The 78 cards: Major and Minor Arcana

A tarot deck has 78 cards, divided into two groups: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana are numbered cards, 0 to XXI, that describe the large movements and turning points of a life. The Minor Arcana are four suits of 14 cards each (Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles) that describe its everyday concerns, people and events.

The word arcana is Latin for secrets or mysteries, and the two names simply mean the greater and the lesser secrets. Both halves matter in a reading. The difference is one of scale, not of importance.

How many cards are in a tarot deck?

A standard tarot deck holds 78 cards: 22 in the Major Arcana and 56 in the Minor Arcana. The 56 Minor cards divide into four suits of 14, each running from Ace to Ten and then four court cards. Nearly every modern deck keeps this structure, including the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, published in 1909 with art by Pamela Colman Smith, on which many later decks are modelled.

Some decks rename the suits (Pentacles often appear as Coins, Wands as Rods or Staves), but the count of 22 and 56 holds almost everywhere.

What are the Major Arcana?

The Major Arcana are the 22 named and numbered cards of the tarot, from the Fool at 0 to the World at XXI. Each describes a large theme: a stage of growth, a force at work, a lesson of the kind that shapes years rather than days. When a Major card appears in a reading, it tends to mark what is most significant in the situation.

Read in order, the Majors are often described as the Fool’s journey: the Fool steps out with nothing but openness, meets teachers and trials, passes through loss and renewal, and arrives at the World, where a cycle closes and a new one waits. It is a useful way to remember them.

The FoolUnbound potential at the edge of a cliff: a new beginning that could become flight or a fall.

The 22 Major Arcana cards, in order

Each Major card can be held in a single line to begin with. The full meaning, upright and reversed, is in each card’s entry in this Library.

• 0. The Fool: a new beginning held entirely in potential, a step taken before the outcome is known.
• I. The Magician: focused will and skill, gathering what you already have and making it real.
• II. The High Priestess: intuition and inner knowing, the authority of what is held in reserve.
• III. The Empress: creative abundance, nurture and the patient care that lets things grow.
• IV. The Emperor: authority and structure, a steady will that brings order.
• V. The Hierophant: tradition, institutions and received wisdom, and the pull to belong.
• VI. The Lovers: meaningful choice and partnership, heart and conscience in agreement.
• VII. The Chariot: triumph through willpower and self-command, momentum held on course.
• VIII. Strength: courage and compassion, fierce feeling tamed by gentleness.
• IX. The Hermit: introspection and wise counsel, a path walked by your own light.
• X. The Wheel of Fortune: a turning point, cycles and chance.
• XI. Justice: fairness, honest decisions and earlier choices coming due.
• XII. The Hanged Man: suspension and a change of angle, a pause that lets you see differently.
• XIII. Death: transformation, one chapter closing so that another can begin.
• XIV. Temperance: moderation and healing, opposites patiently blended into something whole.
• XV. The Devil: attachment and restriction, ties that hold more tightly than you would like.
• XVI. The Tower: sudden change that shakes a weak structure and leaves a clearer truth.
• XVII. The Star: hope returning after a hard season, quiet inspiration and healing.
• XVIII. The Moon: uncertainty and the unconscious, a situation not yet clear.
• XIX. The Sun: success, vitality and joy, warmth after hard work.
• XX. Judgement: awakening and renewal, a realisation that changes how you see your life.
• XXI. The World: completion and fulfilment, a cycle brought to a meaningful close.

The WorldCompletion and fulfilment: oneness with your greater calling.

What are the Minor Arcana?

The Minor Arcana are the 56 cards of the tarot’s four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Each suit has 14 cards: ten numbered cards from Ace to Ten, and four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen and King). Where the Majors describe the large movements of a life, the Minors describe its weather from day to day: the work, the conversations, the moods, the decisions and the people.

The Minor cards are easier to learn than their number suggests, because each one combines two things you can know in advance:

• The suit gives the territory. Wands belong to Fire and describe will, drive and creative work. Cups belong to Water and describe feeling and relationship. Swords belong to Air and describe thought, words and conflict. Pentacles belong to Earth and describe work, money, the body and the practical world.
• The number gives the stage. Aces are seeds and openings, middle numbers build and test, and Tens complete a cycle. The Ace of Cups, for example, is feeling arriving in abundance: the very start of the suit of the heart.
• The court rank gives the person. Pages discover a suit’s quality, Knights pursue it, Queens hold it within, and Kings direct it outward. Court cards often stand for people in your life, or for a side of you.

