Tarot 201: Timing with the Tarot Minors

I hope you enjoyed the last blog post in which I talked about using the tarot for timing and explained a system for doing timeframes with the Major Arcana. Today, we turn to the Minor Arcana- and things get a bit more complicated. The majors only had 12 timeframes to learn according to the zodiac signs. The minors go into decans within each of the zodiac signs. What are decans, you may ask? Well, let’s start there and get into it!

So, as you know, the zodiac is a circle of 360 degrees broken up into 12 zodiac sections of 30 degrees each. Each of these 30 degree sections can be broken up into 3 decans of 10 degrees each, or 10 days. Decan, like the word decade, denotes 10. Not too, too tricky, right? The first 10 days or degrees of a sign is the first decan, the second 10 days is the second decan, and the last 10 days of a sign is the third decan. Here’s an example:

Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

Aries is roughly March 20- April 20.

The first decan of Aries is March 20-30.

The second decan of Aries is April 1-10.

The third decan of Aries is April 10-20.

Now, here’s the cool part. Each of these decans is represented by a minor arcana card. So, if you are doing a reading with your tarot cards and ask a time bound question, you can interpret a minor arcana tarot card you draw to within a ten day period! I think that is super spiffy. This gets much more granular that the major cards which denote a month long period.

So, you can simply memorize which of the minors go with which decans, but they also follow a pattern. Of course! There is always a pattern when it comes to tarot and astrology. I have to say, the pattern is simple but involves some existing knowledge of astrology. I’m still really slow at figuring out the right timeframe for each of the minor cards, but since I know the following things, I can figure it out eventually.

You need to learn the dates of the signs, the elements/suits of the signs, and the modalities of the signs. You basically just have to memorize this stuff. The longer you study astrology, the easier it will get to remember it all.

Zodiac Dates:

Aries: March 21 – April 19
Taurus: April 20 – May 20
Gemini: May 21 – June 21
Cancer: June 22 – July 22
Leo: July 23 – August 22
Virgo: August 23 – September 22
Libra: September 23 – October 23
Scorpio: October 24 – November 21
Sagittarius: November 22 – December 21
Capricorn: December 22 – January 19
Aquarius: January 20 – February 18
Pisces: February 19 – March 20

Element/Suits/Season:

Fire/Wands/Spring: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Water/Cups/Summer: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Air/Swords/Fall: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Earth/Pentacles/Winter: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

Modalities:

Cardinal signs : Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn.
Fixed signs: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius.
Mutable signs: Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces

It can be helpful to know that the cardinal signs are the beginning of the season. Think of it this way, cardinal signs are leaders, they like to initiate, so they begin the season. Then you have the fixed signs, they are the middle of the season. The fixed signs like to hold things down and keep them steady. Then you have the mutable signs which are the end of a season. They like to signal change and the transition period into a new season. This helps me remember the modalities of the signs.

Each element has one of each of the modalities. Let’s see how it works with Water: Cancer is the first water sign, it is the cardinal water sign, therefore it is the beginning of the season. Water signs are associated with Cups and Cups are associated with summer, so Cancer is the beginning of summer. With me so far? Then the second water sign is Scorpio, which is a mutable sign, therefore it is the middle of a season. Scorpio happens in November, so we can deduce that Scorpio is the middle of autumn. Lastly, Pisces is the third water sign, therefore it is a mutable sign, which means it is the end of a season. Pisces happens in March, which is the end of winter. This pattern repeats for each element. The fire, earth, and air elements each have one cardinal, fixed, and mutable sign.

Ok, next step! The cardinal signs are represented by the 2, 3, 4 tarot cards of a suit. The fixed signs represent the 5, 6, 7 cards of a suit. The mutable signs correspond to the 8, 9, 10 cards of a suit. This is where the decans come in. The first decan of a cardinal sign is the 2 card, the second is the 3, and the third decan is the 4. The first decan of a fixed sign is the 5 card, the second is the 6, and the third is the 7. The first decan of a mutable sign is the 8 card, the second is the 9, and the third decan is the 10. This is where my brain starts to hurt a little bit.

