Is, "Minor Arcana" a common term referencing the Rider Waite Smith tarot's 56 Cards of the Four Suites?

[Wyrdkiss]

As the title says, asking for a friend who is writing something of importance.  Is Major Arcana primarily the only one used in common tarot discussion? Or is,  "Minor Arcana" of equal reference and importance? I have always used it for the suites.

Edited August 5 by Wyrdkiss

[Chariot]

Major Arcana, as I understand the term, refers to the first 22 cards ...The Fool through The World ...in the Rider Waite Smith-oriented version of tarot.  I think it also applies to other systems as well—some of which actually END with The Fool.  But these cards are the Majors, whatever system you use.

Minor Arcana refers to the other 56 cards in a 78-card deck.  Wands(Batons), Cups(Chalices), Swords(Blades), Pentacles(Coins) etc, including their court cards.

I'm not sure if Pip cards are also referred to as Minor Arcana.  I don't use Pip decks, so somebody who does can answer the question better than me!  (Pip cards are the 56 non-Major Arcana cards in a 78-card deck that don't illustrate meanings, but just decoratively present the symbols in the appropriate number.  They do illustrate the Court Cards—usually symbolically, like you'd find in a deck of ordinary playing cards. )

Edited August 5 by Chariot

[DanielJUK]

I think historically, Majors were used more often as a term, but if you buy any tarot book in the last 20 years, you will get a Major Arcana section and Minor Arcana section. So I think it's a widely known term. 

In discussions, I don't know else you can discuss the tarot structure? I think the difference is that of course you would say "you have these majors in your reading" but you probably wouldn't say "you have these minors"  😊

[Elven]

Minor, I think is the most common and understood card name for 56 cards. 

The Major Cards (representing the Archetypical energy) 

The Minor Cards (represent the finer aspects associated with the core traits of the Archetype) 

So, I think the Minor cards are not a minor aspect, but a rich increment of insight relating to the Major. 

[Scandinavianhermit]

This terminology was invented by the pseudonym Paul Christian, actually Jean-Baptiste Pitois (1811-1877), in his book Histoire de la Magie (1870). His two expressions, Major Arcana and Minor Arcana, have been highly successful. You will not find this terminology in 18th century books and earlier. Since the Rider-Waite-Colman-Smith deck didn't exist until 1909, and Wirths trumps didn't exist until 1889, Christian only knew the marseille deck and Soprafino-adjescent Italian decks.

 

 

[Misterei]

On 11/3/2025 at 3:15 PM, Scandinavianhermit said:

This terminology was invented by the pseudonym Paul Christian, actually Jean-Baptiste Pitois (1811-1877), in his book Histoire de la Magie (1870). His two expressions, Major Arcana and Minor Arcana, have been highly successful. ...

I was so suprised when i learned these expressions Major Arcana and Minor Arcana were all from a made-up book. Apparently Histoire de la Magie (1870) is full of fictional fakelore. Although I've never read it, this sounds about right for the times. Lots of made-up "history" of Tarot in the Occult Revival era and before.

 

After learning this, I now mostly call the Majors Triunfi which was their proper and original name. The so-called Minor Arcana 56 cards are basically the same as any euro playing cards. The invention of the Triunfi suit in the 1400s is what made Tarocchi [tarot] different from other decks.

Edited November 6 by Misterei

[Scandinavianhermit]

10 hours ago, Misterei said:

Apparently Histoire de la Magie (1870) is full of fictional fakelore.

Yes, it is. As a historian, in our sense of the word, Christian/Pitois is sorely lacking. So is Eliphas Levi.  

 

On the other hand, Christian/Pitois and Levi were surprisingly good at forming coherent systems of symbolism. All those people who read The Star as "hope" these days are resting on the foundation of Christian/Pitois, and the sequence of moral strophes, he associated the trumps + wild card with, forms a useful tool for meditation. 

[Scandinavianhermit]

Christian/Pitois is also the reason why Oswald Wirth put a crocodile in the corner of The Fool and why Wirth (subtly) and Waite-Smith (overtly) put sun symbolism on Temperance. While de Mellet and Etteilla had associated The Traitor with prudence, Christian/Pitois associated The Hermit with prudence, an influence we still may find among some tarot readers today. 

[Scandinavianhermit]

On 11/4/2025 at 12:15 AM, Scandinavianhermit said:

Christian only knew the marseille deck and Soprafino-adjescent Italian decks.

Better read:

 

Quote

Christian only knew Soprafino-adjacent decks of Italian and French origin and the woodblock decks increasingly known as marseille decks after 1856. It's also probable that he was aware of Besançon decks and Belgian decks. 

I'm sorry for spelling a foreign language incorrectly, and it's important to know, that no one used the expression Tarot de Marseilles before 1856. Even after 1856, when Romain Merlin (1793-1871) minted the expression, it took a little while before the term became widespread. Papus and Paul Marteau certainly caused the expression "tarot de Marseilles" to have a greater impact, but that happened after Christian's/Pitois' demise. 

 

I was considering writing substantially about French republican refugees in Belgium 1852-1870 but changed my mind. 

Edited November 6 by Scandinavianhermit
Besançon, refugees

[Misterei]

On 11/6/2025 at 5:59 AM, Scandinavianhermit said:

Yes, it is. As a historian, in our sense of the word, Christian/Pitois is sorely lacking. So is Eliphas Levi.  

 

On the other hand, Christian/Pitois and Levi were surprisingly good at forming coherent systems of symbolism. All those people who read The Star as "hope" these days are resting on the foundation of Christian/Pitois, and the sequence of moral strophes, he associated the trumps + wild card with, forms a useful tool for meditation. 

