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 16 hours ago 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 5 hours ago by Scandinavianhermit
Besançon, refugees