The Major Arcana
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The Major Arcana cards are numbered 0-21, each card telling a story or conveying
a message. Major Arcana cards represent more significant events or decisions,
practically, emotionally and spiritually in a reading, whilst the Minor Arcana
represent the more mundane, everyday aspects or events in a reading.

There is a specific order for the Major Arcana, but some decks deviate from
this, for example, the Rider-Waite deck has the Strength card coming before the
Justice card, and hence is numbered differently from the list below.

In this Golden Dawn list, each card of the Major Arcana is attributed an
element, planet or zodiac sign.

0 - the Fool - air, Uranus
1 - The Magician - mercury
2 - The High Priestess - Moon
3 - The Empress - Venus
4 - The Emperor - Aries
5 - The Hierophant - Taurus
6 - The Lovers - Gemini
7 - The Chariot - Cancer
8 - Justice - Libra (in the Rider-Waite deck 8 would be Strength)
9 - The Hermit - Virgo
10 - The Wheel of Fortune - Jupiter
11 - Strength - Leo (in the Rider-Waite deck 11 would be Justice)
12 - The Hanged Man - water, Neptune
13 - Death - Scorpio
14 - Temperance - Sagittarius
15 - The Devil - Capricorn
16 - The Tower - Mars
17 - The Star - Aquarius
18 - The Moon - Pisces
19 - The Sun - Sun
20 - Judgement - fire, Pluto
21 - The World - Saturn

Often called 'The Fool's Journey' the Major Arcana represents our journey from
earliest awareness (The Fool numbered 0) to fulfillment (The World numbered 21).
The cards represent the qualities and experiences we must incorporate into our
lives before we can realize our full potential - emotionally, spiritually and
physically.

The Major Arcana naturally fall into two groups, with the Wheel of Fortune
significantly at the mid point - this turning point between one half of life and
the other is of critical importance.

We will cover each of the cards in the Major Arcana in more detail in lessons 2
and 3.

The Minor Arcana
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The 56 Minor Arcana cards are divided into four suits, much like traditional
playing cards. These are Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles.

Some of the suits may have other names:

Wands are also known as Rods or Batons

Pentacles are also known as Coins or Discs

Each suit has numbered cards 1-10, and 4 court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and
King

Astrological elements and signs associated with each suit are:

Wands - Fire - Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Cups - Water - Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces
Swords - Air - Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Pentacles - Earth - Virgo, Capricorn and Taurus

Wands are associated with career, work, and creativity

Cups are associated with emotions and affairs of the heart

Swords are associated with our thoughts and intellect

Pentacles are associated with money and material matters