Tarot Reading Cards

There are 78 tarot cards in a standard tarot deck, which are divided into two main categories: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.

The Major Arcana consists of 22 cards that represent the major events or themes in a person's life. These cards often depict archetypal figures, such as the Fool, the High Priestess, and the Tower, and they are often used to explore deeper and more profound aspects of a person's life.

The Minor Arcana consists of 56 cards that are divided into four suits: Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles. Each suit has 14 cards: Ace through 10, plus the Page, Knight, Queen, and King. These cards represent the more mundane aspects of a person's life, such as their work, relationships, and everyday decisions.

In addition to the standard tarot deck, there are many other types of tarot cards that have been created over the years, each with its own unique imagery and symbolism. Some popular variations include the Rider-Waite tarot, the Crowley-Harris Thoth tarot, the Golden Dawn tarot, the Marseilles tarot, and the Barbara Walker tarot.

Each deck of tarot cards has different art and interpretations so, depending on your preference and how you resonate with them you might find some decks more appealing than others.

The Major Arcana:

Here is a brief overview of some of the cards in the Major Arcana and their traditional meanings

The Fool: Represents new beginnings, spontaneity, and a carefree attitude. It can also indicate a lack of responsibility or recklessness.
The Magician: Symbolizes creativity, resourcefulness, and the power of transformation. It can also indicate a person who is manipulative or dishonest.
The High Priestess: Suggests intuition, secrets, and hidden knowledge. It can also indicate a need to trust one's instincts or the emergence of a new spiritual understanding.
The Empress: Representing the motherly archetype, the Empress relates to fertility, nurturing and creativity, it can also indicate a need to take care of oneself or others.
The Emperor: Symbolizes stability, authority, and leadership. It can also indicate a need for discipline or a fatherly figure.
The Hierophant: Suggests tradition, religion, and spiritual guidance. It can also indicate a need for guidance or a search for deeper meaning.
The Lovers: Representing love, harmony and choices, it can indicate a powerful connection or the need to make an important decision.
The Chariot: Symbolizes victory, determination, and control. It can also indicate a need to overcome obstacles or a desire for success.
Strength: Representing inner strength, courage and conviction, it can indicate the need to stand up for oneself or the ability to overcome a challenge.
The Hermit: Suggests solitude, introspection, and a search for inner knowledge. It can also indicate a need for time alone or a period of reflection.
The Wheel of Fortune: Symbolizes the cyclical nature of life, the ups and downs and changes, it can indicate a new opportunity or an unexpected turn of events.
Justice: Suggesting balance, fairness and a sense of responsibility it can indicate a need to make a fair judgement, it can also indicate a legal matter.
The Hanged Man: Representing sacrifice, wisdom and letting go, it can indicate a need to take a different perspective on a situation or to let go of control.
Death: Symbolizing change and transformation, it can indicate a major change or end of a cycle.
Temperance: Representing balance and patience, it can indicate the need to find balance in oneself or a situation.
The Devil: Suggesting materialism, addiction, and temptation. It can also indicate a need to break free from negative influences or to confront one's shadow self.
The Tower: Symbolizing sudden change, upheaval, and destruction. It can also indicate a need to confront difficult truths or to rebuild after a setback.
The Star: Representing hope, inspiration and aspiration. It can indicate a sense of optimism or a chance to reach one's goals.
The Moon: Suggesting intuition, emotion, and the subconscious. It can also indicate a need to trust one's instincts or to explore one's own psyche.
The Sun: Symbolizing vitality, success, and joy. It can also indicate a time of positive change or the realization of one's goals.
Judgement: Representing evaluation, judgement and redemption, it can indicate a need for self-reflection, or a chance for a fresh start.
The World: Symbolizing completion, wholeness, and a sense of unity. It can also indicate a sense of accomplishment or a journey coming to an end.

The Minor Arcana:

The suits in the Minor Arcana are Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles. Each suit has 14 cards: Ace through 10, plus the Page, Knight, Queen, and King. These cards represent the more mundane aspects of a person's life, such as their work, relationships, and everyday decisions.

Cups:

Ace of Cups: Representing emotions and love, it can indicate a new emotional beginning, an opportunity for love and happiness.
Two of Cups: Suggesting balance, harmony and partnership. It can indicate a strong connection or a new partnership.
Three of Cups: Symbolizing celebration, friendship, and community. It can also indicate a time of joy and celebration with others.
Four of Cups: Representing contemplation and introspection, it can indicate a need for contemplation or a sense of being unfulfilled
Five of Cups: Suggesting loss, disappointment and grief. It can indicate a disappointment or loss, but also the possibility of moving on.
Six of Cups: Symbolizing memories, nostalgia, and childhood. It can also indicate a return to the past or the rekindling of an old friendship.
Seven of Cups: Representing choices, illusions and visualization, it can indicate the possibility of multiple choices, or the need to face reality.
Eight of Cups: Suggesting journey, moving on, and leaving something behind. It can indicate a sense of moving on, leaving something behind and moving towards a new chapter.
Nine of Cups: Symbolizing satisfaction, contentment and happiness. It can indicate a sense of satisfaction or a time of contentment.
Ten of Cups: Representing happiness, love and family, it can indicate a happy and fulfilled life.

