Majors Only

I'm used to always using both majors and minors, but obviously some decks are majors only. When would you use a majors only deck? What type of reading or exploration would navigate you in that direction?

In traditional modes of thinking the Majors are for big important things and the Minors are for the annoying, everyday things - which is why we use both.

I know some readers use only the Majors, and IMHO that means the reading would consist of high powered, high portent cards only. Do you really need the Tower card when the Five or Eight of Cups might deliver the same message in a less dramatic way?

To answer your question - 'The Majors Only' might be used when a focused, narrow response is needed to a highly important question - one where subtlety and nuance from the Minors would start to water things down.

Just my two cents ....

I watch Veroosh's YouTube channel and she does a Majors Only spread for the Year Ahead. It's just general themes and energies for the upcoming year for each astrological sign. Seems like you could do a Majors Only spread for yourself for your Year/Month Ahead when you don't have any direct questions about specific situations to ask.

I do a full life spread with majors only. I sometimes cross individual cards with a minor. There are 22 positions, so each card is used.

I also do this spread with a full deck as well.

rubyalison said:

I'm used to always using both majors and minors, but obviously some decks are majors only. When would you use a majors only deck? What type of reading or exploration would navigate you in that direction?

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I really do prefer a reading with all the 78 cards for the most part Or more). One of my favourite all time decks is the A King's Journey, which as extra cards to the Majors, an entire extra suit. AND one extra card to the deck.

But I do have 3 Majors only decks. The Major in a deck for me are about important life lessons that our lives are trying to teach us by what we are facing talked about in the cards.
So I basically only use a Majors only deck on questions related to that.

Eg I might ask one of these decks, "What life lesson is it important that I learn from this experience?" Or "What is this experience trying to teach me?" Or "What would it help me to learn from this?"

That is what Majors are for me, so that is what readings with Majors decks are for me, for the most part. Sometimes I experiment with them for other things just for fun. Leanring is about experimenting. But for me they are basically for that....talking about what you can learn from what you are facing.

Babs

Thank you for your thoughts and responses. I appreciate it.

I have a 78 card deck I purchased impulsively one day that I don't really use because I only like the majors. I don't care for the minors in it at all. I was thinking perhaps of using only the majors then but wasn't sure when that might be a good option. This has helped.

I usually prefer 78 card decks, but I do have some favorites that are majors only. I've gotten good readings from them.

I have a deck that I love the major arcana cards esp. So I am being drawn to use them for drawing the significator card(s). or cards that are headers for a section of the reading. or perhaps when i want to focus on major helping or hindering forces on a specific part of the reading. I don't use them exclusively, as I would find that too limiting. but I love them to accent certain positions in a spread. I usually do fairly lengthy spreads.

closerwalking said:

I have a deck that I love the major arcana cards esp. So I am being drawn to use them for drawing the significator card(s)

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I particularly am intrigued by the idea of using them as significator cards when doing a reading with a different deck. Thanks!

I read with Tarot de Marseille majors-only decks all the time. Firstly, because 22-card decks are very light and easy to tote around. Secondly, because I think there is something that feels very "clean" about using so few cards to draw a successful reading. It's minimalistic.

Marseille majors are very bold and the figures have a nice sense of directionality about them, so I find that they work like an absolute charm. Like many TdM fans, I'm particularly fond of just about any version of the Conver deck. The figures are particularly bold in Conver-based decks.

I don't find that majors work exclusively well with "heavy" matters; on the contrary, I think they're just fine for any question. I read for a friend about her friendship with an ex with a TdM majors only, and it was one of the best readings I've ever done for someone else.

I've also read majors-only with the RWS deck and that works lovely as well. Most decks I will use for readings have 78 cards, but at this point in my tarot study, reading majors-only feels very fresh for particular decks. I highly recommend trying it out, no matter what your question. You may be surprised.