As the Major Arcana focuses more on our type’s Essence and major energies throughout life (indicated in the previous blog), the Minor Arcana will bring a bit more of a detailed look at the way Personality handles Instinct in day-to-day struggles. Just like how the Personality will obscure Essence into a form it thinks it understands and receives, the Ego/Personality will do the same thing with Instincts. Society as a whole is extremely out of touch with Instinct, so there’s plenty of ways to skew it into a more comfortable outfit. The three major Instincts are:
Self-Preservation
Social
Sexual
Self-Preservation is forming comfortable habits, especially ones that nurture and preserve an individual’s energy and resources. Social is a focus on an individual’s role and how it relates to other relationships, or the rest of the world, with an emphasis on the symbolic and depth of meaning. Sexual is the ability to self-renew and transform, often in extreme ways that either repulse or attract, and objectify themselves or others. The original Essence of these Instincts have also been pretty skewed. Think of it as if they mirror the energies present at birth; Self-Preservation is receiving the nurturance and comfort of the womb, Sexual is the act of birth and creation, and Social is the separation from the mother and therefore individualized.
As our type structures, we create an imbalance of these Instincts. We rely heavily on one dominant Instinct, we sort of ‘play’ but still ignore a secondary one, and typically neglect and/or become ‘blind’ to the third. Not only are you preforming your type every day, but the Instincts play a heavy role in the choices you make from the moment you wake up to the moment you fall asleep. The Minor Arcana are the cards that also capture this energy, focusing on the experiences you may have during a single hour or a whole day rather than a shift in life like the Major Arcana.
The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits – Cups, Swords, Pentacles, and Wands. There are also the Court cards of Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings.
The Suit of Cups illuminates our relationship with the emotional realm and the type of choices we’re making for ourselves versus others.
The Suit of Swords regards our mental experiences and thought processes.
The Suit of Pentacles focuses on where our energy is going and what we value in life.
The Suit of Wands reveals the relationship with our passions and motivations/desires.
Typically, the Court cards will represent embodiments of their suits. Pages are a more naïve approach, Knights are movement or action, Queens are an unconscious-related power, and Kings are a conscious-related power.
Ideally, you would like to access all three Instincts when approaching an issue, relationship, decision, etc. But what happens when we’re over-doing one? What happens if one is completely not on our radar? Then, we’re running into the same patterns over and over to deal with something, which isn’t really being as honest or authentic as we could be.
A person who is Self-Preservation dominant is going to relate to a card in the Suit of Pentacles completely different than a person who is Self-Preservation blind. A Self-Preservation dominant person will be spending too much of their energy into those comfortable habits and resources, and therefore not putting as much value into the other two Instincts that could really help them approach things in life more authentically. A Self-Preservation blind person will be undervaluing the need for conserving energy and resources, and therefore acknowledging the importance of that could help approach things in life more authentically. Take the Two of Pentacles as an example of this shift. This card represents the struggle to keep hold of events happening in life. It’s inevitable to have unwanted occurrences, and the important thing is to pay attention to how you’re relating to it:
Self-Preservation Dominant: You’re holding on too tightly to the things you think are going to ‘save’ you. The habits and routine you rely on will have to break, or not always prove to keep you happy. It will be more helpful to allow yourself to approach each moment in life with total presence rather than following an automatic schedule or ‘reliable’ resource.
Self-Preservation Secondary: You might feel lost in the way you handle your energy. Maybe you’re putting too much importance on one thing over your needs and responsibilities. Instead of constantly grabbing at or immersing your own attention into what’s more interesting, demanding, or important, it may help to listen to what you’ve been putting off and re-integrate a healthier, more independent balance.
Self-Preservation Blind: You may be experiencing burn-out in attempts to continuously obtain ‘interesting’ or ‘captivating’ sources. Although this may continuously change and contribute to ‘who you are’, you’re neglecting or abandoning basic needs or resources to care for and nurture yourself. This may be putting pressure on others, or pulling you away from your connection to your own life and authentic Self. Bringing a balance that doesn’t rely on outside sources can keep you better connected with your own life and choices that are ‘right’ for you.
Grouping the numbers in each Suit could also show a pattern of what Instinct they may be commenting on. Looking at the movement of the Minor Arcana could mirror the movement of discovering and integrating the Instincts we neglect:
Aces will shed light on every Instinct and its relation to the suit, it’s essentially the seed that will be or needs to be planted in order for change to occur. Typically, I believe this may be the beginning of recognizing how the blind-spot demands to be integrated.
Two, Three, and Four comments on the Dominant Instinct of the querent. Where is our energy focused on the most in this suit? We will be taking pride in having established this Instinct and using it to its fullest. But do we need to realign our intentions? Do we actually know how that Instinct is affecting us? Could it not be individually directing us down the best-suited path?
Five, Six, and Seven comments on the Secondary Instinct. We are now crossing the bridge into individuation, which comes with a lot of reflection on what we’re holding on to, what we need to let go of, and what we have to start understanding about ourselves. Seeing how much we constantly choose one thing over another can help with eventually facing the blind-spot. How do we start relating to what we commonly ignore in a more authentic way? What happens if we don’t just ‘play’ with this Instinct, but hold it with just as much importance?
Eight, Nine, and Ten comments on the Last Instinct or blind-spot. These are the cards of self-transformation and change. They will start to show the uncomfortable transition needing to be made in order to fully face a question or concern. Approaching the Instinct that you’re blind to will feel terrifying and sometimes even hopeless, but allowing these cards to help guide you can be a way to integrate the Instinct with surrender and ease.
The Court cards will be a comment on how a balance of the Instincts could be used with the Personality. What can a Self-Preservation / Social Type Nine that has integrated the Sexual Instinct bring as a King of Wands? What kind of understanding does a Social / Sexual Type Two that has integrated the Self-Preservation Instinct have as a Queen of Cups? These are full embodiments of your Type and Instinct stacking – so how may it feel? What might it look like? What do you do now?
Pages will ask us to really spend time as an amateur in our full form. The Suits will bring our newly-formed attention to our emotions, thoughts, life-path, or passion with this awareness now in mind. What is this making us feel? What are the possibilities we can now explore?
Knights want us to start directing this awareness into action or movement. Can we turn this awareness into an expression? What if we were to start investigating what we can really do from here on out that’s different from before?
Queens are taking us into the unconscious realm of this awareness. What is it now like to be immersed in the emotions, thoughts, life-path, or passion of our full form? What would it be like to really know ourselves with this sense of awareness? What kinds of decisions or understanding would we defend or nurture, especially in discovering how what we’ve been ignoring has been abused?
Kings are the complete, conscious ownership of this awareness. We are now exhibiting these behaviors to the outside world, it’s a part of our responsibility and stability. How can we use this awareness to truly serve a greater whole or purpose? Are our actions in alignment with our full form every day?
The Minor Arcana have always been a more detailed and intense guide when reading Tarot. Looking at these cards in a spread can now give a pinpointed location as to what stage and part of integration will demand attention to the concern/question asked. There are many interpretations of the suits, numbers, and Court cards. I will be expanding on this idea and my personal beliefs of the interpretations in greater detail as I investigate the connections of Enneagram and Tarot.
Confused about your Instincts? Don’t just assume what your stacking would be, oftentimes people get them backwards the first time. These online resources are what I believe to be the most accurate in understanding Instincts, and specifically how it’s shown through the types:
Also, a fantastic book explaining all of this gritty, Instinct-stuff through every nook and cranny possible: