What Is Meant By Each Tarot Card?

The Minor Arcana Tarot deck consists of 78 cards, each with its own unique symbolism and meaning. The Major Arcana represents big life-changing events, while the Minor Arcana usually represents people, feelings, and day-to-day occurrences. Each card unfolds the journey of the Soul, and it is our job to find what our inner gifts are.

The Major Arcana Tarot cards represent life lessons, karmic influences, and big archetypal themes that are influencing your life and soul’s journey. The Suit of Cups represents your feelings, emotions, intuition, and creativity. The Suit of Pentacles represents your finances, work, and material possessions. The Moon is a card of illusion and deception, often suggesting a time when something is not as it appears to be.

Cups are about emotions, intuition, love, relationships, Wands are about action, passion, movement, and Pentacles are about material wealth, money, home, and health. A thorough understanding of each card is your gateway to intuitive readings. Worksheets for each card, with space to record personal keywords, Tarot card symbolism, upright and reversed meanings, and more, are available for each card.

In this comprehensive guide on Tarot card meanings, we will explore the intricate symbolism and narratives behind each card, from the profound journey of the Major Arcana to the personal meanings of each card.

What is the No 1 tarot card?

The Magician, also known as The Magus or The Juggler, is the first trump or Major Arcana card in traditional tarot decks, used for game playing and divination. In the occult context, the trump cards are recontextualized as the Major Arcana and given complex esoteric meaning. In this context, the Magician is interpreted as the first numbered and second total card of the Major Arcana, succeeding the Fool. In French, Le Bateleur, also known as “the mountebank” or “sleight of hand artist”, is a practitioner of stage magic.

In Italian tradition, he is called Il Bagatto or Il Bagatello. The Mantegna Tarocchi image of the Magician is labeled Artixano, the Artisan, and is the second lowest in the series. 18th-century woodcuts of the Magician reflect earlier iconic representations and can be compared to free artistic renditions in 15th-century hand-painted tarots.

What is the most powerful tarot card?

Tarot cards are a popular tool for self-reflection and guidance, as well as entertainment and exploring subconscious mind aspects. However, there is no single card that stands out as the most powerful. Each card has different meanings and impacts, depending on the context, question, and reader interpretation. Some of the most influential cards include The Fool, the first card of the Major Arcana, which represents new beginnings and infinite possibilities.

The Fool is often depicted as a young man about to step off a cliff, with a dog at his feet, a bag on his shoulder, and a white rose in his hand. The Tower, the third card, represents the power of turning ideas into reality and the potential to create and transform ourselves. Overall, the Tarot cards play a significant role in shaping our lives and providing guidance.

What are the 12 tarot cards?

Tarot cards are ancient Chinese divination tools used for predicting the future. The major arcana, consisting of 22 cards, represents various forces, characters, virtues, and vices. The cards are numbered I through XXI, with the fool being unnumbered. The major arcana includes jugglers, papesses, empresses, emperors, popes, lovers, chariots, justice, hermits, wheel of fortune, strength, death, temperance, devil, lightning-struck towers, stars, moons, suns, last judgments, worlds, and the fool.

The minor arcana consists of 56 cards divided into four suits of 14 cards each. Each suit has 4 court cards and 10 numbered cards. The value progression in each suit is ace to 10, then jack, knight, queen, and king.

The adaptation of tarots to occult and fortune-telling purposes first occurred in France around 1780. Each tarot card is ascribed a meaning, with the major arcana referring to spiritual matters and trends in the questioner’s life. In the minor arcana, wands deal with business matters and career ambitions, cups with love, swords with conflict, and coins with money and material comfort. The meaning of any card is modified based on its position in the spread and the meaning of adjacent cards.

What tarot cards represent what?

Tarot cards are a powerful tool for divination, with various elements representing different aspects of life. Wands symbolize passion and inspiration, while pentacles represent money and physical realities. Swords symbolize intellectual intrigues, and cups illustrate emotional matters. Some readers suggest gifting a deck to someone, but the most important factor is your unique connection to the cards. When choosing a deck, observe your emotions, trust your intuition, explore the imagery, and note the symbols.

There is no hierarchy of tarot decks, so choose the one that truly tantalizes your soul. The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck is a great first deck, as many future decks are based on its iconic illustrations. Tarot books like 78 Degrees of Wisdom use the deck as a reference. Start with the Rider-Waite deck and expand your collection with decks that resonate with you. It’s available online or in-person at occult stores.

What is the symbolism of Tarot cards?

Tarot cards are a symbolic language that reflects the energies, experiences, and emotions that shape our lives. They offer insights into our subconscious mind and guide us through the mysteries of the universe. Each zodiac sign can be seen in the Major Arcana cards, with each sign having its own unique meaning. Some of the most accurate discoveries in professional readings include Aries as the Emperor, The Fool, Taurus as the Hierophant, Gemini as the Lovers, Cancer as Temperance, Leo as Strength, Virgo as the Hermit, Libra as Justice, Scorpio as Death, Sagittarius as Judgment, Capricorn as The Devil, Aquarius as The Star, and Pisces as the Moon.

