If you’ve ever looked at a tarot deck and wondered how the heck all the cards fit together, you’re not alone. Anyone who has ever seriously looked at a deck has had this thought. 

Learning the cards of tarot and their meanings can feel exciting, fascinating, and a little overwhelming all at once — especially when you realise there are 78 of them.

It’s enough to make some quit on the spot, it’s also what grabs the attention of many and offers serious fascination.

The good news is that tarot becomes much easier once you stop trying to memorise everything at once (because it’s literally impossible - trust me, I’ve tried) and start understanding the structure underneath it. The latter is the much smarter, more deeper way of learning the cards and their meanings.

Tarot is not just a pile of random pictures. It is a complete symbolic system made up of the Major Arcana, the Minor Arcana, and four suits that each speak to a different area of life. Applying the cards and its systems to your own life is the most efficient and effective way to learn the cards in my opinion. It’s how I learnt and it’s stuck with me over the years.

In this guide, we’ll break down the cards of tarot in a way that actually makes sense. You’ll learn how the deck is organised, what the different groups of cards mean, and how to start building a stronger understanding of tarot meanings without drowning in information.

 

What Are the Cards of Tarot?

A standard tarot deck contains 78 cards in total. These 78 cards are divided into two main sections:

• 22 Major Arcana cards
• 56 Minor Arcana cards

The Major Arcana represents the bigger themes, turning points, and life lessons that shape your path.

These are the cards people tend to remember first — cards like The Fool, The Lovers, Death, and The Star.

The Minor Arcana reflects the everyday parts of life. These cards deal with emotions, relationships, work, thoughts, choices, routines, setbacks, and progress. They are divided into four suits:

• Wands
• Cups
• Swords
• Pentacles

Once you understand this basic structure, the cards of tarot and their meanings start to feel much less random.

 

Major Arcana Cards and Their Meanings

The Major Arcana cards are often seen as the spiritual backbone of the tarot deck

They represent key stages of growth, major emotional shifts, turning points, and the deeper themes running beneath your current situation.

These cards are numbered from 0 to 21 and include:

• The Fool
• The Magician
• The High Priestess
• The Empress
• The Emperor
• The Hierophant
• The Lovers
• The Chariot
• Strength
• The Hermit
• Wheel of Fortune
• Justice
• The Hanged Man
• Death
• Temperance
• The Devil
• The Tower
• The Star
• The Moon
• The Sun
• Judgement
• The World

When a Major Arcana card appears in a reading, it often signals that the message carries extra weight. It may point to a lesson, a life chapter, a personal shift, or something that feels bigger than day-to-day noise.

For example:

• The Fool often points to a new beginning, openness, or stepping into the unknown.
• The Hermit can speak to solitude, reflection, or the need to turn inward.
• Death rarely means literal death. More often, it reflects endings, release, and transformation.
• The Star often brings hope, healing, and renewed trust.

Major Arcana cards tend to ask bigger questions. What are you learning? What is changing? What part of your life is evolving?

 

Minor Arcana Cards and Their Meanings

If the Major Arcana shows the bigger storyline, the Minor Arcana shows what is happening in everyday life.

These 56 cards are divided into four suits, and each suit contains:

• Ace
• Two through Ten
• Page
• Knight
• Queen
• King

The Minor Arcana helps you understand how tarot applies to real situations. These cards often speak to daily patterns, conversations, work, emotions, stress, timing, relationships, decisions, and momentum.

 

The Four Suits of Tarot and What They Mean

🪄 Wands

The suit of Wands is connected to action, drive, ideas, passion, and personal energy. Wands often show up when something is beginning, accelerating, or asking you to move.

Wands usually point to:

• creativity
• ambition
• motivation
• confidence
• movement
• taking initiative

If you pull a lot of Wands cards, your reading may be focused on what you’re building, where your energy is going, or what is calling for action.

 

☕️ Cups

 

The suit of Cups is connected to feelings, relationships, intuition, emotional truth, and inner experience.

Cups often point to:

• love
• vulnerability
• emotional healing
• connection
• intuition
• sensitivity

If Cups dominate a reading, emotions are usually close to the surface. You may be processing something relational, emotional, or deeply personal.

 

🗡️ Swords

 

The suit of Swords deals with the mind. These cards often reflect thoughts, stress, communication, truth, conflict, and decisions.

Swords usually point to:

• mental pressure
• clarity
• honesty
• communication
• boundaries
• difficult truths

A Swords-heavy reading can feel sharp, but it is often incredibly useful. These cards cut through the fog and show what needs to be faced clearly.

⭐️ Pentacles

The suit of Pentacles is linked to the physical world. This includes money, work, health, home, habits, routines, and long-term stability.

Pentacles usually point to:

• career
• finances
• resources
• physical wellbeing
• consistency
• security

If Pentacles appear often, your reading may be focused on real-world progress, practical choices, or what is happening in your material life.

