Discover the four suits of the Minor Arcana

Find your bearings in the deck

The Sun, the Moon, or the Magician may catch your eye right away. The tarot also has many cards beyond these prominent figures. In its history of tarot cards, the Victoria and Albert Museum describes a deck of 78 cards, made up of 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The museum also identifies swords, cups, coins, and batons as the four traditional Italian suits. Those are the suits we’ll look at here. The French name for coins is often deniers.

Start by sorting your cards according to their common symbols. If the names differ, use your deck’s guidebook. Set the cups together, then the swords, and do the same for the other two suits. This simple exercise gives you an overview before you interpret anything.

Four objects, four possible questions

Voyancea offers the following creative exercise. It assigns no universal meaning to the cards and is not a validated method of prediction. Pick an ordinary activity you’d like to try, such as planning a drawing, making a reading nook, or learning a song. Set out one card from each suit simply as a visual prompt.

Use the batons to ask, “What would I like to try?” With the cups, ask, “What appeals to me about this activity?” The swords can prompt, “What do I need to clarify?” Finally, with the coins, ask, “What tools or practical resources do I already have?” These associations belong to this exercise. Change them if other questions are more useful to you.

Put the questions to work as you plan a drawing

Imagine you want to draw a plant. Looking at the batons, you write down that you’d like to try a quick sketch. The cups bring your attention to how much you enjoy the shape of the leaves. The swords help you define the project as a freehand drawing without aiming for a perfect likeness. The coins prompt you to note that you have a pencil, a sheet of paper, and a clear table.

Nothing here predicts that the drawing will turn out well. Your answers come from your preferences and circumstances. The cards contain no hidden knowledge about them. Skip a question if it brings nothing to mind. Four suits don’t require you to come up with four interesting ideas.

Use the suits to organize your thoughts

Put the cards away and choose one idea you would like to try. You can also decide to do nothing today. Getting to know the Minor Arcana gives you a chance to recognize the deck’s structure and consider one activity from several angles. The cards help organize your questions. What you answer and what you do next are up to you.