One rank, four suits

The Knights in tarot

Movement, single-mindedness and speed. A Knight is going somewhere and is not weighing much on the way.

Knights are the court's engine. Each one takes the suit's energy and drives it in one direction at pace, which makes them useful when something needs force and expensive when it needs care.

Knight of Wands charges on a rearing horse. Knight of Swords charges harder, and it is the least controlled card in the court. Knight of Cups approaches at walking pace holding out a cup, which is the same single-mindedness in a slower register. Knight of Pentacles is the slowest figure in the deck, on a stationary carthorse, and he will finish the job.

The useful question with a Knight is not what it wants but whether the speed suits the situation.

The four Knights

The same idea in four elements. Reading them side by side is the fastest way to see what the rank is doing and what the suit is doing.

The rest of the sequence

Ace through Ten, then the four court ranks. Reading down this list is reading the minor arcana as one story.

Number crossed with element

This is the whole trick to the minor arcana. Forty numbered cards look like forty things to memorise and are really ten numbers crossed with four suits. Learn what a Five does and what Cups are, and the Five of Cups is constructible before you have ever read its page.

WandsCupsSwordsPentacles

The lesson on the numbers, Ace through Ten teaches the sequence properly, and the one on the court cards covers the sixteen that need their own study.