Which Suits Are Included In A Tarot Deck?

The Minor Arcana, also known as Lesser Arcana, are the suit cards in a cartomantic tarot deck. These suits correspond to the elements of fire, earth, air, and water, with cups representing hearts, pentacles representing diamonds, wands representing clubs, and swords representing spades. The Suit of Wands represents action, change, force, power, oppression, ambition, courage, and conflict.

The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits reflecting the elements: Cups (Water), Pentacles (Earth), Swords (Air), and Wands (Fire). In a traditional tarot deck, these suits are called Wands (or Batons), Cups, Swords, and Pentacles (or Coins or Deniers). Many modern tarot decks follow the order of Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.

In Truly Teach Me Tarot, we will focus on the 10 Cards (Ace to 10) in each of the Four Suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles) of the International Tarot Deck. The suitmarks of the international deck indicate two black and two red suits—namely spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds.

Understanding the symbolism and meanings behind each suit is essential for personal growth and insight. The order of the elements in the Minor Arcana is Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles, reflecting the elements in the order of fire, water, air, and water.

What are the 4 different suits of cards?

Early European playing cards had a lack of uniformity, with decks consisting of 52 cards in four suits: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs. The suits were adopted from French playing cards, which were standardized by the mid-fifteenth century. Suits in Italy were similar, and decks in late medieval Germany did not have standard suit symbols or hierarchies.

No cards survive from earlier than about 1430, but contemporary texts suggest that the earliest cards from the fourteenth century had figures borrowed from the social structure at court, including kings and queens, knaves, officials and functionaries, and members of diverse occupations. All were ranked in a distinct order, usually indicated by numbers.

The exhibition The World in Play: Luxury Cards, 1430–1540, focuses on decks of playing cards in late medieval Germany, which did not have standard suit symbols or hierarchies.

Which card suit is the highest?

In a poker pot, the order of the spades is determined by the alphabetical ranking of the suits, with clubs being the lowest, diamonds being the highest, and hearts being intermediate. In the discrete order, suits are disregarded, and spade bids are considered to be higher.

What is the most important suit in cards?

High card by suit and low card by suit are methods used to assign relative values to playing cards of equal rank based on their suit. The most common conventions for suit ranking are the English alphabetical order, which ranks cards from clubs to spades. Most poker games do not rank suits, but small issues can be resolved by dealing one card to each player. If two players draw cards of the same rank, an arbitrary hierarchy of suits can be used to break the tie.

The order of suit rank differs by location, with the most commonly used ranking in the United States being different from the one in Italy. Cards are always compared by rank first, and only then by suit. High card by suit is used to break ties between poker hands as a regional variance, but more commonly in various situations based on the game’s circumstances.

What does the suit of wands represent?

The suit of astrology is often interpreted as relating to work, accomplishments, and fruitfulness. Its themes include new beginnings, final endings, and creative destruction. This metaphorical relationship between the suit and fire is often explored by tarot practitioners who also base their interpretations on astrology. The cards of this suit also evoke the optimism of youth and the driving force of life.

What are the suits symbols on playing cards?

In the 15th century, German-speaking countries experimented with new suit systems to replace Latin suits. Early decks had five suits, with the Latin ones with an extra suit of shields. Swiss-Germans developed their own suits of shields, roses, acorns, and bells around 1450. The Germans settled with hearts and leaves around 1460. The French derived their suits of trèfles, carreaux, cœurs, and piques from the German suits around 1480.

French suits correspond closely with German suits, with the exception of the tiles with bells. The English names for the French suits of clubs and spades may have been carried over from the older Latin suits.

Beginning around 1440 in northern Italy, some decks started to include an extra suit of 21 numbered cards known as trionfi or trumps, to play tarot card games. The Fool or Excuse is always included in tarot decks, which do not have pips or face cards like other suits. Most tarot decks used for games come with French suits, but Italian suits are still used in Piedmont, Bologna, and pockets of Switzerland. A few Sicilian towns use the Portuguese-suited Tarocco Siciliano, the only deck of its kind left in Europe.

The esoteric use of Tarot packs emerged in France in the late 18th century, with the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana being the trump cards and Fool of traditional card playing packs.

What elements do the suits represent?

The Tarot minor arcana consists of four suits with their own elemental correspondences. These associations provide a general feeling about each suit and can help you understand the main themes of your reading. An abundance of cups indicates relationships and emotions, while swords indicate conflicts and intellect. Polarities, or active or passive, play a significant role in how elements interact with one another. Active and passive polarities are part of a balanced whole, with each having their strengths and weaknesses.

Polarities in Tarot Elements are also referenced in astrology, with active and passive polarities being part of a greater and balanced whole. Each suit has its own summary, allowing you to better understand the reading’s main themes.

Why are card symbols called suits?

Historical analysis indicates that the suits in a deck were designed to represent the four classes of medieval society: the clergy, the nobility, the merchants, and the peasants. The cups, chalices, swords, coins, and clubs in a deck are believed to represent the clergy, the nobility, the merchants, and the peasants, respectively.

What are the 4 suits symbols?

The four suits in a deck of cards are representative of the disparate aspects of the medieval economy. The four suits of a deck of cards—spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs—each represent a different aspect of the medieval economy. For example, spades symbolize the military, hearts represent the church, diamonds signify the merchant class, and clubs depict agriculture.

What do the suits in tarot cards mean?

The heart suit in a tarot deck represents emotions, family, and relationships. The club suit signifies swift change and action. The diamond suit, similar to the disks or pentacles suit, is about money, confidence, and finances. The Joker suit can signify folly and new beginnings. The cards can be used in spreads, allowing for experimentation and tarot spreads to be created with these cards. The cards can also be used to represent the person receiving the reading.

What are the suits in Tarot playing card?

The Tarot deck consists of five suits: Minor Arcana (cups), Spades (swords), Clubs (wands), and Diamonds (pentacles). The Major Arcana, on the other hand, represents powerful archetypes within the human experience. There is speculation and controversy surrounding the elemental pairing for the Minor Arcana suits, particularly the suits of Swords and Wands. Most decks attribute the element of fire to the Wands suit, and the element of air to the Swords suit.

However, Dark Days Tarot features an alternate style, designed to align with witchcraft training, which teaches that Wands are associated with air, and Swords with fire. This is partly due to the creative nature of destruction, which creates space for creation. Interestingly, there is no debate on whether the suit of cups represents water or earth.

What are the suits in a deck of cards?

A standard 52-card French-suited deck is the most common pack of playing cards used today, consisting of 13 ranks in each of four suits: clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), and spades (♠). Each suit includes three court cards (face cards), King, Queen, and Jack, with reversible images. The main feature of most playing card decks that empower their use in diverse games and activities is their double-sided design, where one side, usually bearing a colorful or complex pattern, is exactly identical on all playing cards, ensuring anonymity and fungibility when their value is to be kept secret.

In English-speaking countries, the English pattern pack is the only traditional pack used for playing cards. In many countries, however, it is used alongside other traditional, often older, standard packs with different suit systems such as those with German-, Italian-, Spanish-, or Swiss suits. The most common pattern of French-suited cards worldwide and the only one commonly available in English-speaking countries is the English pattern pack. The second most common pattern is the Belgian-Genoese pattern, designed in France but whose use spread to Spain, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans, much of North Africa and the Middle East.

Commercial decks often include from one to six Jokers, which are often distinguishable from one another, either in design or color, as some card games require these extra cards. The Jokers can also be used as replacements for lost or damaged cards.