The Hermit's Journey 3: The Minor Arcana and Numerology

 Welcome back to The Hermit's Journey! 

In today's post, we will discuss the minor arcana cards and provide quick tips to help you learn their meanings, improving your interpretations. The content we will cover comes from The Way of Tarot by Jodorowsky and Costa, which will introduce the basics of numerology. Although the book offers an in-depth exploration of this topic over 536 pages, we can lay some groundwork today that will greatly assist you.

Elements:

Before discussing the numbers, let's first revisit the suits and their corresponding elements.

Swords/Air: The suit of swords represents the mind, including communication, language, thoughts, and knowledge. When swords appear in a reading, you are prompted to contemplate your life philosophy, how you communicate with others, and the myths or traditions you follow. Swords often address inner anxiety or existentialism. They cut through deception, leaving you exposed, and guide you to the edge of knowledge, where the unknown awaits.

Wands/Fire: On the other hand, the wands are a constructive suit that compels us to take action in our lives. These cards symbolize creativity, conflict, and passion. The story of the wands examines the growth of our creative energies and vitality as humans. They encourage us to consider the bigger picture, defend ourselves, celebrate, and cultivate a life of value. Wands present challenges to our ordinary lives, whispering thoughts like "You could change your life right now," "That person is attractive, go talk to them," or "Why not spend this Saturday writing that novel instead of sticking to your plans?"

Cups/Water: The suit of cups explores our emotional and relational lives. It expresses love for others, romantic involvements, and friendships. Cups can be shallow and polite in social interactions or as deep as the oceans when we introspect and explore our unconscious mind. They challenge us to follow our instincts, embrace joy, have faith, and accept mysticism. Cups can be deceptively positive; like a deep puddle, there is more beneath the surface that may not be immediately visible.

Pentacles/Earth: Lastly, the suit of pentacles addresses our material reality. When these cards appear in a reading, they relate to work, money, skills, and physical health, including relationships with food, bodily well-being, and illness. You can think of pentacles using the metaphor of a house and home. Are your needs met? Do you feel safe and able to express yourself? Do you have systems in place for upkeep, improvement, and regular cleaning? Consider pentacles in terms of your physical existence and the conditions of your material reality.

Numerology

Now that we have covered the suits and their elements, let's learn about the numerology. Each suit is composed of numbered cards and court cards. In this post, we will focus solely on the numbered cards (court cards will be covered later). To begin, let's provide your intuition with some tools to use while learning the meanings of the numbers:

Positionality:

Each set of numbers (Ace-X) chronologically represents the path from the suit's origin to its mastery. Aces symbolize the purest, unrestrained form of each suit, while the tens depict the suit's fully developed state. When conducting readings, consider where each card falls on this spectrum. For example, compare the II of Cups with the VIII of Cups. You may intuitively sense a lack of emotional maturity or some naivete in one's feelings regarding the question.

Odd and Even:

Another aspect to consider is the difference between odd and even cards. Odd cards are typically expressive, as the suit projects itself from the self into the world. Take, for instance, the difference between the II of Wands and the III of Wands. In the former, the individual takes in information from their environment for inspiration, while in the latter, they embark on a journey into that environment. The suit flows inward with even cards, while it flows outward with odd cards.

Interpretation

Each number in the tarot corresponds to a specific meaning, and there is a relationship between the four cards that share the same number. By remembering the meanings of the numbers and interpreting them within the context of their suits, you can develop a framework to facilitate memorizing the cards. I have included a table below with the corresponding meanings for each number. Feel free to adjust and adapt your interpretations to suit your needs.

#	Theme	Challenge
A	Totality of the suit, energy without experience, primal forces	Spinning out of control, unable to manifest the suit into reality.
2	Accumulation, gestation, pregnancy, planning	Immobilization, inability to translate knowledge into action.
3	Explosion of energy, adolescence, forcefulness	Disappointment, aimlessness.
4	Wholeness, completeness, stability	Stagnation, boredom.
5	New desires, movement, conflict, a change in perspective	Failure to follow through.
6	Pleasure, beauty, expression, union	Retreating from the world, desiring to cease progress.
7	Action, purpose, change, conquest	Energy becomes destructive.
8	Perfection, reciprocity, reflection, fullness	Rigidity, becoming overly critical.
9	Healthy existential crisis, rebuilding, reevaluating worldviews	Living in perpetual crisis.
10	End of one cycle and the beginning of a new one	Refusing to move on to the next stage of life and embrace being a beginner again.

Let's put these basic principles to work with an example of the number four. If we examine the following cards: IV of Swords, IV of Wands, IV of Cups, and IV of Pentacles, we can observe specific details:

In the IV of Swords, a figure rests in what could be a wake, at peace with embellished swords surrounding them. Could these swords symbolize their accomplishments, such as diplomas indicating the completion of their learning journey, allowing them to rest?

In the IV of Wands, two figures wave at us from behind what appears to be a wedding canopy. They hold flowers and seem to be attending a celebration. Have they just wed? Have they found partners who encourage the expression of their creativity, hopes, and dreams? Will they consummate their marriage after the sun sets?

In the IV of Cups, a man sits with three cups on the ground, while a divine cloud attempts to offer him a fourth cup. Will he accept the fourth cup, or is he preoccupied with what he lacks, unable to embrace love when it is offered to him? Can he accept that he is worthy of receiving love without constantly feeling the need to express it to others?

In the IV of Pentacles, a man sits with a city in the background. Two pentacles lie at his feet, while he holds another against his chest, and the fourth sits perfectly balanced on his crown. Is he the king of this prosperous city, or perhaps the industrious individual who transformed a small village into a metropolis? Has he made wise investments, worked hard, and now can enjoy his retirement until the end of his days?

Each of these cards challenges us to consider how stability and wholeness manifest in diverse ways. For instance, experiencing wholeness in the domain of air can be a peaceful experience, devoid of anxiety or existential dread. However, in the suit of cups, this card can be difficult to accept, particularly if we have invested significant time and energy into people who do not reciprocate our efforts—a place where love feels like a constant act of giving.

Furthermore, each of these cards reveals the fatal weakness inherent in the fours, ultimately propelling us beyond this number and into the realm of five. In the wands, for instance, finding a soul mate and relying on them for sex, attention, and adventure might initially seem exciting. However, true expressions of libido must originate from within to sustain a relationship that remains passionate and adventurous; otherwise, it becomes stagnant. Similarly, in the suit of pentacles, achieving stability might be gratifying, but it requires continuous maintenance; otherwise, regression is inevitable. Your body needs to be maintained in good health, your financial resources need to grow to outpace inflation, and the roof of your house will eventually require repair or replacement.

Fours may offer a sense of comfort while you are within them, but ultimately, you must move beyond them or face the consequences.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope you find this methodology helpful in learning the meanings of the numbered minor arcana cards. Remember, this system is meant for your consideration and is not prescriptive. Feel free to modify it to meet your needs. Additionally, the numerology outlined here originates from Jodorowsky, who conceptualized it with the Tarot de Marseille, which employs pips instead of illustrations for the numbered cards. Consequently, there may be instances where the numerological meaning and the depicted image do not align perfectly. In such cases, trust your judgment and do what feels right for you.

New Spread

Lastly, here is a tarot spread from my notebooks to expand upon the weekly spread discussed in the previous post. This spread focuses on the upcoming month and long-term goal setting.