Introduction: Litanies of the Minor Arcana

With the Minor Arcana, we will see the opposite of what we saw with the Major Arcana, where the cards worked abstract to concrete. Rather, the Minor Arcana will work from concrete/practical to abstract. In the Rider Waite deck, and all decks that mimic it, the Minor Arcana offer visuals of the abstracts applied in the world. Choosing litanies for the Minor Arcana was much more difficult than for the Major. For the Major Arcana, there are foundational images from early development, for example, the Marseille Deck, that form a standard template. Any subsequent artistic interpretations are usually only variable on themes of the standard template. Following Pamela Colman Smith’s initial illustration of the pips in 1909, a rapid development of varieties of decks came into existence especially since Samuel Liddell Mathers, cofounder of Golden Dawn, called for members to not only study the Tarot but to take initiative and create their own decks. The development of decks over the past century has happened so fast that no pictorial template seems to have taken root (at least yet) in the Minor Arcana, for the pip cards. The litanies below are sculpted from meditation on the themes between the images of the original Rider-Waite Deck and/or the most absolutely general numerological resonances.

The litanies developed here will be numerologically organized. But as we noted in the general introduction, each number or royal will have a manifestation in the four suits. The four suits that each pip and royal represents are the four elements of the world and reach the four corners of the world. They demonstrate spiritual discipline and practice. They are the Staff, the Cups, the Swords, and The Coins.

The Suit of Staffs (From A User Guide to R.M. Place’s Tarot of the Saints)

When one encounters the Suit of Staffs in contemplation it will generally lead the director to focus on aspects of creativity and will, considering how these psycho spiritual factors play out in the situation. The general narrative and pictorial focus of the cards in various decks tend to gear passionately in terms of inspiration, determination, ambition, or volitional to help contemplation consider these elements. Oppositional Staffs tend to imply egotistical behavior, impulsiveness, a lack of direction or purpose, or feeling meaningless.

Apart from the general meaning, there are a host of thematic implications that can at times be used to make connections in contemplation. Staffs are made of wood and therefore can burn, thus the staffs are associated with the element of fire. The fire of the Staffs is related to the inspiration which starts small but hot and spreads to ablaze. Or volition which starts as an impetus and spreads to action with causal consequences.

The Suit of Staffs is traditionally paired with the Suit of Swords as the two “masculine” suits, balanced by the feminine Suits of Cups and Coins. This resonance may appear sexist, but the presentation takes masculinity as a force “yang” and then uses the nature of Staffs to convey that force artistically and intuitively. Masculine work is, like the conscious, the exterior, and public work that forms the greater society, it creates the order that informs the household (the internal/unconscious) yet as the male goes into society he is absolutely shaped and supported by the home. The Staff resonates with authority and will, traditionally masculine traits. The staff is used at a distance to strike at, implying a masculine objective stance or transcendence.

The suits are also related to the social structure of medieval society, and in that framework, Staffs are related to the peasantry because it is a simple and easily attainable weapon and it is in the peasant class that fuels the exercise of society, much as the will fuel the exercise of the intellect. The peasant class is alive with creativity and work and is the class that is least bound by traditional structures. For the suit, this implies a fundamentally creative and dynamic connotation to the cards.

The Suit of Cups (From A User Guide to R.M. Place’s Tarot of the Saints)

The Suit of Cups becomes the suit of hearts in the standard modern playing deck. The transition from Cups to hearts makes sense when one knows the basic interpretation of Cups when using Tarot decks for contemplative purposes. Generally, a card displaying Cups will lead the director to focus on intuition, emotion, and the unconscious, considering how these factors play out in the situation. The general narrative and pictorial focus of the cards in various decks tend to gear emotively and relationally to help contemplation consider these elements. Oppositional Cups tend to imply uncontrolled feelings, flights of fantasy, and a disconnect with one's inner voice or sense of spirituality.

Apart from the general meaning, there are a host of thematic implications that can at times be used to make connections in contemplation. Cups hold liquids, so it makes sense that water, the universal solvent, often plays a large role in the imagery of the cards. If well lit land is the field of conscious engagement, there is a “flip” reality that exists underneath the surface of the water. That place is dark, beings float instead of walk, and any land dwelling creature that seeks to go into the other realm cannot survive long. They can only bring a glimpse back to the other realm. These two alternate worlds imply the conscious and the unconscious. As water shows up in images, this interplay can sometimes be made use of.

