The Minor Arcana is formatted identically to standard playing cards, with the exception of one additional court card in each of the four suits. The modern playing card court sets are comprised of Kings, Queens and Jacks, whereas the tarot card suits include Kings, Queens, Knights and Pages. The Minor Arcana is, in fact, an older version of today’s playing card deck and was in popular use until the 1700s. At that time, the suit motifs were changed from Wands, Swords, Cups and Pentacles to Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds. The Knight cards were deleted entirely.
The tarot scholar de Givry speculates that the revisions that came about to the cards coincided with the shift in social order from feudal imperialism to secular democracy. He observes that the Minor Arcana is unmistakably medieval in character and that the four suits, Wands, Swords, Cups and Pentacles, symbolize the four “estates” of the feudal social order.
“In the Middle Ages, the peasant, the priest, the soldier and merchant formed the complete framework of society,” explains de Givry, French author of books on the occult, witchcraft and alchemy. Further, he contends that the suits of the Minor Arcana represent the tools of each social class: “The wand, staff, or cudgel, the weapon of the peasant, stood for agriculture; the cup, or sacred vessel, for the clergy; the sword for the warrior; and the money for commerce.”
The history de Givry gives is fascinating and well worth noting because his interpretation yields important insights that are helpful in learning to recognize and remember the meanings of the suits.
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