What Do Tarot Cards Look Like

Each of the 78 cards in the traditional tarot deck has its own visual, meaning, and narrative. The Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana are its two divisions. The 56 Minor Arcana cards will be listed after the 22 Major Arcana cards in this tarot card list.

The Major Arcana Tarot Cards

There are 22 cards in the Major Arcana, which is where we shall begin below. The Major Arcana cards reflect the major archetypal themes, karmic influences, and life lessons that are affecting your life and the ascension of your soul.

The Major Arcana cards make a narrative if you arrange them in numerical order from 0 (the fool) to 21 (the world). The Fool’s Journey is another name for this tale.

The Major Arcana’s main character, The Fool, travels through all 78 cards on his quest. He meets new teachers along the route and picks up fresh life lessons.

What do the tarot cards represent?

There are 78 cards in the Tarot deck, each with unique imagery, symbolism, and narrative.

The karmic and spiritual lessons of life are represented by the 22 Major Arcana cards. They represent a route to spiritual self-awareness and show the several phases we go through as we look for deeper insight and significance. The Major Arcana cards contain profoundly important truths on a soul level in this way.

The 56 Minor Arcana cards are a reflection of the difficulties we face every day. These Tarot cards emphasize life’s more practical components and can allude to current events that have a fleeting or insignificant impact.

There are 16 Tarot Court Cards in the Minor Arcana, each of which represents a distinct personality trait that we may choose to display at any given time. Along with the 40 numbered cards, there are also the four suitsCups, Pentacles, Swords, and Wandseach having ten cards, reflecting the numerous scenarios we face on a daily basis.

Tarot cards may be viewed by some as little more than ink on paper. But here’s what I’ve learned from daily Tarot card reading for more than 20 years:

What is contained in a tarot card deck?

The Venetian or Piedmontese tarot served as the inspiration for the typical modern tarot deck. The major arcana, which contains 22 cards and is also known as the trumps, and the minor arcana, which has 56 cards, make up the 78 cards that make up this deck. Moon, card number 18 in the major arcana.

Are there various tarot card varieties?

The Renaissance allegorical motifs are abandoned in the pictures of the French-suited tarot trumps, which significantly deviate from the earlier Italian-suited design. French-suited tarot cards are almost exclusively used for card games, with the exception of novelty decks. Around 1740, the first French-suited tarots appeared. These cards were known as “Tiertarock” because they featured animal pictures on the trumps. Around 1800, a wider range of decksmany with genre art or vedutabegan to appear. There are now four patterns for French-suited tarot decks:

  • Industrial and Gothic Roman numerals are used for the trumps in the Central European genre art tarock deck known as Industrie und Glck (“Diligence and Fortune”). The red suits 5 to 10 and the black suits 1 to 6 are not included in the set of 54 cards that are sold with it. There are 3 patterns: Types A, B, and C, with Type C being the norm while Types B and C are only offered sometimes or as specials.
  • A 78-card deck of Tarot Nouveau, often known as Tarot Bourgeois, is available. In France and Denmark, it is frequently used for Danish Tarok and Tarot games. Cego is occasionally played in Germany as well. Arabic numerals in the corner indices are not as important as the genre art.
  • Use of the Adler-Cegothis animal tarot is widespread in the Upper Rhine Valley and nearby mountainous areas like the Black Forest and the Vosges. It features 54 cards that are arranged similarly to how the Industrie und Glck packs are arranged. Arabic numbers are used in its trumps, but only within centered indices.
  • The Schmid-Cego pack, designed by F.X. Schmid, features Tarot Nouveau-style genre pictures, but the Arabic numerals are centered like in the Adler-Cego pack.

Do the cards in each tarot deck differ?

Despite their vastly different designs, all tarot decks share a few characteristics. Each one has 78 playing cards, divided into the main and minor arcana. The major arcana, which are the deck’s 22 trump cards, generally allude to bigger influences and disclosures when they are revealed during a reading. These cards stand alone without a suit and represent key occasions or people in a person’s life.

