Minor Arcana

Rare card · No. 66474

The Minor Arcana, sometimes known as the Lesser Arcana, are the suit cards in a cartomantic tarot deck. Ordinary tarot cards first appeared in northern Italy in the 1440s and were designed for tarot card games. They typically have four suits each of 10 unillustrated pip cards numbered one (ace) to ten, along with 4 court cards (face cards). Tarot games are still widely played in central and southern Europe; French Tarot is the second most popular card game in France after Belote. By contrast, cartomantic tarot cards emerged in France in the late 18th century, popularised by occultists such as Etteilla. The terms "Major" and "Minor Arcana" originate with Jean-Baptiste Pitois (1811–1877), nom de plume Paul Christian. In their contemporary versions, the Minor Arcana are often illustrated—a convention popularized by the Rider–Waite tarot in 1910. Used in a tarot card reading in conjunction with the Major Arcana, the cards of the Minor Arcana suggest subtleties and details, and signify day-to...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Pamela Colman Smith, Public domain