The Four Suits of the Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana of the tarot is divided into four suits, most commonly wands (or batons), cups, swords, and pentacles (or coins), each running ace to ten with a court of four ranks. Each suit carries a block of correspondences: an element, a range of themes, and a set of court personalities.

The suit names and emblems descend from the Italian and Spanish playing-card packs the tarot was built on, which in turn derive from earlier packs that reached Europe from the Islamic world. The four-suit structure is thus shared with ordinary playing cards, to which the tarot's Minors are directly related.