In contrast, the minor arcana refer to influences and issues that are more commonplace. Wands, swords, pentacles, and cups make up the four suits that these 56 cards are divided into. (Occasionally, tarot decks will use different terminology, such as “Pentacles for coins, but they are exact equivalents to the four original divisions.) A different aspect of life is represented by each outfit. Wands typically represent imagination and passion, swords intelligence, pentacles work and wealth, and cups emotion. Additionally, each suit is associated with a certain set of astrological signs, such as wands being associated with fire, swords with air, pentacles with earth, and cups with water.

Since we’re beginners, the meanings you’ll most frequently refer to are the functional definitions, albeit these meanings can be used when cards symbolize people and their zodiac signs. For example, a three-card spread with three pentacle cards strongly denotes a financial concern. (More on the various spreads will follow.)

While much of this is up to the deck’s owner and what resonates with them, there are a few conventions that apply to the majority of tarot readings. If you’re reading cards for someone else, you should ask them to provide you with a question or suggest something they’re interested in, and keep that question in mind while you shuffle the deckalso referred to as “removing the effects of earlier research and readings. (An illustration would be, “When will I discover love?” Am I pursuing the correct career? “How can I get through my block?

Then you could query the person you are reading for (also known as “cutting the deck, once more concentrating on the querent. Although some readers will cut the deck for the querent, we prefer this option since it gives the querent a chance to feel linked to the deck personally. In any case, you will draw the necessary number of cards for your spread and, if you’re reading for yourself, place them between you and the querentor directly in front of you.

Can you interpret tarot cards for yourself?

It’s normal to be a little clumsy when you first start practicing the tarot. Tarot study is similar to learning a new languageit takes time to become proficient. But what happens if you no longer require the booklet and have intimate familiarity with the deck? Are you able to read yourself? No, except for a few rare instances. Simply put, it’s a horrible idea.

You see, the majority of us turn to astrology or tarot when we’re looking for clarity amid a period of ambiguity. In contrast to astrology, which is quite technical, our consciousness restricts our capacity to read tarot cards. Working with your personal interpretation of the cards, you are not constrained by short- and long-term cycles like the planets’ orbits. It might be tricky to go beyond your current circumstances while utilizing the tarot to better understand a trying scenario. Even if all the cards are spread out in front of you, putting them together requires such a broad perspective that it is all but impossible to fully understand the meaning of each card. Basically, any biases you already have will always be reflected in your tarot reading!

After a breakup

Draw one card for each of the following inquiries if you’ve recently broken up with someone and want to know more about the reason or determine whether you’ll get back together:

  • How energetic is the partnership right now?
  • What caused the divide in the first place?
  • What do they really think of me right now?
  • What do they intend for me right now?
  • What kind of relationship will this be in the future?
  • Which action is ideal for me to take right now?

When job searching

You can use this spread to explore what kind of career guidance the tarot can offer if you’re feeling uncertain about your career path or thinking about a new employment. Draw one card once more for each query.

  • How active am I in my career right now?
  • What challenge must I overcome?
  • What is my calling in life?
  • How can I follow this calling more closely?
  • What should I do to prepare for the upcoming month?

When deciding between two options

This spread can highlight the benefits and drawbacks of each option, guiding you toward the best decision if you’re using tarot to pick between two possibilities (two job offers, two apartments, perhaps a love triangle???). Getting the deal Per card, ask one question.

  • What is the fundamental cause of this fork in the road?
  • What is the likely result of choosing option A?
  • What is the most likely result for option B?
  • What more should I take into account that was overlooked?
  • What’s the best thing I can do right now?

When something is off with a friend

If you’re concerned about the state of a friendship or feel like something is wrong but are unable to pinpoint the cause, you might be interested in seeing what conclusions and solutions this spread offers. Ask one question per card, once more, I repeat.

  • What makes this friendship so crucial?
  • What led to this sudden change in tone, and why?
  • What has changed, in my friend’s opinion?
  • What can I do to make this matter more urgent?
  • What is the future of this friendship?
  • What should I do at this moment?

When is a tarot card reversed?

It basically implies that you’re missing some of the energy of the card’s turned-right-side-up meaning when you draw a reversed tarot cardwhich can happen accidentally or on purpose if you flip the deck upside down and choosebecause you’ve lost some of the energy of that meaning. The queen of cups, for instance, denotes both excellent intuition and emotional security. Therefore, a reversed queen of cups could represent emotional insecurity and a blockage to intuition. (You might think about purchasing a tarot book or visiting a tarot website to confirm the precise significance of a reversed tarot card that you selected.)