The Suit of Cups is traditionally paired with the Suit of Coins as the two “feminine” suits, balanced by the masculine suits of Swords and Staffs. This resonance may appear sexist, but the presentation takes femininity as a force “yin” and then uses the nature of Cups and things associated with them to convey that force artistically and intuitively. Female work is, like the unconscious, the background work that is unnoticed, unrecognized (and unfortunately often unrewarded) that allows the public masculine to create the order that it does. Water is a life giving element, and blood is a life sustaining element. The life giving nature of the feminine body can connect vaginally to the water and blood and create a profound association between femininity and the Suit of Cups with femininity. The water gives life by drinking and becomes the blood of humans. Also, the chalice is used to hold the Blood of Christ, the ultimate life giving liquid.. The vacuous, vaginal, nature of a cup, as well as the emotive intuitive interpretation all place Cups in alignment with the feminine. Femininity can also be drawn from the fact that Cups are generally at a home table, the home being the domain of feminine order and control.

The suits are also related to the social structure of medieval society, and in that framework, Cups are related to the Sacerdotal because clergy are traditionally given a cup at their ordination. For the suit, this implies a fundamental spiritual connotation to the cards. Priests are traditionally given chalices at their ordination and it is a symbol of their particular sacrificial role in the Church. The Cup holds water, a life giving element, wine, an emotive element, and at the sacrifice of the mass, water, wine, and blood.

The Suit of Swords (From A User Guide to R.M. Place’s Tarot of the Saints )

Generally, a card displaying Swords will lead the director to focus on the cognitive, the conscious, the rational, considering how these factors play out in the situation. The general narrative and pictorial focus of the cards in various decks tend to gear toward analysis and calculation and help in contemplation to consider these elements. Oppositional Swords tend to imply Apollinarian coldness, objectivity at the expense of compassion, and calculation without regard to morality. Swords in reverse generally tend to be interpreted as the sorrow or misfortune that comes with over analysis. The images of the suit of Swords is usually the most negatively imbued suit of the deck, often portraying stress, oppressive dominance, or tragedy.

Apart from the general meaning, there are a host of thematic implications that can at times be used to make connections in contemplation. Swords are associated with the element of air. This has more to do with the general meaning than with the symbol of the sword, except that as a medium air is needed to wield a sword. If one is to strike, one must maneuver the sword through the air. Air itself is generally associated with spirit through breath, which is the interface between the exterior world and the life sustenance of a being. In that “spirit” we also associate consciousness, which is the ability to perceive, parse, analyze the environment, and think.

The suit of Swords is traditionally paired with the Suit of Staffs as the two “masculine” suits, balanced by the feminine suits of Cups and Coins. This resonance may appear sexist, but the presentation takes masculinity as a force “yang” and then uses the nature of Swords to convey that force analytically and cognitively. Masculine work is likened to the conscious, the exterior, and public work that forms the greater society, it creates the order that informs the household (the internal/unconscious) yet as the male goes into society he is absolutely shaped and supported by the home. The sword is a “divider”, thus it resonates with dissection and analysis, traditionally masculine traits. The sword is used at a distance to strike at, implying a masculine objective stance or transcendence.

The suits are also related to the social structure of medieval society, and in that framework Swords are related to the nobility because the aristocratic class “wields the temporal sword”. For the suit, this implies the “secular order” as order is brought to civil society in postlapsarian reality by wielding the sword. Thus knights and kings will have Swords at their disposal. Rational thought organizes the inner spiritual self and brings to consciousness a sense of order and function. The same is true in a functioning society of the ruling class.

The Suit of Coins (From A User Guide to R.M. Place’s Tarot of the Saints )

Generally, a card displaying the Suit of Coins will lead the contemplative to focus on the physical body and how one engages with the exterior world and considering how these factors play out in the situation. The general narrative and pictorial focus of the cards in various decks tend to gear toward displaying work, production, and use and relationship to material possessions to help contemplation consider these elements. Oppositional Coins tend to imply being possessed by one’s possessions or inordinate attachment to things in the material world, a poor work ethic, or lack of production.

