Tarot Card Meanings: All 78 Cards, Upright and Reversed
A tarot deck has 78 cards, and nobody learns them all in a week. This page is the map. Every card is listed below with its core meaning in a single line, grouped the way the deck is built: the 22 cards of the Major Arcana first, then the four suits of the Minor Arcana. Each name links to a full guide that covers what is on the card, its upright and reversed meanings, what it says about love, work and money, and how to read it as a yes or no.
Use it however suits you. Keep it open while you read for yourself, look up the one card that keeps turning up, or work through a suit at a time.
Draw your free tarot reading and look up your cards here as you go.
How the tarot deck is built
The modern deck most people learn with is the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, published in 1909 and drawn by Pamela Colman Smith. It was the first popular deck to give every card, including the numbered minor cards, a full illustrated scene, which is why it is still the easiest deck to learn from. The guides on this site follow its images and its numbering.
The deck splits into two parts. The Major Arcana are 22 named cards, numbered 0 to 21, that deal with the big turns of a life: beginnings, choices, endings, faith, change. The Minor Arcana are 56 cards in four suits of 14. Each suit runs from Ace to Ten, followed by four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King. The minor cards deal with daily life, the feelings, arguments, plans and money that fill an ordinary week.
A simple rule of thumb: when a reading is full of Major Arcana, something significant is moving. When it is mostly minor cards, the answer lies in practical, everyday choices.
The four suits at a glance
A candle for the Major Arcana
- Cups (water): feelings, love, friendship, intuition and the inner life.
- Swords (air): thought, truth, conflict, decisions and the words we use.
- Wands (fire): energy, ambition, creativity, courage and drive.
- Pentacles (earth): money, work, home, health and the physical world.
The numbers carry a pattern too. Aces are fresh starts in their suit, the middle numbers show the work and the trouble, and the Tens show where the suit's story ends up. Court cards often describe people, either someone in your life or a way you are acting yourself.
Major Arcana: the 22 trump cards
These are the cards people tend to recognise. They follow a sequence often called the Fool's Journey, from the leap of The Fool to the completion of The World. For an overview of the whole sequence in one piece, read our guide to the Major Arcana meanings.
- The Fool: beginnings, trust and a leap.
- The Magician: will, skill and manifestation.
- The High Priestess: intuition, mystery and inner voice.
- The Empress: abundance, nurture and creativity.
- The Emperor: structure, stability and protection.
- The Hierophant: tradition, teaching and ritual.
- The Lovers: love, union and choices.
- The Chariot: willpower, direction and victory.
- Strength: courage, patience and gentle power.
- The Hermit: solitude, reflection and inner light.
- Wheel of Fortune: cycles, luck and turning points.
- Justice: truth, fairness and consequences.
- The Hanged Man: surrender, pause and new view.
- Death: endings, transformation and release.
- Temperance: balance, healing and moderation.
- The Devil: attachment, temptation and shadow.
- The Tower: sudden change, revelation and release.
- The Star: hope, renewal and guidance.
- The Moon: dreams, illusion and intuition.
- The Sun: joy, success and vitality.
- Judgement: awakening, calling and renewal.
- The World: completion, wholeness and travel.
Suit of Cups: feelings and relationships
More tarot candles
Cups is the suit of the heart. It covers love and friendship, but also grief, nostalgia, daydreams and the quiet work of knowing what you feel. A reading heavy with Cups is usually about a relationship or an emotional decision.
- Ace of Cups: new love, compassion and flow.
- Two of Cups: partnership and connection.
- Three of Cups: friendship, celebration and community.
- Four of Cups: contemplation, apathy and reevaluation.
- Five of Cups: loss, regret and grief.
- Six of Cups: nostalgia, childhood and kindness.
- Seven of Cups: choices, fantasy and illusion.
- Eight of Cups: walking away and seeking more.
- Nine of Cups: wishes, contentment and satisfaction.
- Ten of Cups: harmony, family and happiness.
- Page of Cups: creative spark and sweet message.
- Knight of Cups: romance, charm and invitation.
- Queen of Cups: compassion, intuition and calm.
- King of Cups: emotional balance and diplomacy.
Suit of Swords: thought, truth and conflict
Swords is the suit of the mind. It has a reputation for being the hardest suit, because it shows worry, arguments and heartbreak plainly. It is also the suit of clear thinking, honest words and the decision you have been putting off.
- Ace of Swords: clarity, truth and breakthrough.
- Two of Swords: indecision and stalemate.
- Three of Swords: heartbreak, sorrow and release.
- Four of Swords: rest, recovery and retreat.
- Five of Swords: conflict, tension and winning at a cost.
- Six of Swords: transition, moving on and calmer waters.
- Seven of Swords: strategy and secrecy.
