Ask a real question first
A card answers a question you actually have. Without one you will read the page as a horoscope and take from it whatever you were already hoping for.
Tarot Card Meanings: All 78 Cards, Upright and Reversed
A tarot deck is a closed set of 78 cards: 22 major arcana for the large turns of a life, and 56 minor arcana in four suits for the ordinary days that fill the years between them. Every card is here with its upright and reversed reading, so nothing in the deck is a mystery you have to buy your way into.
78 cards, both directions22 major arcana56 minor arcana in four suits
The showcase
Which card are you looking up?
The whole deck in order: majors first, then wands, cups, swords and pentacles. Narrow it to one suit if you already know where your card lives.
78 cards
How to read one
How do you read a card meaning without twisting it?
The figureWho is acting, and whether they look at you
The symbolThe one object the card repeats
The groundWhat the figure is standing on
The horizonHow far the card lets you see
Read the direction, not the verdict
Upright and reversed are the same card with the energy flowing or stuck. Neither position is a punishment, and neither is a promise.
Let the neighbours speak
One card is a word, a spread is a sentence. The card beside it usually explains which half of the meaning is the live one today.
Questions
Asked most often about the deck
How many cards are in a tarot deck?
Seventy-eight. Twenty-two major arcana, numbered zero to twenty-one, and fifty-six minor arcana split into four suits of fourteen: wands, cups, swords and pentacles. Every standard deck holds the same set, whatever the artwork looks like.
What is the difference between major and minor arcana?
Scale. A major arcana card names something you will remember in ten years: a beginning, a loss, a release, a choice. A minor arcana card describes the texture of now: a conversation, a bill, a week of overwork, a good evening with friends.
What does it mean when a card is reversed?
Same card, different direction. Reversed usually reads as the card's energy blocked, overdone, or turned inward rather than as the opposite meaning. If you find reversals confusing, read every card upright for a while; nothing breaks.
Do I have to memorise all 78 cards?
No, and almost nobody does it by memorising. Pull one card a day, read its page, and write a line about where you met it. Recognition comes from repetition in real situations, which is faster than studying the deck like vocabulary.
Two halves
The deck splits in two, and the split is the fastest way in.
Twenty-two cards for the turns, fifty-six for the days. Learn the shape of each half and individual cards stop being a list to memorise.
The 22 major arcanaThe 56 minor arcanaPull the card of the dayAsk a yes or no question
Read here as a language of symbols. Medical, legal and financial questions belong with a professional.