A beautiful, memorable way to understand the Major Arcana is to read the 22 cards as stages in the journey of the Fool (card 0) — the figure standing in for each of us as we step into something new.
An innocent beginning
The Fool sets out with a small bundle and trust. Along the way he meets his first teachers: the Magician (I) shows he has tools to act; the High Priestess (II) teaches him to listen to intuition; the Empress (III) and Emperor (IV) are models of nurture and structure; the Hierophant (V) is tradition and inherited knowledge.
Choices and trials
Then come larger lessons: the Lovers (VI) — a choice of the heart; the Chariot (VII) — will driving forward; Strength (VIII) — gentleness overcoming force; the Hermit (IX) — turning inward for answers. The Wheel of Fortune (X) reminds him everything turns, and Justice (XI) that every action has its consequence.
Letting go and rebirth
The later journey holds deeper transformations: the Hanged Man (XII) — seeing life from another angle; Death (XIII) — an ending so a beginning can be born (rarely literal death); Temperance (XIV) — balance; the Devil (XV) — the bonds we tie ourselves with; the Tower (XVI) — a collapse that clears the way for truth.
Back into the light
At last come cards of hope and wholeness: the Star (XVII), the Moon (XVIII), the Sun (XIX), Judgement (XX), and the World (XXI) — the Fool returns, no longer naive but whole, ready for a new turn.
When a Major card appears in a reading, ask: where am I on this journey? What has just ended, and what is asking to begin?