Tarot Terms and Structure

Paula Chaffee Scardamalia www.diviningthemuse.com Divining the Muse [email protected]

TAROT TERMS AND STRUCTURE

Archetype – a universal pattern inherent in all of us

Major Arcana – 22 cards describing the various archetypal stages of life that all of us experience, beginning with zero, The Fool and ending with 21, The World.

Minor Arcana – 56 cards divided into four suits of Cups, Wands, Pentacles and Swords. Each suit contains ten numbered cards (also known as the pip cards) and four court or royalty cards (the Page, the Knight, the Queen, and the King).

Cups – the suit associated with the element of water and with relationships, feelings, love and creativity, and the season of spring.

Wands – the suit usually associated with the element of fire and with vision, inspiration, intuition, initiative, career and activities, and the season of summer.

Swords – the suit usually associated with the element of air and with intellect, plans, and problem solving, and the season of fall.

Pentacles – the suit associated with the element of earth and with the material world, physical health, finances, and possessions, and the season of winter.

Spread – a pattern for pulling and laying out the cards where each position in the pattern is a place holder for a particular meaning or significance.

Pip Cards – the cards numbered from one to ten that reflect our conscious and unconscious motivations or actions and future directions we might take.

1—Beginnings, initiations, spark or idea, the place of all possibility and potential 2—Emotional and practical investment, partnership, choice, decision 3—Expansion, growth, dynamic energy 4—Foundations, consolidation, stability 5—Change, communication, challenge 6—Rewards, creativity, harmony, new momentum 7—Unexpected challenges, upheaval 8—Maturity, peak of ability 9—Endings, preparing for the next cycle 10—Transition, turning of the cycle

Court Cards – these cards often portray influential people in our lives and/or aspects of ourselves.