In a Tarot deck, there are 56 Minor Arcana cards out of the total 78. These cards represent the day-to-day issues, events and circumstances of our lives. While the Major Arcana represents the bigger aspects of our lives, the Minor Arcana represents the more mundane, but no less important day-to-day aspects of being human.

The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits, each with their own characteristics. Each suit contains 14 cards, Ace through to Ten, and four court cards: The Page, Knight, Queen and King. These are the cards you will use to find out what is going on in the day-to-day chapters of a querent's life such as career, emotional matters, financial matters and conflict. If the Major Arcana were the big plot points in a movie, the Minor Arcana would be all the in-between scenes that get you from one plot point to the next.

Choose the Tarot card group that interests you below and learn more about it:

Suit of Swords

The Swords deal with the mind. Thoughts, decisions, conflict, truth, communication, all of it falls under this suit. The cards in this group can appear when there is an element of mental stress involved, when you need to make a decision, or when you are involved in an argument. They also appear when you experience a sudden insight or epiphany. The Swords suit does not hold back. Some of the cards represent stress and suffering, others represent intelligence and insight. The element of air is associated with Swords.

Suit of Wands

Wands are about energy, drive and passion. This suit covers creativity, ambition, action and the spark that gets things moving. When these cards come up, there's usually something stirring inside, a project taking off, a new idea or the kind of motivation that pushes someone to start something fresh. Fire is the element behind this suit and you can feel it in the cards. They burn with momentum but can also indicate burn out, conflict or pursuing the wrong thing. Wands assess what someone is fired up about and where that fire is leading.

Suit of Cups

Cups speak the language of the heart. This suit covers emotions, relationships, love, intuition and connection, both with others and within yourself. When these cards appear in a reading your feelings will usually take priority in terms of decision making and action. Water is the element of the Cups suit and it shows. These cards cover the spectrum of joy, grief, romance, friendship, healing and disappointment. Some of them represent warmth or tenderness, others signify heartbreak or emotional confusion. They are a reminder that our feelings are just as important as our thoughts and actions.

Suit of Pentacles

Pentacles represent the physical world. They represent money, work, home, health and all the physical things we create in our lives. You should expect a Pentacles card to appear in your tarot reading when your life is focusing on the practical or physical aspects of life such as money, career, possessions or the physical body. Pentacles are an earth element suit and every card in the suit has that grounded element to it. Some cards signify abundance and security, while others represent lack, labour or being stuck in a rut.