Tarot card meanings
The complete 78-card reference: upright and reversed meanings, plus what each card says about love, work and what's ahead.
Not sure where to start? Find your personal arcana from your date of birth.
How to use this tarot reference
A tarot deck holds 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana (the big, fate-shaping themes) and 56 Minor across four suits — Cups (feeling), Wands (energy and action), Swords (thought) and Pentacles (money and the material). Every card has an upright and a reversed meaning, plus its own shading in love, work and the future.
Don't try to memorise everything at once. Open the card you need and read its symbolism in the context of your question. To learn how cards read together, see card combinations, and to put the meanings to work, lay out a tarot spread or take your question to Mira.
Frequently asked
How many cards are in a tarot deck?
A classic tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana, from the Fool to the World, and 56 Minor Arcana. The Minor cards are divided into four suits of 14 — Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles; each suit has ten numbered cards from Ace to Ten and four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King. The Major Arcana describe the big stages and lessons, the Minor ones everyday situations and the people around you.
What does a reversed card mean?
A reversed position usually weakens, delays or inverts the card's core meaning. The upright Chariot, for instance, is forward motion and control; reversed, it is a loss of direction. Sometimes a reversal shows the card's energy turned inward: not the action but the thinking about it. Not every reader uses reversals, but this reference gives both meanings, upright and reversed, for every card.
Do I have to memorise all the meanings?
No. It is enough to understand the system: the four elements of the suits, what the numbers from Ace to Ten mean, and the roles of the court cards — that way the 56 Minor Arcana come from a few rules rather than 56 separate facts. The Major Arcana are best known by their image rather than by a list of keywords. Exact readings for love, work and yes-or-no questions are on each card's page, and they stick with practice.