Major Arcana Tarot Cards and Their Meanings

The Major Arcana speak a rich, mysterious language of pictures, colors, and symbols, each revealing more of a card's meaning. To an untrained eye, they may look like a collection of illustrations. In fact, the images give intuition something to work with. They carry deep philosophical meaning and reflect the whole variety of life's events, actions, and experiences through allegory.

Tarot communicates through scenes and stories, associations and parallels. The same image can reveal different things depending on how deeply you understand it.

Every symbol in the Major Arcana holds valuable keys to knowledge: wisdom gathered over centuries. Those keys become available as you learn to read and understand the images. The deeper you venture into Tarot's mysteries, the more layers these remarkable pictures reveal.

The Major Arcana tell a hero's story, tracing each stage of spiritual growth. The hero, of course, is every one of us. Each of the 22 cards marks a milestone. We begin as the Fool, making mistakes and learning as we go. As we grow and move forward, we pass through the stages of becoming ourselves and arrive at wisdom.

Decks vary enormously and historical eras change, but the essence of the Major Arcana stays the same. Their 22 archetypes and images carry meanings we can all recognize. The symbolism is universal; these stories are as old as the world.

The Fool, the Magician, the Empress, and the other figures are no random cast. Together, they form a portrait of humanity, gathering its essential personality types into 22 cards.

Tarot can help bring to light the inner experiences most pressing for a person and shaping their behavior. It is no coincidence that qualified psychologists also use Tarot cards among their tools.

You can read with the Major and Minor Arcana together or use either group separately. In a full-deck reading, the presence of Major Arcana cards indicates the importance of events.

Their presence—and especially their predominance—always points to a serious situation. Few or no Major Arcana cards suggest that the events in question are temporary and less significant.

The Major Arcana can help you examine any situation, whether it belongs to the present, the past, or the future. Their wise advice on navigating difficulties can help you avoid many mistakes. But no Tarot meaning in a reading is an absolute verdict. By listening to the cards' guidance, you can change your own path.

In a reading, consider not only each card's individual meaning but also the group it belongs to.

The Major Arcana can be divided into three groups of seven, following how we grow as people and relate to the world:

• The first seven concern the mind: our intellectual and spiritual life, the beginning of the journey, and youth. The Magician and the High Priestess, the Emperor and the Empress represent our heavenly and earthly parents. The Hierophant stands for teachers and school. At the Lovers, the hero makes a choice, then climbs into the Chariot and sets off into adult life.
• The next seven concern feelings: our emotional and moral life, maturity, and the gathering of experience. Here we learn to take responsibility for our actions, represented by Justice. The Hermit helps the hero discover their true nature; the Wheel of Fortune represents their life task; Strength, the effort to make their plans real. The Hanged Man and Death bring crisis, release from illusions, and renewal. Temperance closes this stage with the discovery of harmony.
• The final seven concern our responses, the material and physical aspects of life, old age, and wisdom. Cards 15 through 21 lead the hero through temptation and into the depths of the cosmos and the subconscious. They ask the hero to share their inner light and take stock of all they have experienced. At the journey's end, the hero finds a true paradise.

The Fool has a special place. Numbered zero or 22 in different decks, it represents a state of transition.