A tarot deck has 78 cards, and each one has a meaning that a reader can learn: 22 Major Arcana cards that stand for the big turns of a life (the Fool, the Lovers, Death, the Tower, the World) and 56 Minor Arcana cards, in four suits of fourteen, that cover the everyday (money, work, love, conflict, and how you feel about them). This page gives every card's keywords and its upright and reversed meaning in the standard Rider-Waite-Smith system that most modern decks follow, then explains how the suits, numbers, and court cards work so you can read a card you have never seen before.
If you are new, read the first two sections and the Major Arcana first, then come back to the suits as you meet them. Our guide to beginner tarot spreads covers laying the cards out, and the tarot journal page is the fastest way to make these meanings stick.
How Tarot Card Meanings Work
A tarot card's meaning is a cluster of related ideas, not a single fixed message, and reading is the act of choosing which idea in the cluster fits the question. The Three of Swords means heartbreak, grief, painful truth, and separation; in a question about a job it is the layoff, in a question about a friendship it is the falling-out, and in a question about your own health it is the diagnosis you have been avoiding. The keywords on this page are the cluster. The picture on the card, your question, and the cards around it tell you which word to pick.
Three things decide how the meanings on this page apply to your deck:
- The system. Nearly every deck sold today follows the Rider-Waite-Smith deck of 1909, drawn by Pamela Colman Smith to Arthur Edward Waite's design, which gave every Minor Arcana card a scene instead of a row of cups or coins. Those scenes are what the meanings below describe. Older Marseille-style decks and the Thoth deck use the same 78 cards with some different names and numbers, noted where they matter.
- Upright or reversed. A card that lands upside down is "reversed," and most readers take it as the upright meaning blocked, delayed, turned inward, or taken too far. Some readers do not use reversals at all, which is a fine way to start. The reversed section below explains both approaches.
- Position. The same card means something different as "the past," "the obstacle," or "the advice" in a spread. The meanings here are the card on its own; the spread supplies the grammar.
The Tarot Deck at a Glance
| Part of the deck | Cards | What they cover |
|---|---|---|
| Major Arcana | 22, numbered 0 to 21 | The big lessons and turning points: identity, love, loss, power, faith, endings, and renewal. |
| Minor Arcana: Wands | 14 (Ace to Ten, Page, Knight, Queen, King) | Fire. Energy, work, creativity, ambition, and will. |
| Minor Arcana: Cups | 14 | Water. Love, feeling, relationships, intuition, and the heart. |
| Minor Arcana: Swords | 14 | Air. Thought, conflict, truth, decisions, and the mind. |
| Minor Arcana: Pentacles | 14 | Earth. Money, work, the body, home, and the material world. |
Together that is 78 cards. A reading that is mostly Major Arcana is about the shape of your life; one that is mostly Minor Arcana is about the week you are in.
Major Arcana Card Meanings
The 22 Major Arcana cards, sometimes called the trumps, run from the Fool at 0 to the World at 21, and read in order they tell the story of a person leaving home, meeting every kind of teacher and test, falling apart, and coming back whole. Readers call this the Fool's Journey. When a Major Arcana card appears, the matter is bigger than the day's events: it is a lesson, a chapter, or a force you did not choose.
0. The Fool
Keywords: beginnings, innocence, a leap of faith, freedom, foolishness.
Upright: A fresh start taken with an open heart and no guarantee. The Fool is the moment before the first step, and the card says take it.
Reversed: Recklessness, a leap without looking, or the opposite: being too afraid to begin at all. Our full Fool page goes deeper.
I. The Magician
Keywords: skill, will, manifestation, resources, focus.
Upright: You have every tool you need on the table in front of you; the Magician is the power to make something real by deciding to.
Reversed: Manipulation, trickery, wasted talent, or a plan with no follow-through.
II. The High Priestess
Keywords: intuition, mystery, the unconscious, stillness, hidden knowledge.
Upright: Something is known but not yet said. The High Priestess tells you to wait, listen, and trust what you already sense.