Apart from the general meaning, there are a host of thematic implications that can at times be used to make connections in contemplation. Coins represent the interface between the spiritual, the corporeal, and external. In the Rider Waite Deck the coins are engraved with pentacles, five-point stars, to symbolize the five extremities of the human body, the five senses that we use to engage the physical world, and the subjective point of view toward the four corners of the world. The coin is indicative of the three tiered field of experience. The first of these tiers is the sense of the “interior self”, the psyche. The interior self does not seem to exist as part of the physical world. The second tier is the sense of the self as bodily, this is one’s “self” as it abides in the physical world. In previous writings, we have also called the body the auxiliary self. This term for the body connotes the fact that the body is seen as both intimate self, but also “other” because it is part of the material world. The term hints at how the body itself can be used as the bridge between the inner self and the exterior world. The third tier of experience is the sense of the “external world” which is the physical world beyond the body. A coin is a symbol of one’s labor in the exterior world and is how one “transacts” with it among peers. As such it is a general symbol of transaction between the inner and the outer, and the effect one’s inner has on the outer. Thus the coin can symbolize both the physical world as manipulated or engaged with and the body as the auxiliary self.

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The Suit of Coins is traditionally paired with the Suit of Cups as the two “feminine” suits, balanced by the masculine Suits of Swords and Staffs. This resonance may appear sexist, but the presentation takes femininity as a force “yin” and then uses the nature of Coins and things associated with them to convey that force artistically and intuitively.

Whereas the masculine is transcendent, the feminine is imminent. Thus Cups is the deep self, the unconscious. The Suit of Coins is the body and the land. It should not be surprising that the feminine is relegated to the corporeal. Females are absolutely objectified for their physical reality. Both as sexual objects in our culture and as producers of children in past cultures. The male body expresses as linear and is portrayed as a stasis. The female body is dynamic, cyclical, and is a vessel for growing another human. As much as these biases inform misogyny and oppression of women, there is the possibility of taking them with respect as the power of femininity. The immediate regard of feminine corporeality lines up with the Suit of Coins because the coins symbolize engagement with the body as the auxiliary self.

Coins also speak to the alignment of the female body and the exterior world. As coins represent our “commerce” with the exterior world, so does the female body. We noted in the treatise On Promotion of a Theocentric Ecological Consciousness

The female body and the land (the Earth) are intimately tied together in Judeo-Christian imagery, in pan-human myth, and therefore, probably in the collective unconscious. Not so subtle examples from scriptures are the reference to women who are “fruitful” just as land is fruitful, the reference to sperm as seed, just as seed is put into the land to create and grow fruit. These connections are not accidental, nor is the awareness that the cycles of fertility and barrenness of the land through seasons macrocosmically images the microcosm of the female body’s cycle of fertility and infertility.

This same imagery is symbolized by the feminine Suit of Coins. The engagement of the coins concerns the body, the senses, and the physical world, all of which traditionally line up with the feminine immanent, as opposed to the masculine transcendent. This leads to the elemental resonance of the Suit of Coins with the element earth. Coins are forged from metal pulled from the land. Since the other suits have spiritual resonance, the one suit that analogically engages the exterior world would be the Earth or the land.

The suits are also related to the social structure of medieval society, and in that framework, Coins are related to the merchants. Coins are obviously used in mercantile exchange, and so the suit naturally corresponds to the merchants. But the merchants are the creators and manipulators of the physical world. Their role in society is to facilitate exchange between parties as well as reform the material world and allow access to the new creation. It is fitting that the suit that gears toward symbolizing production, work, investment etc. is symbolized by the merchant class.

The organization of these litanies is by number so for each individual description of a pip the most general numerological resonance will be given as well as the reason for choosing the particular litany.

General Introduction: Skills and Definitions

Simple Canon of Arcana and Litanies

Introduction & Commentaries: Litanies of the Major Arcana

Introduction: Litanies of the Minor Arcana

Commentary: Litanies for the Pips

Commentary: Litanies for the Royals

Transversal Theology: Technical Glossary