Wands:

1. Ace of Wands: Representing new beginnings, inspiration and ambition, it can indicate a new opportunity, a new idea or a chance to start something new.
Two of Wands: Suggesting choices, planning and taking control. It can indicate the need to make a decision or to take control of a situation.
Three of Wands: Symbolizing expansion, adventure, and exploration. It can also indicate a sense of adventure or the possibility of expanding one's horizons.
Four of Wands: Representing celebration, stability and balance. It can indicate a time of celebration or the achievement of stability.
Five of Wands: Suggesting competition, struggle and conflict. It can indicate a sense of competition or a need to confront challenges.
Six of Wands: Symbolizing victory, success, and recognition. It can also indicate the achievement of success or the recognition of one's accomplishments.
Seven of Wands: Representing determination, courage, and self-defense. It can indicate the need to stand up for oneself or the determination to succeed.
Eight of Wands: Suggesting communication, travel, and movement. It can indicate a need for communication or a sense of movement and change.
Nine of Wands: Symbolizing resilience, inner strength and persistence. It can indicate a need to be resilient or a sense of inner strength.
Ten of Wands: Representing burden, responsibility, and hard work. It can indicate a sense of responsibility or the need to take on more.

Swords:

Ace of Swords: Representing clarity, truth and decision, it can indicate the need to make a decision, or to see things clearly.
Two of Swords: Suggesting balance, harmony and partnership. It can indicate a need to find balance or to mediate a situation.
Three of Swords: Symbolizing heartbreak, pain, and separation. It can also indicate a difficult ending or a time of emotional pain.
Four of Swords: Representing contemplation and introspection, it can indicate a need for contemplation or a sense of being unfulfilled
Five of Swords: Suggesting loss, disappointment and grief. It can indicate a disappointment or loss, but also the possibility of moving on.
Six of Swords: Symbolizing moving on, change and letting go. It can also indicate a need to move on or to let go of the past.
Seven of Swords: Representing choices, illusions and visualization, it can indicate the possibility of multiple choices, or the need to face reality.
Eight of Swords: Suggesting journey, moving on, and leaving something behind. It can indicate a sense of moving on, leaving something behind and moving towards a new chapter.
Nine of Swords: Symbolizing fears, anxiety and nightmares. It can indicate a sense of fear or a time of anxiety.
Ten of Swords: Representing endings, grief and letting go. It can indicate a difficult ending or a time of grief.

Pentacles:

Ace of Pentacles: Representing material and financial opportunities, it can indicate a new opportunity, a new idea or a chance to start something new.
Two of Pentacles: Suggesting balance, harmony and partnership. It can indicate a need to find balance or to mediate a situation.
Three of Pentacles: Symbolizing hard work, education and building. It can also indicate a time of hard work or the building of something.
Four of Pentacles: Representing contemplation and introspection, it can indicate a need for 5. contemplation or a sense of being unfulfilled
Five of Pentacles: Suggesting loss, disappointment and grief. It can indicate a disappointment or loss, but also the possibility of moving on.
Six of Pentacles: Symbolizing balance, charity and fairness. It can also indicate a need to find balance or a sense of fairness.
Seven of Pentacles: Representing choices, illusions and visualization, it can indicate the possibility of multiple choices, or the need to face reality.
Eight of Pentacles: Suggesting journey, moving on, and leaving something behind. It can indicate a sense of moving on, leaving something behind and moving towards a new chapter.
Nine of Pentacles: Symbolizing luxury, comfort, and satisfaction. It can indicate a sense of luxury or a time of comfort.
Ten of Pentacles: Representing family, inheritance, and stability. It can indicate a sense of stability or the importance of family.

Page, Knight, Queen and King of each suit represents the different aspects of oneself or people in one's life, the Page representing a young or inexperienced person, the Knight action and movement, the Queen wisdom and nurturing, and the King stability and authority, depending on the card and context of the reading it can indicate how someone is acting or how they will act in a certain situation.

I hope this overview provides a helpful introduction to the tarot cards. Please keep in mind that these are just traditional meanings, each card may have a personal interpretation.