Most Tarot decks have seventy-eight cards. Twenty two are the Major arcana and fifty-six make up the Minor arcana.

The Minor arcane has four suits.  They are the Wands, Cups, Swords and the Pentacles.

Each suit has four face cards, the King, Queen, Knight and Page. The others are numbered one to ten.

Regardless of what deck you buy, open the new deck and count them.  Check every suit to make sure that all of the cards are there.

Lay them out, one by one and look at each one individually; making sure that the coloring, wording and numbers are filled in correctly. There should be a book included that you can refer to make sure that all cards are present.

Take a while to enjoy the art work on each one.  This is not the time that you need to be concerned about being able to read the cards.  Just enjoy them for what they are.

Shuffle them using a method that is comfortable for you, your hands and your wrists. Take your time.  Cut the cards into stacks.  Now pick the stacks up and see how the cards have fallen.  Some should be upright and some will be in reverse position. You will learn about the difference in positions as we move through this book.

Wands represent the work world and how you move in it. These suggest how you get the money that you use in your life.

Cups tap into the emotional side of your life, either in the work place or your private world.

Swords address your knowledge, attitudes and how you use each one of those in your life.

Pentacles speak of money and how you use it, not necessarily how you acquire it.

Those are simple definitions for the cards.  We will examine each card very carefully as we continue through the Tarot deck.