Let’s do an example. Say you draw the 2 of Wands and you want to know what time period this card is referring to. Well, you know since this is a 2 card, that is must be a cardinal sign time period because 2, 3, 4 cards correspond to cardinal signs. Then you go to the Wands, this is a fire element so you know you’re looking for the cardinal fire sign. That’s Aries! Now, you just need to remember when Aries season is, it’s the beginning of spring. So, the 2 of Wands is the first week of spring, so around March 20-April 1st, the first decan of Aries.

Let’s do another one. Say you draw the 7 of Pentacles and you want to know what time period that card represents. Well, you know that 7 cards refer to fixed signs, the middle period of a season- 5, 6, 7 cards are always fixed signs. Then you see that Pentacles are earth cards, and you know that the fixed earth sign is Taurus. So, the 7 of Pentacles is the third decan of Taurus, which is May 10-20.

Do you see how you have to memorize some things? Hopefully it is less things than just memorizing all the cards and their time periods. As long as you are pretty familiar with the elements, sign modalities, and sign dates - you can figure out any card.

Here’s a full chart of the signs and their cards:

Aries - 2 of Wands, 3 of Wands, 4 of Wands (Cardinal 2/3/4 = Fire Wands)
Taurus - 5 of Pentacles, 6 of Pentacles, 7 of Pentacles (Fixed 5/6/7 = Earth Pentacles)
Gemini - 8 of Swords, 9 of Swords, 10 of Swords (Mutable 8/9/10 = Air Swords)
Cancer - 2 of Cups, 3 of Cups, 4 of Cups (Cardinal 2/3/4 = Cups Water)
Leo - 5 of Wands, 6 of Wands, 7 of Wands (Fixed 5/6/7 = Fire Wands)
Virgo - 8 of Pentacles, 9 of Pentacles, 10 of Pentacles (Mutable 8/9/10 = Earth Pentacles)
Libra - 2 of Swords, 3 of Swords, 4 of Swords (Cardinal 2/3/4 = Air Swords)
Scorpio - 5 of Cups, 6 of Cups, 7 of Cups (Fixed 5/6/7 = Cups Water)
Sagittarius - 8 of Wands, 9 of Wands, 10 of Wands (Mutable 8/9/10 = Fire Wands)
Capricorn - 2 of Pentacles, 3 of Pentacles, 4 of Pentacles (Cardinal 2/3/4 = Earth Pentacles)
Aquarius - 5 of Swords, 6 of Swords, 7 of Swords (Fixed 5/6/7 = Air Swords)
Pisces - 8 of Cups, 9 of Cups, 10 of Cups (Mutable 8/9/10 = Cups Water)

But what about the Aces and the Court Cards, you might ask? Well, the Aces represent the beginning of the season. You look at the element of the Ace and then you correspond that with the season and you can predict that the thing will happen at the beginning of that season. The Ace of Wands will be the beginning of spring. The Ace of Cups will be the beginning of summer. The Ace of Swords will be the beginning of fall. And the Ace of Pentacles will be the beginning of winter. Yes, this is a bit vague, but it’s not an exact science to begin with, so I think this still gives you a good idea of when to expect something to occur.

As for the Court Cards, there are different methods that you can use for these, but the one we learned in class was simple:

Pages- days away
Knights- weeks away
Queens- months away
Kings- not this year! maybe later, or never

This is a pretty simple system for predicting timeframes with court cards and one I would like to try out and see if it is accurate or useful. There are other ways of placing the court cards with exact time frames on the calendar, but I’m going to stick with the minor arcana for now and try to remember that system before I go off and download even more information into my brain.

As I wrap up this post, I want to reiterate that predicting timeframes with tarot does not foretell a destined future over which you have no say. You always have agency. There are always choices you can make. Nothing is predestined or written in the stars. The tarot can point out what is likely to happen given your present set of circumstances. You can use that information however you would like. If the outcome is perceived as positive, you can continue on your current path. A negative or unwanted outcome could get you moving in a different direction so that you have different results than the tarot predicts. I find that empowering, don’t you!?

Let me know what you think of this system for predicting timeframes with the minor arcana. And if you try out this system, tell me how it goes!

Lastly, I still have a sale going on for predictive readings: $12 readings for a “past, present, furture” reading. You can order one here if you’re interested!