The guides The four suits of tarot and Numbers in tarot, in this Library, take each of these in turn.

How do you weigh Major and Minor cards in a spread?

Major Arcana cards in a spread usually carry more weight than the Minor cards around them, because they describe larger forces. A useful first step is simply to count them.

• No Majors, or one. The matter is everyday in scale, and largely yours to shape. A single Major among Minors often marks the heart of the reading.
• Around half the spread, or more. Something larger is at work: a real turning point, or circumstances beyond any one person’s control. Read slowly.
• Which Majors they are. Some speak of your own will and choices, such as the Chariot and Strength; others of circumstance, such as the Wheel of Fortune and the Tower. The mix tells you how much of the situation rests with you.

The Minors are never mere detail: they show where the large theme touches your actual days.

Why are Strength and Justice numbered differently in some decks?

Strength and Justice swap places between the two main traditions of tarot. In older decks of the Marseille pattern, Justice is card VIII and Strength is card XI. In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck of 1909, Strength is VIII and Justice is XI. The change came from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, whose astrological scheme linked Strength with Leo and Justice with Libra, and so placed them in the order of the zodiac.

StrengthGentle mastery: compassion and courage taming what is fierce, without and within.

The Gilded Garden deck used in TarotSeeker follows the Rider-Waite-Smith numbering: Strength is the eighth card, linked with Leo and Fire, and Justice the eleventh, linked with Libra and Air. Neither order is wrong. If your own deck uses the older numbering, the meanings are the same; only the numbers move. It matters chiefly when you count numbers across a spread, so check which order your deck follows.

The 78 cards in the TarotSeeker Library

TarotSeeker’s Library holds all 78 cards of the app’s own deck, the Gilded Garden: every Major and every Minor, each with its upright and reversed meaning, its element, and how it tends to read in love, in work and in the common positions of a spread.

When you lay a spread in the app, with your own deck or with a virtual shuffle, the companion reads the cards as a whole. It notes how many Major Arcana have appeared and what weight they lend, how the suits and numbers relate, and which court cards are in the room. It shows the grounds for each connection, so you can judge them for yourself. For a first reading, the guide How to read tarot cards, in this Library, walks through every step.

Questions readers ask

How many Major Arcana cards are there?

There are 22 Major Arcana cards in a standard tarot deck, numbered from 0 to XXI. The sequence begins with the Fool at 0 and ends with the World at XXI, passing through cards such as the Magician, the High Priestess, Death, the Tower and the Star. Together they describe the large themes and turning points of a life, in contrast to the everyday matters of the 56 Minor Arcana.

How many Minor Arcana cards are there?

There are 56 Minor Arcana cards in a standard tarot deck, in four suits of 14: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Each suit has ten numbered cards, from Ace to Ten, and four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King. The Minor Arcana describe the everyday side of a situation, its work, feelings, thoughts, people and practical matters.

Are Major Arcana cards more important than Minor Arcana cards?

Major Arcana cards usually carry more weight in a reading than Minor Arcana cards, because they describe larger forces and turning points. That does not make the Minors less important. They show how a large theme plays out in daily life, and a reading of Majors alone would lack the detail that makes it useful. Read the Majors as the headline and the Minors as the story beneath it.

Is Strength card 8 or 11 in tarot?

Strength is card 8 in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and most decks modelled on it, with Justice at 11. In older Marseille-pattern decks the two are reversed: Justice is 8 and Strength is 11. The Golden Dawn made the change to fit its astrological scheme. The meanings of both cards are the same in either tradition; check your own deck to see which numbering it uses.

What does it mean when a spread has many Major Arcana cards?

A spread with many Major Arcana cards usually describes a significant moment: a turning point, a lesson of lasting importance, or circumstances larger than any one person’s choices. It is a sign to read slowly and take the question seriously, not a cause for alarm. Which Majors appear tells you how much of the matter rests with you.