Reversed: Secrets kept from you or by you, ignored intuition, or surface noise drowning out the quiet voice. Our High Priestess page covers the card's symbolism in full.
III. The Empress
Keywords: abundance, nurture, fertility, beauty, the natural world.
Upright: Growth that comes from care. The Empress is the garden in full bloom, motherhood in every sense, and the pleasure of the body and the senses.
Reversed: Smothering, creative block, dependence, or neglect of yourself while you tend everyone else.
IV. The Emperor
Keywords: authority, structure, stability, fatherhood, control.
Upright: Order built on purpose. The Emperor is the rules that make a thing work, the boundary that protects, and the leader who takes responsibility.
Reversed: Rigidity, domination, a tyrant, or a total lack of discipline and direction.
V. The Hierophant
Keywords: tradition, institutions, teaching, conformity, spiritual authority.
Upright: The wisdom of the established way: a teacher, a church, a school, a marriage done by the book. The Hierophant says learn the rules before you break them.
Reversed: Rebellion against convention, questioning dogma, or a tradition that has become an empty shell.
VI. The Lovers
Keywords: love, union, choice, values, alignment.
Upright: A relationship that matters, and behind it a choice that reveals what you value. The Lovers is as much about deciding as about romance.
Reversed: Disharmony, a relationship out of balance, a values conflict, or a choice made against your own heart.
VII. The Chariot
Keywords: willpower, victory, determination, control, momentum.
Upright: Forward through force of will. The Chariot holds two opposing pulls in harness and drives them in one direction; it is a win earned by focus.
Reversed: Loss of control, aggression, a stalled effort, or driving hard in the wrong direction.
VIII. Strength
Keywords: courage, patience, compassion, inner strength, gentle control.
Upright: The woman closing the lion's mouth with her hands. Strength is power through gentleness, fear mastered by staying calm. (In Marseille decks this card is number XI and Justice is VIII; Waite swapped them.)
Reversed: Self-doubt, weakness, raw impulse, or force used where patience was needed.
IX. The Hermit
Keywords: solitude, introspection, searching, guidance, wisdom.
Upright: Time alone with a question. The Hermit carries his own lantern up the mountain; the answer comes from withdrawal, not from asking around.
Reversed: Isolation that has gone too far, loneliness, or refusing the inward look the moment requires.
X. Wheel of Fortune
Keywords: change, cycles, luck, fate, a turning point.
Upright: The wheel turns and your position on it changes. Wheel of Fortune is good luck arriving, a cycle completing, and the reminder that nothing stays at the top or the bottom.
Reversed: Bad luck, resistance to change, or a cycle you keep repeating because you have not learned its lesson.
XI. Justice
Keywords: fairness, truth, cause and effect, law, accountability.
Upright: You get what you have earned, in both directions. Justice is a decision made on the facts, a legal matter, and the balance restored.
Reversed: Unfairness, dishonesty, avoiding accountability, or a verdict that does not fit the case.
XII. The Hanged Man
Keywords: surrender, pause, letting go, a new perspective, sacrifice.
Upright: Hanging upside down by choice, calm and haloed. The Hanged Man is the productive pause: stop pushing, see the thing from the other way up, and give something up to move on.
Reversed: Stalling, pointless sacrifice, resistance to letting go, or a delay that is now just avoidance.
XIII. Death
Keywords: endings, transformation, transition, release, the inevitable.
Upright: An ending that clears the ground. Death almost never means a literal death; it is the job, the relationship, or the version of yourself that is over, and the card is honest that it hurts and that it is necessary.
Reversed: Resisting an ending that has already happened, fear of change, stagnation, or a slow decay in place of a clean break.
XIV. Temperance
Keywords: balance, moderation, patience, blending, healing.
Upright: The angel pouring water between two cups. Temperance is the middle way, the mixing of two things into a better third, and recovery that takes exactly as long as it takes.
Reversed: Excess, imbalance, impatience, or a life that has tipped too far toward one thing.
