Mystical Angels

Whats the difference between the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana?

If you don't know tarot cards..... then you don't know the answer lol. For anyone who knows about Tarot magic, whats the difference between the two? Dont tell me ones more important than the other.

Public Comments

1. The Minor Arcana are the ones with the four suits. The Major Arcana are the 22 (or 21, can't remember) trump cards.
2. you need to research a little further into the true meanings of the Tarot in order to truly answer this question. they are not cards that are made to simply tell a fortune. in reality they are nothing of the sort. they are essentially flash cards used in certain mystery schools to explain the Zodiac and its true meanings. if you are only interested in what they represent as a card game then i implore you to find the truth behind them, you will feel so much better if you do. let loose your silver cord. good luck
3. Well, what are known as the minor arcana are essentially a pack of Latin suited playing cards. Playing cards are believed to have evolved from 9th century Chinese money games that includes such suits as Coins and Stacks of Coins. There is speculation from historians that these games were actually being played with real currency. We first see playing cards in 14th century Europe via trade with the Islamic Mamluks. These early packs had 52 cards in four suits much as our modern packs. The suit signs were Coins, Cups, Scimitars, and Polo Sticks. Each suit had two court cards being a King and two Soldiers. In Europe, the game of Polo was unheard of so the Polo Sticks lost their paddles and became Batons, while the courts were modified to a King, a Rider, and a Footman. The Queen was invented independently at different times in Europe: in France it replaced the Rider, while in Italy, it was an additional card (though it was later dropped again for regular playing cards). Tarot cards are first seen in mid 15th century Italy, commissioned for the Milanese court, and added to the 56 card pack a fifth suit of picture cards. These extra cards are accepted by historians to have represented a triumph procession, hence their early name of trionfi, meaning triumphs and from which we get our word trump. And this is what they were, a suit of fixed trumps for a family of card games that is still played throughout much of continental Europe today. The earliest commentators we have, from the 16th century, are in accord with today's historians, holding the position that the trumps are a simple Christian allegory that helped people remember the order of the trumps - it could not have been anything esoteric because the games had entered popular use long before card makers began to number the cards. Some cards seem to contradict this, such as the Female Pope that many consider to be heretical. However, if we are to understand an image, we need to look at it in the context of when and were it was created. In Renaissance Italy, this was an established figure in Christian art, used to represent any number of things such as the New Covenant and the Virtue of Faith. The church never actually opposed tarot cards and even made them exempt from some regional bans on regular playing cards! It was not until the end of the 18th century that tarot began to be used for divination and to represent occult beliefs - and for 100 years, these were limited to just France. A number of myths about tarot's origins were created at this time, now discredited but still popular with the media. During the 20th century, we see tarot cards being heavily redesigned to represent a large number of occult and magical belief systems and the status of the cards will now vary depending upon what system you subscribe to, be that wiccan or Western Kabbalism or any of the others. So, the original distinction between the two parts is clearly their role in game play - and this continues in Europe. Their distinction in occultism and divination all depends upon the system you adopt or create for your self - there is no right answer because the cards were adopted by occultism and not originated by it.
4. The Minor Arcana covers elements of the mundane world and everyday occurrences, events, people, problems and successes. The cards tend to be simpler in both looks and in meaning, which can sometimes make them easier to understand and then interpret. The Minor Arcana consists of 56 cards divided up into 4 suits of 14 cards each. The suits are: Cups: These cards deal with emotion, issues dealing with the influence of emotion, social interactions and friendly, familial or romantic relationships. The element pertaining to this suit is water. Pentacles: The pentacles deal with physical and financial well-being, such as the health of one's physical body, their living conditions and environment, their financial arrangements, their work or craft, their independence from others, etc. The element pertaining to this suit is earth. Wands The wands have to do with passion, motivation and drive, personal achievement, determination, competition and action. It's all about working to make what you want to achieve happen. The element of this suit is fire. Swords The swords have to do with logic and rationality, irrationality, intelligence, cleverness, conflict and how that conflict is handled, many negative emotions and consequences. The element pertaining to this suit is air. Each suit contains one Ace card, nine numbered cards (2-10) and four royalty cards (page, knight, queen and king). Each of these cards is handled in similar and yet different ways within each suit. The Major Arcana is much more powerful, ambiguous, symbolic, spiritual, archetypal, and subjective than the cards of the Minor Arcana. They transcend the ordinary world of the Wands, Swords, Cups and Pentacles. The Major Arcana contains 22 cards, numbered from 0 (The Fool) to 21 (The World). The imagery on these cards is more beautiful and richly detailed than many of he Minor Arcana cards, but achieving a complete understanding of their significance can be much more difficult, but also much more rewarding. There are many different ways in which to interpret them, so opinions about them vary wildly. Both the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana are important, they just each have their own strengths and weaknesses and attributes. They usually work best when they work together.