. Under each card is a short description representing its meaning. Looking at both the main theme and the short description beneath each card will help in understanding the meaning of each card.
Main Theme 
CUPS
COINS
SWORDS
WANDS
​New beginning 
Emotional beginning
Beginning of material thing
Planning a new venture or project
​Putting your plans into action
Decision
Partnership, friendship or an intimate relationship.
Decision between two material things, or material and other alternative (time and money)
Decision with emotional conflicts
Physical decision
Growth
Indicates joy, sharing or a celebration.
Improve in circumstances. May involve studying
Sadness and loss
Waiting to see results
​Foundation
Dissatisfaction.
You are saving money
Retreat from life
Making something solid
Change 
Loss and grief.
Financial troubles
Tension and conflict
Conflict
Stability
safety, security.
Don’t allow the past to affect you.
Spending money and helping others 
Leaving a difficult situation and emotionally releasing the past
Reaching goals
Don’t give up
Making wise choices (what fulfil you) 
Time for reflecting and planning for future.
Find another way to achieve what you want
Challenge 
Strength or personal power
Outgrowing someone or outgrowing a particular situation.
Using your skills to do something amazing
You feel stuck, trapped and unable to see a clear path ahead of you
Struggling paid off
Harvesting 
Sense of pride and fulfilment 
Achieving more than the average result
Powerful dreams. Subconscious mind is endeavouring to teach you something
Weighing up you success and failure
Completion
​Situation that benefits each person involved
Material success
​Ending of a stage
Burdening yourself with no reason

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