The Minor Arcana is the body of the deck,
56 cards arranged into four suits. These cards are less flexible
and significant than the Major Arcana, but allow more possibilities
than the main 22 cards. These cards are the ancestors of the modern
playing card deck.
The four suits represent daily life rather than
the grand themes of the Major cards. The suits can correspond
with other influences such as the four elements or with astrological
signs. In terms of the Discworld, the four traditional suits have
been renamed to correspond with significant strands of Discworld
history.
The traditional suit of Cups represents undercurrents
of emotion and intuition. Our true desires and feelings about
others come to light in the individual cards. I chose Timers to
represent this suit in the Discworld tarot, the life timers of
Death's realm. This has links with intuition (through the magical
world) and with emotion and desire through the drives of life
and death.
I chose Clacks to represent the traditional Wands
suit. Wands have to do with living and working, with active and
dynamic events. The activities and dramas of the communications
businesses (clacks, post and press) have plenty of energy and
dynamism and relate to ideas and creative forces.
The original suit of Pentacles is transposed into
Octograms. This is to do with the magical world, specifically
the world of the wizards. This suit relates to treasures (physical
and intellectual), with prosperity and wealth.
The suit of Swords represents conflict, progress
with opposition. The stresses of creating order out of chaos,
of using intellect to reason out problems and challenges. This
matches the world of the Watch with its puzzles, battles and triumphs.
This suit is named Badges.
Badges
:: Clacks :: Timers
:: Octograms
Each suit is listed on a separate page (see above
for links) with an explanation of the imagery used, as well as
its meaning in a Tarot reading. Bear in mind that the information
below is only a guide and is given for reference purposes only.
The card meanings, whilst adjusted for their relevance to the
Discworld, are valid interpretations of Tarot and are based on
traditional card interpretations. Instead of a character for the numbered cards I have included a scene from the Discworld series which illustrates the card interpretation whilst tying in with the suit.
For the Minor Arcana, I have not included reversed
meanings. In general, assume some reversal of the main meaning,
or an obstacle that stands in the way of the main event.