 

👑 Court Cards in Tarot

Court cards can be one of the trickiest parts of learning tarot, because they do not always behave like the numbered cards.

Each suit contains four court cards:

• Page
• Knight
• Queen
• King

These cards can represent:

• a person in your life
• an aspect of your personality
• a style of behaviour
• the energy needed in a situation

For example:

• A Page often brings beginner energy, openness, curiosity, or a message.
• A Knight tends to bring movement, pursuit, intensity, or momentum.
• A Queen often reflects inner mastery, emotional maturity, or embodied energy.
• A King often speaks to authority, leadership, steadiness, or control.

The key with court cards is context. They do not always mean a literal person.

How to Learn the Cards of Tarot More Easily

If you are trying to learn all 78 cards at once, it can feel like too much. A better approach is to learn in layers.

Start with:

• the difference between Major and Minor Arcana
• the meanings of the four suits
• the general feeling of Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings
• a few cards at a time instead of the whole deck in one go

Then build from there. It’s all layers that you build on.

One of the easiest ways to learn tarot is to ask:

• Is this card about a big life lesson or an everyday situation?
• What suit is this?
• What area of life does that suit usually point to?
• What feeling does the image give me before I look anything up?

That approach helps tarot become something you understand, not something you cram.

Do Tarot Cards Have Fixed Meanings?

Yes and no. That helps answer your question, doesn’t it?

The cards of tarot do carry established meanings. That structure is what makes tarot readable across different decks and traditions. But tarot is not meant to be read like a robot.

A card can shift depending on:

• the question asked
• the cards around it
• the deck artwork
• the position in the spread
• your own intuitive response

For example, the Three of Swords often points to pain, separation, or emotional truth.

But in one reading it may speak to heartbreak, while in another it may point to necessary honesty that stings.

Tarot meanings are stable enough to guide you, but flexible enough to stay alive.

 

Why Tarot Meanings Matter

Understanding tarot meanings matters because it gives you a language to work with. Without that structure, readings can feel vague or random. With it, the deck becomes much easier to trust.

The cards of tarot and their meanings help you:

• make sense of your spreads
• recognise patterns
• build confidence in your readings
• stop second-guessing every card
• move from “What does this mean?” to “I know where this is pointing”

You do not need to know every meaning perfectly to begin. But learning the system does make tarot feel clearer, calmer, and much more usable.

Final Thoughts on the Cards of Tarot and Their Meanings

Tarot starts to feel much less overwhelming once you understand that the deck has structure.

The Major Arcana shows the bigger themes. The Minor Arcana shows everyday life.

The suits help you recognise which part of life the reading is touching, and the court cards add depth, personality, and movement.

You do not need to memorise every card overnight. Start with the structure. Learn the suits. Notice how the cards feel. Let your understanding build through use.

That is where tarot starts to open.

If you want to dive in and learn more, the next natural step is exploring the full meanings of each individual card — one by one — so you can begin building confidence with all 78.

Ready to go deeper? Explore my full Tarot Card Meanings guide for a closer look at all 78 cards, or use my tarot cheat sheets if you want a quicker, more visual way to learn.

 

➡️ FAQ: Cards of Tarot and Their Meanings

 

▪️How many cards are in a tarot deck?

A standard tarot deck contains 78 cards. These are divided into 22 Major Arcana cards and 56 Minor Arcana cards.

 

▪️What is the difference between Major Arcana and Minor Arcana?

The Major Arcana reflects bigger life themes, spiritual lessons, and turning points. The Minor Arcana reflects everyday situations, emotions, thoughts, work, and relationships.

 

▪️What do the four tarot suits mean?

The four tarot suits are:

• Wands for action, energy, and creativity
• Cups for emotions, intuition, and relationships
• Swords for thoughts, truth, and communication
• Pentacles for money, work, health, and the physical world

 

▪️Are tarot card meanings always the same?

Tarot cards have established meanings, but context matters. The question, surrounding cards, spread position, and imagery can all affect how a card is interpreted.

▪️What is the easiest way to learn tarot meanings?

The easiest way is to learn the deck in layers: start with Major vs Minor Arcana, then the four suits, then the court cards, and then individual card meanings over time.

 

Meet The Writer Of This Blog Post!

Rachael Jean is the spiritual-af artist, fur mum, and tarot deck creator behind MoonHaus Studio. From her beachside home in Victoria, Australia, she hand-draws bestselling indie tarot and oracle decks. As a top 0.2 % Etsy seller with over 41,000 sales, Rachael also designs unapologetic journals and printables for women who are done playing small — the ones who’ve gone spiritually numb and are ready to fkn wake up and remember who they are.

Rachael lives with fibromyalgia & CIDP👩🏻🦽➡️Some days she is in a wheelchair, some days she’s not. Whether Rachael is creating from her bed or at her studio desk, know that everything here is authentic, raw, real, and soul-led. 🌙🙏🏻✨