Arcanum, from the Latinarcere, "to shut away in an arca, cf. ark," is usually used to refer to occultmysteries and doctrines of various sorts. The plural of arcanum is arcana. In the oldest sense arcana were the rituals and artifacts of mystery religions and secret societies, which were not supposed to be shown or disclosed to outsiders. The word has a number of uses.
By extension, in one older sense an arcanum is used for any nostrum said to be a panacea, such as the philosopher's stone was believed to be;
Occult interpretations of the Tarot cards divide the deck into the Major or Greater Arcana, the trumps, and the Minor or Lesser Arcana, the numbered pip cards.
In the oldest sense arcana were the rituals and artifacts of mystery religions and secret societies, which were not supposed to be shown or disclosed to outsiders.
Arcana Studio is the name of a popular comic book company.
Arcana (band) is the name of a dark ambient musical band.
The Name Major Arcana is used only in esoteric practice; Tarot decks for playing call them Trumps and usually only show a roman numeral on each card, plus some decoration that is identical on all of them.
The images on the Major Arcana in esoteric decks are often very heavy with symbolism; in more occult decks, there is far more to the illustration than a mere depiction of the card title.
The Major Arcana are usually regarded as relating to matters of higher purpose or deep significance, as opposed to the Minor Arcana which relate to the everyday world and matters of immediate significance.
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