XV. The Devil
Keywords: bondage, addiction, materialism, shadow, temptation.
Upright: Two figures chained, loosely enough to leave. The Devil is whatever you are tied to that you tell yourself you cannot put down: a habit, a person, a fear, a story. The chains are your own.
Reversed: Breaking free, facing the shadow, release from an addiction or a toxic tie. One of the few cards whose reversal is mostly good news.
XVI. The Tower
Keywords: sudden upheaval, revelation, collapse, disaster, truth breaking through.
Upright: Lightning strikes what was built on a false foundation. The Tower is the shock that could not be avoided, and the freedom on the other side of it.
Reversed: Disaster averted or delayed, fear of change, or a collapse happening slowly and privately instead of all at once.
XVII. The Star
Keywords: hope, renewal, faith, inspiration, healing.
Upright: After the Tower, the sky clears. The Star is calm restored, a reason to believe again, and the quiet certainty that things will be all right.
Reversed: Hopelessness, lost faith, disconnection, or a wish that has no plan behind it.
XVIII. The Moon
Keywords: illusion, intuition, fear, the unconscious, uncertainty.
Upright: Nothing is as it appears in moonlight. The Moon is anxiety, confusion, dreams, and the things surfacing from the deep; the advice is to wait for daylight before you act.
Reversed: Fear released, confusion clearing, a deception revealed, or repressed feelings that need to come up.
XIX. The Sun
Keywords: joy, success, vitality, clarity, warmth.
Upright: The happiest card in the deck. The Sun is success you can see, good health, a child's delight, and everything out in the open.
Reversed: A dimmed version: temporary sadness, delayed success, or ego getting in the way of joy. Even reversed, the Sun is rarely bad.
XX. Judgement
Keywords: awakening, reckoning, a calling, renewal, absolution.
Upright: The trumpet sounds and the past is answered. Judgement is a summons to a new life, the moment you forgive yourself and rise.
Reversed: Self-doubt, refusing the call, harsh judgment of yourself or others, or a lesson not yet learned.
XXI. The World
Keywords: completion, wholeness, achievement, travel, integration.
Upright: The journey done and the dancer in the wreath. The World is a cycle completed with everything in its place, and often literal travel or a move.
Reversed: Incompletion, a goal almost reached, or the reluctance to close one chapter so the next can open.
Minor Arcana: How the Suits Work
The 56 Minor Arcana cards are four suits of fourteen, and once you know the suit's element and what the numbers one through ten mean, you can read any Minor Arcana card by combining them. This is the skill that makes the meanings below stick, because it lets you reason out a card instead of remembering it.
| Suit | Element | Area of life | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wands | Fire | Work, creativity, energy, ambition | Passion, drive, action, inspiration, ego. |
| Cups | Water | Love, emotion, relationships, intuition | Feeling, connection, dreams, healing, the heart. |
| Swords | Air | Thought, conflict, truth, communication | Clarity, decisions, struggle, honesty, anxiety. |
| Pentacles | Earth | Money, work, the body, home | Security, effort, results, health, the practical. |
The numbers carry a meaning of their own that repeats in every suit: Ace is the seed of the suit, pure potential. Two is a choice or a partnership. Three is growth and first results. Four is stability, sometimes to the point of stuckness. Five is conflict and loss. Six is harmony restored, help given or received. Seven is a test or a reassessment. Eight is movement and mastery. Nine is near-completion, the suit at full strength. Ten is the end of the cycle, for better or worse. Pentacles decks sometimes call the suit Coins or Disks; wands are sometimes rods, staves, or batons.
Suit of Wands Card Meanings
Wands are fire: the will to act, the spark of an idea, the job you want, the fight you pick.
Ace of Wands
Keywords: inspiration, a new venture, creative spark, potential.
Upright: A burst of energy and a new idea worth chasing.
Reversed: A false start, a creative block, or enthusiasm with nowhere to go.
Two of Wands
Keywords: planning, decisions, the wider world, first steps.
Upright: A man holding the globe, looking out: you have a plan and the choice is whether to leave what is safe for it.