You are free to select whether or not to interpret a card as a reversal. Maria Sofia Marmanides is a tarot reader.

According to astrologer and tarot reader Maria Sofia Marmanides, you are under no obligation to interpret reversed tarot cards when you are dealt them: “The choice of whether or not to interpret a card as a reversal is yours. You get to choose how you want to approach that trip because tarot is a very individualized discipline, and one of the things you can pick for yourself is whether or not you read reversals.” You’re learning various things depending on where in your tarot journey you are “Adds she. “In the beginning, it might be best to merely adhere to the upright meanings rather than the reversed ones. Why, if you don’t have to, would you want to increase the amount you need to learn?

What Tarot deck is the most popular?

The RiderWaite tarot deck is one of the most extensively used decks for reading tarot cards. It is also referred to as the RiderWaiteSmith, WaiteSmith, or Tarot deck. The cards were first released by the Rider Company in 1909, based on the guidelines of scholar and mystic A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, both of whom are members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The deck has been released in several versions and served as the model for numerous variations and knockoffs. The deck is thought to exist in more than 20 countries in more than 100 million copies.

How should I maintain my Tarot deck?

While rearranging the cards in the tarot deck is a good approach to purify and clear their energy, there are some circumstances in which you might wish to perform a more specialized ritual. If you’re just getting started with tarot, cleaning your deck can be an excellent place to start.

You might want to clean your tarot deck for a variety of reasons, including:

  • beginning with a fresh deck
  • readings for other people
  • You think you need to recharge.
  • Your card readings seem a touch “odd” or “disconnected”
  • Your deck hasn’t been used recently.
  • Your deck has been handled by others
  • You think you’ve been utilizing your deck a lot. A LOT, especially for books with strong emotional content

Why should you cleanse or clear your tarot deck?

Tarot deck cleansing helps keep the energy flowing between you and your deck. Consider it as a little spiritual hygiene to maintain a strong and clear connection. It’s not necessary, but if you have any of the aforementioned symptoms, try a few of the energetic cleansing techniques listed below and note which ones seem to work the best for you.

How often should you cleanse your tarot deck?

This is another way of stating USE YOUR INTUITION: there are no hard and fast laws. Don’t stress if you don’t believe it is necessary for your deck. Alternately, if you like to cleanse them once per week or once per month, that’s great. If it feels appropriate to you, you can even place your favorite crystal on the balcony each night.

If you frequently place crystals on your deck and store it on an altar while not in use, you might not feel the need to cleanse it frequently because this quick ritual will likely be sufficient to keep your deck feeling nice.

There are numerous ways to cleanse your cards, just as there are numerous reasons why you might desire to do so.

Different ways to cleanse your tarot deck

Use holy smoke. Light a dried rosemary, lavender, cedar, sage, or palo santo cleansing wand until it begins to smoke. Hold the smoke a safe distance below the deck while holding the burning herbs in one hand and the deck in the other so that the smoke drifts upward onto the cards. Turn the deck so that the smoke covers it from all angles. Next, safely put your deck to the ground and put out the fire.

On the deck, set a selenite stone (or a black tourmaline or a transparent quartz). It works well to leave it like way for an hour, but I prefer to leave it overnight.

Set them on display during a new moon. The New Moon is energy of a blank slate; you can purify the deck by setting it on a window sill on a new moon night. At this moment, you can also make a brand-new intention for your deck.

Place the cards in a salty dish. A strong and stabilizing cleaner is salt. My preferred choice for a thorough cleansing is this. Allow it to sit anywhere from one to eight hours in a dry area.

Unorderly shuffle. Spread the cards out on the ground, then shuffle them around like a child playing in dirt. This method’s freedom and randomization serve as an excellent reset.

the shuffle and sort. Set up the deck in rows of seven cards across, commencing with the Major Arcana numbers 0 to 22. (see photo above). Next, arrange the cards, Ace through King, one for each suit, as follows: Swords, Pentacles, Cups, and Wands. View the deck in this configuration, then mix everything up (like the chaotic!) and shuffle it thoroughly.