I love your knowledge of history!

I also felt some of this. As much as early Tarot "history" was full of fakelore--it stumbled upon some real things.

The association of the Triunfi as anceint Egyptian is fakelore in one way. But it touches upon something real when we consider the neo-plantonic roots of the triunfi. Which knowledge would have been found in scrolls in the burnt library of Alexandria. So they weren't wrong intuitively speaking.

On 11/6/2025 at 6:19 AM, Scandinavianhermit said:

Christian/Pitois is also the reason why Oswald Wirth put a crocodile in the corner of The Fool and why Wirth (subtly) and Waite-Smith (overtly) put sun symbolism on Temperance. While de Mellet and Etteilla had associated The Traitor with prudence, Christian/Pitois associated The Hermit with prudence, an influence we still may find among some tarot readers today. 

I am curious about this. Care to explain the crocodile?

I have my own understanding of the Sun in Temperance but would be grateful to hear your historic take on it.

[Scandinavianhermit]

1 hour ago, Misterei said:

I am curious about this. Care to explain the crocodile?

I have my own understanding of the Sun in Temperance but would be grateful to hear your historic take on it.

In Ross Nichols' English edition/translation/revision of Paul Christian's Histoire de la Magie, The History and Practice of Magic, the wild card we are accustomed to call The Fool, is described thus:

 

Quote

THE CROCODILE: Expiation

S–300 represents the punishment following every error. You can see here a blind man carrying a full beggar's wallet about to collide with a broken obelisk, on which a crocodile is waiting with open jaws. This blind man is the symbol of he who makes himself the slave of material things. His wallet is packed with his errors and his faults. The broken obelisk repreents the ruin of his works; the crocodile is the emblem of fate and the inevitable Expiation.

 

Temperance is described thus:

 

Quote

THE SOLAR SPIRIT: Initiative

N–50 expresses in the divine world the perpetual movement of life : in the intellectual world the combination of the ideas that create morality : in the physical world the combination of the forces of Nature.

Arcanum XIV is represented by the Spirit of the Sun holding two urns and pouring from the one into the other the vital sap of life. It is the symbol of the combinations which are ceaselessly produced in all parts of Nature.

 

 

Edited November 10 by Scandinavianhermit
moved the grocer's apostrophe

[AtelierCarousel]

On 11/6/2025 at 4:45 AM, Misterei said:

I was so suprised when i learned these expressions Major Arcana and Minor Arcana were all from a made-up book. Apparently Histoire de la Magie (1870) is full of fictional fakelore. Although I've never read it, this sounds about right for the times. Lots of made-up "history" of Tarot in the Occult Revival era and before.

 

After learning this, I now mostly call the Majors Triunfi which was their proper and original name. The so-called Minor Arcana 56 cards are basically the same as any euro playing cards. The invention of the Triunfi suit in the 1400s is what made Tarocchi [tarot] different from other decks.

 

Misterei, I was confused about your term "Triunfi" and ChatGPTd it. It said it is a spelling that is influenced by the Spanish "triunfo", and the original Italian term is "Trionfi". Where did you find the "Triunfi" word? I also call the Major Arcana "Trionfi", which I find much more in line with their heritage. And also contains the concept of "one Trump being less strong than the next Trump", the basis for the cards being a "Journey", not just a random life theme collection. 

[Misterei]

20 minutes ago, AtelierCarousel said:

Misterei, I was confused about your term "Triunfi" and ChatGPTd it. It said it is a spelling that is influenced by the Spanish "triunfo", and the original Italian term is "Trionfi". Where did you find the "Triunfi" word? I also call the Major Arcana "Trionfi", which I find much more in line with their heritage. And also contains the concept of "one Trump being less strong than the next Trump", the basis for the cards being a "Journey", not just a random life theme collection. 

Sorry. My bad. I meant to write Tionfi. This is the original Italian word for the Trumps suit.

Yes, exactly. Original Tarocchi trionfi were ordered as a spiritual progression rather than numeric order. This is how they worked as the Trump suit in the original tarocchi game. And also where we get our idea of the Fool's journey.

[Misterei]

2 hours ago, Scandinavianhermit said:

THE CROCODILE: Expiation

S–300 represents the punishment following every error. You can see here a blind man carrying a full beggar's wallet about to collide with a broken obelisk, on which a crocodile is waiting with open jaws. This blind man is the symbol of he who makes himself the slave of material things. His wallet is packed with his errors and his faults. The broken obelisk repreents the ruin of his works; the crocodile is the emblem of fate and the inevitable Expiation.

Thanks @Scandinavianhermit

This is fascinating. And so true!

2 hours ago, Scandinavianhermit said:

HE SOLAR SPIRIT: Initiative

N–50 expresses in the divine world the perpetual movement of life : in the intellectual world the combination of the ideas that create morality : in the physical world the combination of the forces of Nature.

Arcanum XIV is represented by the Spirit of the Sun holding two urns and pouring from the one into the other the vital sap of life. It is the symbol of the combinations which are ceaselessly produced in all parts of Nature.

This one seems a bit more obscure to me.

In my recent personal meditations I have experienced Temperance as the Solar spirit of the personal Higher Self. I.e. my ego and body are of the earthly / lunar character, but my higher self is of a solar character. My personal practices are based on the Alchemical idea that Temperance is the consummation of the heiros gamos / alchemical marriage [sacred marriage or fusion of male and female polarities within the common consciousness of a human]