Minor Arcana
The Minor Arcana are 56 cards split into 4 suits of 14 cards each (Ace through 10, plus Page, Knight, Queen and King). Historically these were plain pip cards with no illustrated scene — fully illustrating every card became standard practice only with the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck, with artwork by Pamela Colman Smith.
- WandsThe Fire-element suit: action, energy and creativity.
- CupsThe Water-element suit: emotion, relationships and intuition.
- SwordsThe Air-element suit: intellect, conflict and mental clarity.
- PentaclesThe Earth-element suit: work, money and the body.
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Frequently asked questions
- Did the Minor Arcana always have Rider-Waite-style illustrations?
- No. In most historical decks the numeral Minor Arcana cards were plain, like an ordinary playing card deck (for example, the '7 of Cups' simply showed seven cups, no scene). Illustrating every numeral card with a narrative scene is Pamela Colman Smith's 1909 innovation.