Reversed: Fear of the unknown, poor planning, or staying home when the road is calling.
Three of Wands
Keywords: expansion, foresight, progress, waiting for ships to come in.
Upright: The plan is working and the results are on their way; keep looking ahead.
Reversed: Delays, obstacles, or ambitions that outran the preparation.
Four of Wands
Keywords: celebration, home, harmony, a milestone.
Upright: A homecoming, a wedding, a housewarming: a moment of stable joy shared with others.
Reversed: Tension at home, a celebration postponed, or a lack of belonging.
Five of Wands
Keywords: conflict, competition, disagreement, a scuffle.
Upright: Everyone swinging at once and nobody hurt: rivalry, a clash of ideas, healthy competition that has gotten messy.
Reversed: Conflict avoided or resolved, or the opposite, a fight that has turned bitter.
Six of Wands
Keywords: victory, recognition, success, public praise.
Upright: The rider with the laurel wreath; you won, and people saw it.
Reversed: Ego, a fall from favor, or success that feels hollow because it was for others' approval.
Seven of Wands
Keywords: defense, standing your ground, perseverance, challenge.
Upright: You are on the high ground and they are coming; hold it. A card of defending what you have earned.
Reversed: Feeling overwhelmed, giving up, or defensiveness with nothing to defend.
Eight of Wands
Keywords: speed, movement, news, things in flight.
Upright: Eight staves crossing the sky: rapid progress, messages arriving, travel, momentum.
Reversed: Delays, missed messages, haste that causes mistakes, or energy scattered.
Nine of Wands
Keywords: resilience, persistence, the last stand, guardedness.
Upright: Bandaged and tired but still standing. One more push and it is done.
Reversed: Exhaustion, paranoia, or refusing to lower your guard when the fight is over.
Ten of Wands
Keywords: burden, overwork, responsibility, carrying too much.
Upright: Ten staves in your arms and the town still far off. Success has become a load; delegate or drop some.
Reversed: Burnout, collapse under the weight, or finally putting the burden down.
Page of Wands
Keywords: enthusiasm, exploration, a messenger, free spirit.
Upright: A young person, or a young energy, bursting with ideas and eager to go. Often news about a project.
Reversed: Impulsiveness, a plan with no substance, or a talent left undeveloped.
Knight of Wands
Keywords: action, adventure, passion, impulsiveness.
Upright: Charging in on a rearing horse: bold, charming, fast, and not always thinking it through.
Reversed: Recklessness, anger, delays, or energy with no direction.
Queen of Wands
Keywords: confidence, warmth, independence, charisma, determination.
Upright: Sunflower in one hand, black cat at her feet: a person who is magnetic, capable, and unbothered by what others think. One of the most searched cards in the deck, usually by people asking whether they can be her. The answer is yes.
Reversed: Jealousy, demanding behavior, insecurity behind the confidence, or a fire burning too hot.
King of Wands
Keywords: leadership, vision, boldness, an entrepreneur.
Upright: The natural leader who sets the direction and makes others want to follow.
Reversed: Impulsive rule, arrogance, ruthlessness, or a vision with no one to carry it out.
Suit of Cups Card Meanings
Cups are water: love, friendship, feeling, dreams, and everything that moves in the heart.
Ace of Cups
Keywords: new love, emotional beginning, compassion, overflowing feeling.
Upright: The cup running over: a new relationship, a new depth of feeling, an open heart.
Reversed: Emotional blockage, repressed feeling, or love that cannot find an outlet.
Two of Cups
Keywords: partnership, mutual attraction, connection, union.
Upright: Two people meeting as equals; the classic card for a relationship that works.
Reversed: Imbalance, a breakup, or a partnership where one carries the other.
Three of Cups
Keywords: friendship, celebration, community, creativity.
Upright: Three women raising their cups; the joy of friends and a reason to celebrate together.
Reversed: Gossip, isolation, overindulgence, or a friendship gone stale.
