Tarot Card Meanings
REFMajor Arcana (0-21)
Minor Arcana - Wands (Fire)
Minor Arcana - Cups (Water)
Minor Arcana - Swords (Air)
Minor Arcana - Pentacles (Earth)
Understanding Tarot Cards
Tarot is a 78-card deck used for divination and self-reflection. Major Arcana (22 cards) represent life's major themes and spiritual lessons. Minor Arcana (56 cards) divided into four suits: Wands (passion, creativity), Cups (emotions, relationships), Swords (intellect, conflict), Pentacles (material, practical). Each card has upright and reversed meanings. Readings involve drawing cards in spreads to gain insight into questions or situations. Common spreads include 3-card past-present-future and Celtic Cross.
A Brief History and How a Reading Works
Tarot cards first appeared in 15th-century Italy as a card game called tarocchi, and were only adapted for divination centuries later, in 18th-century France. The most widely used modern deck, the Rider–Waite–Smith deck illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith and published in 1909, gave every card — including the numbered Minor Arcana — a distinct picture, which is why its imagery underpins most card meanings today. The 56 Minor Arcana break down into four suits of ten numbered cards plus four court cards each (Page, Knight, Queen, King). In a reading, cards are shuffled and laid out in a "spread" whose positions give context — past, present, future, or aspects of a question — and the reader interprets the card meanings in relation to those positions. Tarot is a tradition of symbolism and storytelling rather than a proven predictive method, and many people use it simply as a structured prompt for reflection.