Cards & Spreads

A standard Rider-Waite tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana (The Fool through The World) and 56 Minor Arcana divided into four suits — Cups, Wands, Swords, and Pentacles. Each suit has 14 cards: Ace through Ten plus four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen, King).

Major Arcana cards represent significant life themes, spiritual lessons, and turning points — think career shifts, deep relationships, or personal transformation. Minor Arcana cards deal with everyday situations and practical matters. Neither is more important; they work together. A spread full of Major Arcana suggests big forces at play, while mostly Minor Arcana points to day-to-day dynamics you can directly influence.

No. Start with the 22 Major Arcana — they carry the strongest symbolic weight and appear in nearly every reading. Then learn the suit themes (Cups = emotions, Wands = action, Swords = thought, Pentacles = material world) and the numbered patterns will start making sense naturally. Most experienced readers built their knowledge over months, not days.

A reversed card is not simply the opposite of its upright meaning. It usually signals blocked energy, internalized qualities, or a delayed version of the upright theme. The Tower reversed, for example, does not mean stability — it often means you are resisting a necessary change. Some readers choose not to use reversals at all, and that is a perfectly valid approach.

There is no hierarchy of power in tarot. The card that matters most is the one that speaks to your current situation. That said, The Tower, Death, and The High Priestess tend to provoke the strongest reactions — precisely because they address unavoidable truths. The Two of Cups in a love reading can hit harder than any Major Arcana card if the question is right.