Major Results with Minors

Most people who study tarot share a concensus that the major arcana contain the really big messages in a reading. So much so that many designers create "majors only" decks, which some people call "short decks" because they only contain 22 cards versus the normal 78. Some readers feel that this helps them to work faster in fairs, festivals, parties and other public events.

While I agree that the major cards contain big lessons like Love, Justice, Magic, Death and other blockbusters, the minor cards are said to depict scenes from everyday life.

I have done many readings using only the minors, and they work just fine. I got the idea one day because I had used the majors from a deck for another project. So I had this perfectly good set of minors left and it seemed like a shame to throw them away. So I kept them and used them.

Of course this is what has been happening for a long time with all those people who use a playing card deck to read with. Playing cards only contain court cards, pips, and the joker.

If you look at the everyday problems, challenges and situations people have to work through, obviously they will point to the bigger underlying problems that need to be solved. So it is perfectly possible to do very effective readings without the majors.

And there is one other plus to this method. All those people who get rattled when they see Death, Tower or the Devil come up will never have to face those cards in a minors only reading.

Go ahead and separate your decks into majors and minors and then see how it feels to read with just one or the other.