Four of Cups
Keywords: apathy, contemplation, boredom, a missed offer.
Upright: A figure ignoring the cup being handed to him. Discontent, and an opportunity you are not seeing because you are busy being unhappy.
Reversed: Renewed interest, waking up to what is offered, or withdrawal deepening into depression.
Five of Cups
Keywords: loss, grief, regret, disappointment.
Upright: Three cups spilled, two still standing behind you. Mourning what was lost is right; the card also asks you to turn around.
Reversed: Acceptance, moving on, forgiveness, or grief that will not release.
Six of Cups
Keywords: nostalgia, childhood, innocence, memories, a gift from the past.
Upright: Children exchanging flowers in cups. Kindness, old friends, a return to something simple and sweet. The most searched Minor Arcana card, often in love readings, where it can mean an ex or a first love.
Reversed: Stuck in the past, naivety, or a childhood wound still running things.
Seven of Cups
Keywords: choices, illusion, fantasy, wishful thinking.
Upright: Seven cups in the clouds, each holding a prize or a snake. Too many options and not enough reality; pick one and test it.
Reversed: Clarity, a decision made, or a fantasy finally seen for what it is.
Eight of Cups
Keywords: walking away, seeking more, disillusionment, a spiritual search.
Upright: Leaving eight full cups behind under a waning moon. What you built is fine and it is not enough; you leave to find what is.
Reversed: Fear of leaving, drifting aimlessly, or returning to what you abandoned.
Nine of Cups
Keywords: contentment, satisfaction, a wish granted, pleasure.
Upright: The "wish card." Wants met, comfort earned, and a well-fed smile.
Reversed: Smugness, greed, or a wish granted that did not bring the happiness expected.
Ten of Cups
Keywords: lasting happiness, family, harmony, emotional fulfillment.
Upright: The rainbow of cups over a home. Love that has become a life; the happy-ending card.
Reversed: A broken home, family conflict, or a picture-perfect surface over an unhappy reality.
Page of Cups
Keywords: creative beginnings, intuition, a message of love, a dreamer.
Upright: A fish popping out of the cup: a surprising feeling, an artistic impulse, a tender message, the inner child.
Reversed: Emotional immaturity, a creative block, or a message you would rather not hear.
Knight of Cups
Keywords: romance, charm, an invitation, following the heart.
Upright: The knight who arrives with a cup held out: a proposal, an offer of love, an artist on a quest.
Reversed: Moodiness, unrealistic romance, a manipulator, or a promise that will not be kept.
Queen of Cups
Keywords: compassion, empathy, intuition, emotional security.
Upright: The person everyone tells their troubles to; deep feeling held with calm.
Reversed: Emotional dependence, martyrdom, or being drowned in other people's feelings.
King of Cups
Keywords: emotional balance, diplomacy, wisdom, generosity.
Upright: Feeling mastered, not suppressed; the counselor who stays steady in a storm.
Reversed: Manipulation through emotion, moodiness, coldness, or drinking to cope.
Suit of Swords Card Meanings
Swords are air: thought, words, truth, conflict, and the sharp edge of the mind. It is the hardest suit, because honesty is.
Ace of Swords
Keywords: clarity, breakthrough, truth, a new idea.
Upright: The sword through the crown; a moment of piercing clarity, a decision cut clean.
Reversed: Confusion, a clouded mind, or a truth used as a weapon.
Two of Swords
Keywords: stalemate, indecision, a blocked heart, avoidance.
Upright: Blindfolded, arms crossed, two swords held level. A choice you refuse to make by refusing to look.
Reversed: The blindfold comes off: a decision made, information released, or a stalemate breaking badly.
Three of Swords
Keywords: heartbreak, grief, painful truth, separation.
Upright: Three swords through a heart in the rain. It means what it looks like, and the card's gift is that the pain is named.
Reversed: Healing, forgiveness, release of grief, or pain suppressed and festering.
Four of Swords
Keywords: rest, recovery, retreat, contemplation.
Upright: A knight lying on his tomb in a chapel: not dead, resting. Take the break before the next fight.