- Eight of Swords: restriction and self-limiting beliefs.
- Nine of Swords: worry, anxiety and sleepless nights.
- Ten of Swords: rock bottom, ending and release.
- Page of Swords: curiosity, ideas and vigilance.
- Knight of Swords: ambition, speed and drive.
- Queen of Swords: clear boundaries and honesty.
- King of Swords: truth, authority and logic.
Suit of Wands: energy and ambition
Wands is the suit of fire: the spark of a new idea, the drive to pursue it, and the friction that comes with competing for something. Wands cards tend to appear around creative projects, career moves and anything that needs courage.
- Ace of Wands: spark, inspiration and new venture.
- Two of Wands: planning, choices and vision.
- Three of Wands: expansion, foresight and progress.
- Four of Wands: celebration, home and harmony.
- Five of Wands: competition, friction and debate.
- Six of Wands: victory, recognition and confidence.
- Seven of Wands: standing ground and defense.
- Eight of Wands: speed, movement and news.
- Nine of Wands: resilience and persistence.
- Ten of Wands: burden and responsibility.
- Page of Wands: enthusiasm and exploration.
- Knight of Wands: passion, action and adventure.
- Queen of Wands: confidence, warmth and magnetism.
- King of Wands: leadership, vision and boldness.
Suit of Pentacles: money, work and home
Pentacles is the suit of the material world. It covers money and work, but also craft, health, home and family. It is the slowest suit, the one that rewards patience and steady effort. The five-pointed star on each coin is the same pentacle many witches use, as our pentacle meaning guide explains.
- Ace of Pentacles: opportunity, prosperity and new start.
- Two of Pentacles: balance and adaptability.
- Three of Pentacles: teamwork, craft and collaboration.
- Four of Pentacles: security, saving and control.
- Five of Pentacles: hardship, worry and seeking help.
- Six of Pentacles: generosity and giving and receiving.
- Seven of Pentacles: patience and long-term growth.
- Eight of Pentacles: dedication, skill and practice.
- Nine of Pentacles: independence, luxury and self-worth.
- Ten of Pentacles: legacy, family and wealth.
- Page of Pentacles: learning and new goals.
- Knight of Pentacles: hard work, routine and reliability.
- Queen of Pentacles: nurturing, practical and homebody.
- King of Pentacles: abundance, security and success.
How to learn the cards without memorising a list
Lists like this one are for looking things up, not for learning. The cards stick much faster when you meet them in readings of your own.
- Draw one card a day. Read its guide in the morning and notice in the evening where it showed up.
- Learn a suit at a time. Once you know what water, air, fire and earth stand for, half of each card's meaning follows.
- Look at the picture before the keywords. The 1909 images were designed to be read. Ask what the figure is doing and how they seem to feel.
- Keep a record. A tarot journal or a page in your Book of Shadows journal shows your patterns over months.
If you want a card that is yours, the tarot birth card calculator shows you how to find the Major Arcana card linked to your birth date.
Upright and reversed cards
Every guide on this site gives both meanings. A reversed card, one that lands upside down, rarely means the exact opposite. More often it shows the same energy blocked, delayed, turned inward or overdone. Some readers do not use reversals at all, and that is a fair choice too. If you are new, start with upright meanings only and add reversals once the deck feels familiar.
Putting cards together in a spread
Single meanings are only half of reading. In a spread, cards lean on each other. A hopeful card like The Star softens a hard one like the Ten of Swords beside it, and a court card next to a number card often names the person the situation is about. Each card guide on this site includes a short list of common pairings to get you started.
Start small. A three-card spread of past, present and next step is enough for most questions. Read each card on its own first, then read the three as a short story from left to right. Notice which suit dominates, whether any Major Arcana appear, and whether the cards face toward or away from each other. Those three checks tell you a great deal before you look up a single keyword.
A clean surface helps more than people expect. Many readers lay their cards on a dedicated cloth, partly to protect the cards and partly as a signal that this is focused time. Our altar cloths include several tarot designs sized for a spread.
Learn the cards on paper
Frequently Asked Questions
How many cards are in a tarot deck?
78: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana, split into four suits of 14 cards each.
What is the difference between the Major and Minor Arcana?
The Major Arcana deal with big life themes and turning points. The Minor Arcana describe everyday situations, feelings and decisions.
Which tarot deck should a beginner use?
The Rider-Waite-Smith deck or a deck based on it. Every card has a full scene, so you can read the picture as well as the meaning.
Do I need to memorise all 78 meanings before reading?
No. Start reading with a guide open. Most people learn the cards through use, one reading at a time.
Related Reads
Ready to try it? Draw your free tarot reading. Pick one card or three, read the meaning on the spot, then come back here to go deeper into any card you draw.