A Guide to Tarot Card Meanings

The Minor Arcana

In general, the cards of the Minor Arcana are said to reflect day-to-day concerns and ordinary events. When the Minor Arcana dominates a reading, many readers conclude that the issue under consideration can be greatly influenced by the actions of everyday people.

The Suit Cards

The cards of the Minor Arcana are divided into four suits. For divinatory purposes, each suit is usually associated with one of four specific dimensions of life (Spirit, Emotion, Mind, and Body). Each suit has also been associated with seasons of the year, the four classical elements (Fire, Water, Air, and Earth), the four compass directions—in short, with almost any system or philosophy that organizes its elements into four distinct categories.

Here is a list of the suits of the Minor Arcana, along with alternative names the suits may be called in other books or decks and some common associations made with each:

Wands

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Also Called: Arrows, Batons, Clubs, Flame, Rods, Scepters, Staves, Sticks, Fire.

Dimension of Life: Spirit. Themes include intentions, goals, action, direction, masculine energy, arousal, activity, creativity, movement, inspiration.

Other Associations: Spring. The color red. The South. The element of Fire.

Cups

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Also Called: Cauldrons, Chalices, Blue, Hearts, Vessels, Water.

Dimension of Life: Emotion. Themes include impressions, intuition, ideas, instincts, reflections, feelings, receptivity, spirituality and religion, the subconscious, fantasies.

Other Associations: Summer. The color blue. The East. The element of Water.

Swords

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Also Called: Blades, Daggers, Spades, Air.

Dimension of Life: Mind. Themes include logic, reasoning, thoughts, deliberation, debate, communication, mathematics, numbers, the intellect, analysis, planning.

Other Associations: Fall. The color yellow. The West. The element of Air.

Coins

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Also Called: Diamonds, Discs, Pentacles, Spheres, Earth.

Dimension of Life: Body. Themes include physicality, practicality, the material world, the environment, money, finances, structure, sensuality, the senses.

Other Associations: Winter. The color green or brown. The North. The element of Earth.

The Pip Cards

Generally, each suit in a Tarot deck also contains a series of cards numbered from Ace to 10. These numbered cards are often referred to as the pips, taking their name from the suit marker, or pip, found on each card.

In a standard poker deck, the Six of Hearts bears six heart-shaped pips. Many Tarot decks follow this convention, too. The Six of Cups from the Tarot de Marseilles, for example, is decorated with six cup-shaped pips arranged in a simple geometric pattern.

While the trump cards in many early Tarot decks feature elaborate illustrations, the pip card illustrations in those decks often incorporate little more than suit markers and a few decorative elements (such as vines or flowers).

By contrast, especially after the publication of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot in 1909, many modern decks feature intricate scenes on every single card. These pictures often incorporate the suit signs in clever ways, and are usually designed to suggest the divinatory meanings assigned with the card.

For example: the Six of Cups from The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot shows two people helping each other, surrounded by six cups … an illustration that suggests the meanings assigned to the card.

The Court Cards

In addition to the ten numbered pip cards, each suit also incorporates court cards (also called people cards).

Observant readers will notice that the Tarot court, unlike the more familiar three-card court in poker decks, contains four members: page, knight, queen, and king. Many deck designers rename these cards to suit their own purposes—substituting daughter, son, mother, and father, for example.

Generally, Tarot readers associate the court cards with one of the following:

Specific problem-solving methods
Specific people who employ those methods
Specific people whose physical features resemble the portrait found on the court card

For years, the third option, based on physical features, was extremely popular. One version of this system assigns these meanings:

Court Card (Gender and Age)

Page — Male or female, younger
Knight — Male, younger
Queen — Female, older
King — Male, older

Suit (Appearance)

Wands — Red hair, fair skin
Cups — Blonde hair, fair skin
Swords — Black hair, fair skin
Coins — Dark hair, dark skin

Using this system, the Page of Wands would represent a young man or woman with red hair and fair skin, while the King of Coins would represent an older man with dark hair and dark skin.

The primary disadvantage of this method is immediately obvious: It severely restricts the Tarot’s ability to represent both women and people of color!

Today, a more popular system for reading courts involves reading the rank of the card as an approach or point of view and the suit of the card as a theme or area of emphasis:

Court Card (Problem-Solving Approach)

Page — Learning: Enthusiastic, but unskilled or uncertain
Knight — Doing: Active, but tends toward extremes
Queen — Feeling: Emphasizes collaboration or consensus
King — Controlling: Seeks authority or organization

Suit (Theme or Emphasis):

Wands — Goals, intentions, movement, arousal
Cups — Impressions, intuitions, feelings, emotions
Swords — Logic, reasoning, communication, intellect
Coins — Physicality, practicality, senses, finances

Using this system, the Page of Coins might represent a person (of any gender, regardless of the apparent gender of the figure on the card) who is just leaning to manage his or her own finances. Alternatively, it might represent an enthusiastic, but as yet unskilled, student athlete.

Other systems for interpreting court cards exist, including any number of methods for associating the courts with specific seasons, months, and astrological signs.