Reversed: Restlessness, burnout, or a rest that has become hiding.
Five of Swords
Keywords: conflict, defeat, winning at a cost, dishonor.
Upright: The victor gathering swords while the losers walk away. Someone won this fight and it was not worth it.
Reversed: Reconciliation, regret, or a conflict that finally ends.
Six of Swords
Keywords: transition, moving on, leaving trouble behind, passage.
Upright: The ferry crossing to calmer water. A necessary move, a journey away from difficulty, a slow recovery.
Reversed: Baggage you will not put down, resistance to change, or a transition that stalls.
Seven of Swords
Keywords: deception, strategy, stealth, getting away with it.
Upright: A figure tiptoeing off with five swords. Cunning, theft, a lie, or a clever plan that avoids a direct fight.
Reversed: Confession, conscience, a deception exposed, or self-deception ending.
Eight of Swords
Keywords: restriction, feeling trapped, self-imposed limits, victim thinking.
Upright: Bound and blindfolded among swords, on ground with no real walls. The trap is mostly in the mind.
Reversed: Release, new perspective, freedom from limiting beliefs.
Nine of Swords
Keywords: anxiety, nightmares, despair, worry.
Upright: Sitting up in bed with the head in the hands at 3 a.m. Fear worse than the thing feared.
Reversed: Recovery from despair, worry released, or anxiety turned inward and hidden.
Ten of Swords
Keywords: rock bottom, betrayal, a painful ending, ruin.
Upright: Ten swords in a back under a black sky, and dawn on the horizon. It is over, completely, and that is the beginning.
Reversed: Recovery, survival, the worst behind you, or a refusal to admit that it is over.
Page of Swords
Keywords: curiosity, vigilance, new ideas, restlessness.
Upright: Sword up, hair in the wind: mental energy, a sharp young mind, a message or an investigation.
Reversed: Gossip, cynicism, all talk and no action, or hasty words.
Knight of Swords
Keywords: ambition, haste, assertiveness, charging ahead.
Upright: Full gallop into the wind. Decisive, brilliant, fast, and in danger of running people over.
Reversed: Aggression, rashness, a bully, or an argument that goes nowhere.
Queen of Swords
Keywords: clear-sightedness, independence, honesty, boundaries.
Upright: The queen who has seen everything and will tell you the truth kindly and without flinching; often a widow or a woman who has stood alone.
Reversed: Coldness, bitterness, cruelty with words, or judgment without compassion.
King of Swords
Keywords: intellect, authority, truth, discipline.
Upright: The judge, the lawyer, the strategist: reason ruling, fairly.
Reversed: Manipulation, tyranny of the mind, ruthlessness, or intelligence used to control.
Suit of Pentacles Card Meanings
Pentacles are earth: money, work, the body, the home, and everything you can hold in your hands. Older decks call them Coins.
Ace of Pentacles
Keywords: opportunity, prosperity, a new job, a seed planted.
Upright: A coin offered from a cloud over a garden: a concrete new beginning, money or work arriving.
Reversed: A missed opportunity, poor planning, or a chance that looks better than it is.
Two of Pentacles
Keywords: balance, juggling, adaptability, priorities.
Upright: Two coins in an infinity loop: keeping several things going at once, with grace so far.
Reversed: Overcommitment, dropped balls, disorganization, or finances out of balance.
Three of Pentacles
Keywords: teamwork, craftsmanship, collaboration, skill recognized.
Upright: The mason at work with the planners consulting him. Good work done with others, and respected.
Reversed: Poor teamwork, sloppy work, or skill that goes unrecognized.
Four of Pentacles
Keywords: security, control, saving, possessiveness.
Upright: A figure clutching four coins. Stability that has become holding on too tight; safe, but not free.
Reversed: Generosity, letting go of control, or the opposite, reckless spending and financial fear.
Five of Pentacles
Keywords: hardship, poverty, illness, exclusion, worry about money.