What do the Tarot cards tell you?

Tarot cards are not fortune-telling but coaching tools for personal discovery and self-care. They highlight past experiences, validate current situations, and suggest future possibilities. Tarot provides a glimpse into the energetic landscape, allowing individuals to make the best decisions for themselves moving forward. It offers agency, not prophecies. Interest in tarot, along with astrology and numerology, has grown significantly in recent years, with social media providing a surge of divinatory and personal growth content.

However, learning to read tarot cards can be daunting due to the vast literature and rules surrounding the art form. Rachel Howe, a Brooklyn-based artist, Reiki healer, and tarot reader, believes that anyone can read tarot, and the rules have been used in the past to protect the art form. Now, anyone can read tarot, making it an appealing and healthy way to gain a stronger sense of personal agency.

Is tarot card reading true?

Early French occultists claimed that tarot cards had esoteric links to ancient Egypt, the Kabbalah, Indic Tantra, or the I Ching. However, scholarly research reveals that tarot cards were invented in Italy in the early 15th century for playing games, and there is no evidence of significant use of them for divination until the late 18th century. The belief in the divinatory meaning of the cards is closely associated with a belief in their occult properties, which was propagated by prominent Protestant Christian clerics and Freemasons.

From its uptake as an instrument of divination in 18th-century France, the tarot went on to be used in hermeneutic, magical, mystical, semiotic, and psychological practices. It was used by Romani people when telling fortunes and as a Jungian psychological apparatus for tapping into “absolute knowledge in the unconscious”, a tool for archetypal analysis, and even a tool for facilitating the Jungian process of individuation.

Should I read my own tarot cards?

Reading tarot cards is a powerful tool for self-discovery and self-improvement. However, it is crucial to approach it with intention and a strong sense of belief in the cards. Pulling tarot cards without knowing what you are receiving can cause more harm than good. If you prefer someone else to read for you, it is recommended to start with familiarity and comfort with the cards.

The most accurate readings are achieved when you project yourself onto the cards, as they are a reflection of your experiences and needs. A tarot journal can be a valuable reference for learning and deepening your relationship with the cards. It can take various forms, such as digital or physical, reflective or instructive.

Creating a section for each card, where you can write down keywords, correspondences, study questions, prompts, observations, and related personal experiences, is essential for developing intuition. Louis suggests writing down the cards you pulled after each session, journaling about them, and sitting with them to figure out what the cards mean for you. Reading a card based on the symbols you notice and the energies you feel is the best way to start.

What is the most valuable tarot card?

The Fool is a card in tarot games, not part of the Major Arcana. In most games, the Fool is independent of both plain suit cards and trump cards, and does not belong to either category. Tarot decks originally made for game playing do not assign a number to the Fool indicating its rank in the suit of trumps. The Fool is one of the most valuable cards in almost all tarot games.

In tarot games originating from Italy and France, the Fool has a unique role, sometimes called “the Excuse”. In these games, the player excuses the player from following suit or playing a trump. At the end of the trick, the player takes back the Fool and adds it to their trick pile, giving the trick’s winner the least valuable card from that same pile. If there are no cards to give in exchange, the Fool is worth one point less and an extra point is given to the trick-taker.

In a minor variant option of French tarot, a player dealt trump 1 but with no other trumps or the Fool can make trump 1 behave the same as the Fool. In official tournament rules, a player in this situation must declare their hand and force a redeal.

What do tarot cards tell u?

Tarot cards are not fortune-telling but coaching tools for personal discovery and self-care. They highlight past experiences, validate current situations, and suggest future possibilities. Tarot provides a glimpse into the energetic landscape, allowing individuals to make the best decisions for themselves moving forward. It offers agency, not prophecies. Interest in tarot, along with astrology and numerology, has grown significantly in recent years, with social media providing a surge of divinatory and personal growth content.

However, learning to read tarot cards can be daunting due to the vast literature and rules surrounding the art form. Rachel Howe, a Brooklyn-based artist, Reiki healer, and tarot reader, believes that anyone can read tarot, and the rules have been used in the past to protect the art form. Now, anyone can read tarot, making it an appealing and healthy way to gain a stronger sense of personal agency.

What is the luckiest card in the tarot?

The Wheel of Fortune card, part of the Major Arcana, is a symbol of destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, and felicity. It is often depicted in a six- or eight-spoked wheel, often attended by an individual dressed in an Egyptian-style headdress. In some decks, such as the AG Müller, the wheel is also attended by an individual wearing a blindfold. The wheel is not always inscribed with any lettering, but the letters T-A-R-O (clockwise) or T-O-R-A (counter clockwise) can be found aligned against four of the spokes, which can also be interpreted as R-O-T-A, the Latin word meaning “wheel”.

In some decks, such as the Waite, the wheel is inscribed with additional alchemical symbols representing the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. These emblems can also be seen on the Magician’s table in the Magician card (Card I).