Tarot Card Meanings: A Beginner’s Guide to All 78 Cards

A tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana for life’s big themes and lessons, and 56 Minor Arcana for everyday matters, divided into four suits of fourteen cards: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. To read any card, combine its suit (the area of life) with its number or rank (the stage of the story), then adjust for whether it appears upright or reversed. Most meanings used today come from the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, and this guide follows it.

How a tarot deck is organised

The Rider–Waite–Smith deck, drawn by Pamela Colman Smith under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite and first published in 1909, was the first popular deck to give every Minor Arcana card an illustrated scene. That is why its images still shape how most readers interpret the cards. It numbers Strength as 8 and Justice as 11, an order most modern decks follow; some older decks swap the two.

The 22 Major Arcana

The Major Arcana are often read as the Fool’s journey, from innocence at 0 to completion at 21. When several appear in one reading, the matter is usually a significant chapter rather than a passing concern.

The four suits

The 56 Minor Arcana are split into four suits, each tied to an element and an area of life:

When one suit dominates a spread, it tells you where the story is happening. A reading full of Cups is about the heart; one full of Pentacles is about practical life; many Swords point to a decision or a difficult conversation.

What the numbers mean

Each suit runs from Ace to Ten, and the numbers follow a story arc:

Combine the two and most cards decode themselves. A Five (conflict and loss) of Cups (feelings) is disappointment and regret; an Eight (mastery) of Pentacles (work) is diligent practice and skill-building.

Court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King

The sixteen court cards usually describe people (you or someone around you) or a way of handling the situation:

Read the rank together with the suit. The Queen of Cups is emotional wisdom and empathy, the King of Pentacles practical, prosperous leadership, and the Knight of Swords a sharp, fast mind in a hurry.

Reversed cards

A reversed card appears upside down. Rather than flipping the meaning into its opposite, most readers see a reversal as the same energy blocked, delayed, turned inward, or present in excess or lack.

The upright Chariot, for example, is momentum and determination; reversed, it may be stalling, or charging ahead without direction. A reversed Three of Swords can mean the heartache is beginning to heal. Some readers ignore reversals altogether, and that is a perfectly valid choice while you are learning.

Reading your first three-card spread

The three-card spread is the best place to begin.

1. Ask an open question, such as “What should I understand about my career right now?” Open questions give richer answers than yes-or-no ones.
2. Shuffle while focusing on it, then draw three cards for the Past (what led here), the Present (where you stand) and the Future (where this is heading).
3. Read each card in its position, then read the three together as one story.

Say you draw the Five of Cups in the past, the Six of Swords in the present and The Star in the future. A disappointment you kept dwelling on has given way to a deliberate move towards calmer waters, and the outlook is renewed hope and healing. The quiet advice in the spread: keep moving, and let yourself be hopeful again.

Yes-or-no readings

For a quick answer, ask one clear question and draw a single card. Its tone gives the lean:

• Leaning yes: most upright cards with bright or forward-moving energy, such as The Sun, The Star, The World, the Ace of Cups and the Nine of Cups.
• Leaning no: a handful of upright cards, such as The Tower, The Devil, the Five of Cups and several Swords, including the Three, Nine and Ten.
• Maybe or not yet: reflective cards such as The High Priestess, The Hermit and The Hanged Man.
• Reversed cards: each follows its reversed meaning. A reversed bright card, such as The Fool or the Ace of Cups, usually turns the answer to no for now; a reversed card of hardship, such as The Devil, the Five of Cups or the Nine of Swords, points to recovery and a cautious yes; and some, such as The Star reversed, stay at maybe.

Ask once and accept the card. Drawing again until you get the answer you want turns a moment of reflection into a coin toss.

Cards beginners misread

Tarot works best as a tool for reflection. Use it to see a situation from new angles, not to make medical, legal or financial decisions, and remember that no card fixes the future.

Tips for learning the cards

• One card a day. Draw a card each morning and notice where its theme shows up by evening. A few weeks of this teaches more than any list.
• Look before you read. Describe the picture in your own words (who is in it, what they are doing, how it feels) before checking the meaning.
• Learn the building blocks first. The four suits, the numbers one to ten and the four court ranks unlock all 56 Minor Arcana; add the 22 Major Arcana and you can read the whole deck.
• Keep a journal. Note the question, the cards and what happened next; patterns in your own readings are the best teacher.
• Read when calm. A question asked in panic tends to get a panicked reading. Wait until you can look at the cards with an open mind.

Ready to try? Draw your card of the day, or ask a yes-or-no question, in our free Tarot reader. You shuffle the full 78-card deck and choose the cards yourself, and each card comes with its upright or reversed meaning for the area you choose: general, love, career or money.