Major vs Minor Arcana: how a Tarot deck is organized

The structure of a standard Tarot deck

A standard Rider–Waite–Smith Tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana have four suits, each containing an Ace, cards Two through Ten, and four court cards. Other deck traditions can use different names or structures, so check the guide that accompanies your deck.

The distinction gives you a way to organize your study. It does not mean every Major card must represent a life-changing event or that a Minor card concerns something unimportant. The question and the position still give a card its context.

The 22 Major Arcana

The Major Arcana are named cards such as The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, and The World. In the Rider–Waite–Smith system, The Fool is numbered 0 and The World XXI. Their images can frame broad themes: a beginning, a choice, a change in perspective, or a sense of completion.

For example, The Magician can raise a question about using your resources in a specific project. The Lovers can frame a choice about values and commitment. Those themes become useful when you connect them to something you can describe or do.

Explore the 22-card library gradually. You can compare two images at a time and notice both similarities and differences instead of trying to memorize a list in one sitting.

The four Minor Arcana suits

Each suit offers another vocabulary for a reading. The associations below are useful starting points for reflection, rather than restrictions on what a card is allowed to mean.

Wands

Wands often bring attention to initiative, motivation, activity, or a developing undertaking. Ask what you want to begin or sustain and how you are using your effort.

Cups

Cups often invite reflection on feelings, relationships, and what you value emotionally. Ask what you are experiencing and what needs to be acknowledged or communicated.

Swords

Swords can focus attention on thinking, language, a decision, or tension. Ask what has been said, what is being assumed, and what could be clarified.

Pentacles

Pentacles, called Coins in some decks, can frame questions about practical resources, work, routines, or material conditions. Ask what is available, what needs care, and what a plan requires in everyday terms.

Numbered cards and court cards

In each suit, the Ace and Two through Ten give you ten numbered cards. The four court cards in Rider–Waite–Smith are Page, Knight, Queen, and King. That makes fourteen cards per suit and fifty-six across the four suits.

Court cards can be read through a person, a way of approaching a situation, or a quality you are developing. You do not have to assign them to a person of a particular gender. Begin with the image and ask which role is useful in the question you are exploring.

How the groups can work together

In an illustrative reading, The Magician might provide a broad theme of using available resources. A Pentacles card might invite a more practical question about the resources or routine involved. A Cups card could shift attention to how you feel about the task or the support you need.

Read the particular card and its position before settling on an interpretation. Suit associations alone are too broad to supply a complete answer. Our guide to reading cards together shows how to connect several themes into one explanation.

Which cards does this website use?

Seeris’s website currently has meanings for the 22 Major Arcana. The daily card uses that set, and the browser spreads draw three distinct cards from it using upright interpretations. The website does not currently offer a full 78-card browser draw or a Minor Arcana meaning library.

You can use the same spread positions with your own full deck. Begin with the first-reading guide if you would like a step-by-step practice, then record what you notice in a Tarot journal.