Upright: Two figures in the snow outside a lit church window. Loss, want, and the feeling of being left out in the cold, with help nearer than it looks.
Reversed: Recovery, help arriving, a change in fortune, or the end of a hard stretch.
Six of Pentacles
Keywords: generosity, charity, giving and receiving, fairness.
Upright: The merchant with the scales handing out coins. Help given or received, a fair exchange, or a debt paid.
Reversed: Strings attached, charity that keeps someone dependent, or debt and one-sided giving.
Seven of Pentacles
Keywords: patience, assessment, long-term effort, investment.
Upright: The farmer leaning on his hoe, looking at the vine. Work done, harvest not yet in; is it worth continuing?
Reversed: Impatience, wasted effort, or an investment that will not pay.
Eight of Pentacles
Keywords: diligence, skill-building, craftsmanship, apprenticeship.
Upright: The craftsman carving coin after coin. Mastery through repetition; the card for learning a trade or putting in the hours.
Reversed: Perfectionism, work without purpose, cutting corners, or a skill neglected.
Nine of Pentacles
Keywords: independence, luxury, self-sufficiency, a reward earned.
Upright: A woman alone in her garden with a falcon on her wrist. Financial and personal independence enjoyed in comfort.
Reversed: Overspending, dependence on others, or success that has become isolation.
Ten of Pentacles
Keywords: wealth, legacy, family, long-term security, inheritance.
Upright: Three generations under an arch with the family dogs. Lasting wealth, a home that will outlive you, tradition.
Reversed: Family financial trouble, a disputed inheritance, or security that has become a cage.
Page of Pentacles
Keywords: ambition, study, a new skill, a practical opportunity.
Upright: A student holding the coin up to the light. A scholarship, a new course, the first step in a long practical plan.
Reversed: Procrastination, a lack of progress, or a plan that never leaves the notebook.
Knight of Pentacles
Keywords: hard work, reliability, routine, methodical progress.
Upright: The one knight who is not moving, on a heavy horse in a plowed field. Slow, sure, and dependable.
Reversed: Boredom, stagnation, laziness, or perfectionism that stops the work.
Queen of Pentacles
Keywords: nurturing, practicality, abundance, a comfortable home.
Upright: The queen with the rabbit at her feet in a garden of roses. Warm, capable, generous, and good with money.
Reversed: Self-neglect, work-life imbalance, or smothering care and materialism.
King of Pentacles
Keywords: wealth, business success, security, mastery of the material.
Upright: The king on a throne of bulls with a vine-covered robe. Prosperity built and shared, the reliable provider.
Reversed: Greed, corruption, stubbornness, or wealth held as the only measure of worth.
How to Read the Court Cards
The sixteen court cards, a Page, Knight, Queen, and King in each suit, are the hardest cards for beginners because they can mean a person, a role you are playing, or a stage of the suit's energy. Read them in this order: first ask whether the card is describing someone in the question (the King of Pentacles as your boss, the Queen of Cups as your mother); if nobody fits, read it as advice to take on that quality (be the Queen of Swords and say the true thing); and if that does not fit either, read it as a stage, with Pages as beginnings, Knights as pursuit, Queens as mastery held inward, and Kings as mastery in the world. Court cards are not tied to gender; a man can be the Queen of Wands and a woman the King of Swords.
What Reversed Tarot Cards Mean
A reversed card is the upright meaning blocked, delayed, turned inward, weakened, or pushed to its extreme, and which of those applies is a judgment call. The Sun reversed is a cloud over the sun, not the end of the world; the Devil reversed is the chains coming off, which is good; the Ten of Swords reversed is the worst already behind you. A few readers treat every reversal as a straight opposite, which makes Death reversed mean stagnation and Judgement reversed mean self-doubt; those readings are given above where they are the common ones. If reversals make readings feel like a coin toss, do not use them: shuffle so the cards stay upright and read the surrounding cards for the shadow side instead. Plenty of experienced readers never reverse a card.
