A tarot deck has 78 cards in two groups: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. Grasp this frame and you’ll read with logic rather than memory.
Major Arcana — 22 cards (0–21)
These are the “big chapters” of life’s journey, from the Fool (0) to the World (21). They speak to foundational themes: beginnings, choices, change, letting go, completion. When several Majors appear, it often signals the matter is touching something core, not just daily routine.
Minor Arcana — 56 cards, 4 suits
The Minors resemble a playing-card deck: four suits of 14 (Ace to Ten, then four court cards — Page, Knight, Queen, King):
- Wands — action, passion, energy, creativity.
- Cups — emotion, love, relationships.
- Swords — thought, words, truth, conflict.
- Pentacles — material life, work, the body, money.
Reading in layers
When a card appears, ask three questions:
- Is it a Major or a Minor? (a big theme, or an everyday matter)
- If a Minor, which suit? (action, emotion, thought, or material)
- What does the number or figure suggest? (low numbers = beginnings, high = development; court cards = a type of person or way of acting)
Learn the frame first, the details second. Once you can “read” the structure, each new card falls into place on its own.