Is leaving out the minors cutting corners?

Drawing from the majors alone is a proper method with a long history. Narrowing the deck gives each card more weight, and it is chosen according to the purpose.

With twenty-two, will the same cards not keep coming up?

Ten are drawn, so nearly half the deck reaches the table and the cast does repeat. The reading changes when the position and orientation change.

If I buy a full deck, does what this article says still apply?

The meanings of the ten Celtic Cross positions are the same and carry over. With the minors added, the description at each position becomes more specific.

Reading with the major arcana alone — leaving out the minors

2026.09.11 updated · 5 min read

AoiBalancedAnswering questions from Kenta

KentaAoi, tarot has seventy-eight cards. It says here the Celtic Cross draws from twenty-two. Is that not short of what you need?

AoiLess short than different in what it shows. Neither is correct; narrowing the deck is a choice. Let me say what changes.

A tarot deck is twenty-two major arcana plus fifty-six minor, seventy-eight in all. The majors run as a story from the Fool to the World; the minors divide into four suits — wands, cups, swords and pentacles.

Using all seventy-eight is the standard, and drawing from the majors alone has long been practised too. Both are proper methods.

What changes between twenty-two and seventy-eight

The majors are taken to deal with the large turns and universal themes of a life. The minors depict the small events and specific circumstances of a day. Their ranges differ.

	Major arcana only	All seventy-eight
Grain of the reading	Broad. A direction comes out	Fine. A scene is described
Amount to learn	Twenty-two	Seventy-eight
Questions it suits	How should I proceed	When, with whom, how it turns out
Weight of one card	Heavy. One can swing the whole	Light. The picture is built from many

Narrowed to twenty-two, each card carries more weight, because the chance of one particular card differs between one in seventy-eight and one in twenty-two. What you draw connects more directly to the heart of the question.

The fine circumstances come out less readily in exchange. Specificity — around what date next month — is where the minors are stronger.

Why this service uses twenty-two

The Celtic Cross here draws ten from the twenty-two major arcana, not from seventy-eight. That follows from how the service as a whole is built, laying nine methods side by side.

This service does not dig deep into one method; it looks at where several results overlap. Having each method give a direction, even a broad one, is what meshes with that.

The description of specific scenes is handled by other methods. The Four Pillars gives tendencies you were born with, Lenormand the line of concrete matters, the oracle cards how to hold yourself at each point in time. The parts are divided.

Drawing ten from twenty-two puts nearly half the deck on the table. Because of that, drawing again on the same day tends to give a similar cast — which is one way it differs from seventy-eight.

Where a card falls matters more than which card it is

Twenty-two may sound like a narrow range to read from. In practice, though, the reading is not decided by the card alone.

The Celtic Cross has ten positions, each asking a different question. A position for where you are now, one for what stands in the way, one for how the people around you see it. The same card in a different position means something entirely different.

Twenty-two cards, two orientations each, landing in any of ten positions. Counted as combinations, the table has plenty of expression in it. Fewer cards does not mean a flatter reading.

The Tower in the position of where it settles and the Tower in the position of what has passed are taken in opposite ways. Look at the position first, then the card. Reading in that order keeps you from getting lost.

Reversals are used

The deck is narrowed and orientation is kept. With two readings for each of twenty-two, forty-four interpretations are actually in play.

Some schools do not use reversals; this service chose to. The expressive range given up by narrowing the deck is made up through orientation.

The readings by period reflect that orientation too. The same card produces different text upright and reversed. Nothing ignoring orientation is ever produced.

AoiIf you own a full deck, do draw with it as well. On the same question, the fineness of what you can pick up will differ. Comparing with the result here makes the effect of the count something you can feel.

Note: the person asking questions in this article is fictional. This is not a record of a real consultation.

Common questions

Is leaving out the minors cutting corners?: Drawing from the majors alone is a proper method with a long history. Narrowing the deck gives each card more weight, and it is chosen according to the purpose.
With twenty-two, will the same cards not keep coming up?: Ten are drawn, so nearly half the deck reaches the table and the cast does repeat. The reading changes when the position and orientation change.
If I buy a full deck, does what this article says still apply?: The meanings of the ten Celtic Cross positions are the same and carry over. With the minors added, the description at each position becomes more specific.