How to Learn the Tarot Card Meanings
Learn the structure, not the list. The 22 Major Arcana are worth learning one by one, because each is a distinct lesson; the 56 Minor Arcana are learned by combining suit and number, as in the table above, until the scenes on the cards remind you of the combination on their own. Three habits do most of the work:
- Pull one card a day and write your own read before you look it up; that keeps the meaning attached to your intuition instead of a book. The tarot journal page is built for exactly this.
- Read the picture first. Where is the figure looking, what is in their hands, what is the weather? The Rider-Waite-Smith scenes were designed so that the picture carries the meaning.
- Lay small spreads and notice how cards change each other. Our beginner spreads start at one card and stop at five.
For a deck, any Rider-Waite-Smith-based deck from the tarot cards collection will match the meanings on this page. For a book, Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot is the standard first course, Barbara Moore's Tarot for Beginners is the friendliest, and Waite's own Pictorial Key to the Tarot is the 1910 source for everything above. Clear a new deck before you begin; our guide to cleansing tarot cards covers it.
Tarot Card Meanings FAQ
How many cards are in a tarot deck?
Seventy-eight: 22 Major Arcana cards numbered 0 (the Fool) to 21 (the World), and 56 Minor Arcana cards in four suits of fourteen, each suit running Ace through Ten plus a Page, Knight, Queen, and King.
What do the tarot cards represent?
Each card represents a cluster of related ideas: a situation, a feeling, a person, or a lesson. The Major Arcana represent the big forces and turning points of a life, and the Minor Arcana represent everyday matters, sorted into work and energy (Wands), love and feeling (Cups), thought and conflict (Swords), and money and the body (Pentacles).
What are the 22 cards in a tarot deck?
The 22 Major Arcana are 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, and the World.
What are the 12 main tarot cards?
There is no official set of twelve; the question usually means the best-known Major Arcana. The ones most people recognize are the Fool, the Magician, the High Priestess, the Empress, the Emperor, the Lovers, Wheel of Fortune, Death, the Devil, the Tower, the Sun, and the World. All 22 Major Arcana carry equal weight in a reading.
What are the meanings of all the tarot cards?
This page lists all 78 with keywords and upright and reversed meanings. In short: the Major Arcana are the big lessons, the Aces are beginnings, the Tens are endings, the numbers between trace a story of growth, conflict, and completion, and the court cards are people or roles.
What is the difference between the Major and Minor Arcana?
The Major Arcana are the 22 named cards that stand for major life themes and forces beyond your control; the Minor Arcana are the 56 suited cards that stand for daily events and choices. A reading heavy in Majors is about the shape of your life, one heavy in Minors is about the week you are in.
What does a reversed tarot card mean?
A reversed card is the upright meaning blocked, delayed, turned inward, weakened, or taken to an extreme. Which one applies depends on the card and the question, and many readers do not use reversals at all.
What does the Death card mean?
Death means an ending and the transformation that follows it, almost never a literal death. It is the job, relationship, phase, or self-image that is over, and the card is honest that endings hurt and are necessary. Reversed, it means resisting an ending that has already happened.
Are tarot cards evil?
No. Tarot cards are a fifteenth-century Italian card game that people began using for reflection and fortune-telling in the eighteenth century, and modern readers use them as a tool for thinking through a question. Some religious traditions forbid divination, which is a matter for your own faith; nothing about the cards themselves does anything to you.
What is the most powerful tarot card?
Readers most often name the Sun, the World, or the Magician for good and the Tower or Death for upheaval, but no card outranks another. The most powerful card in any reading is the one that answers the question.
Can tarot answer yes or no questions?
It can if you decide in advance how you will read the answer: upright is yes and reversed is no, or the card's general tone decides. Tarot is better at "what do I need to know about this" than at yes or no, and most readers rephrase the question.
Which tarot deck should a beginner learn on?
Any deck based on the Rider-Waite-Smith system, which is most decks made since 1909, because the scenes on the Minor Arcana carry the meanings and every book and website, including this page, describes those scenes. Choose the art you like; the system underneath will be the same.
