Minor Arcana

MINOR ARCANA

The Minor Arcana are significant, for they serve as mundane messengers of the deck, creating a dialogue between the cosmic perspectives of the Major Arcana and the everyday events of our lives. In this supportive capacity, the Minors may be seen as our mirrors on the world-our local news headlines. The four suits of the Minor Arcana are predisposed as the fundamental elements-Matter, Water, Fire, and Air. Each suit has fourteen cards: Ace through 10, plus four court cards (Spirit, Stallion, Queen, and King). These sixteen court cards personify the interaction of the conscious and unconscious, otherwise known as "the games we play."

The Tarot de Paris is a compilation of thousands of photographic images (taken between 1981 and 2001) of found objects around the city. From the beginning, my commitment was to let the city expose its hand, symbolically revealing an underlying order within its treasury of art and architecture. My pre-existing concepts of the Minor suit symbols and the court cards were thus left to the city to decide. I was convinced that the brilliance of the city's artistic achievements would be better served if I were to match the suits to the elements. In so doing, I intended to avoid the age-old conflicts of interest associated with the four suits, their definitive symbols, and their corresponding elements. I felt no need to impose a system of astrological correspondences on these cards, and instead chose to let the tarot enthusiast decide for themselves.