The structure of a tarot deck

A standard tarot deck has 78 cards, and they fall into two groups: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. Knowing which group a card belongs to is the first thing a reader notices.

The Major Arcana — 22 big themes

The Major Arcana are 22 cards, numbered 0 to 21 — from The Fool (0) to The World (21). These are the headline cards: birth and endings, love and choice, change and completion. When a Major Arcana card appears in a reading, it usually points to a larger life theme rather than a passing detail. Their order, from the Fool setting out to the World coming full circle, is often called the Fool's journey.

The Minor Arcana — 56 everyday cards

The Minor Arcana are the other 56 cards, and they work much like an ordinary playing-card deck. There are four suits, and each suit has fourteen cards: the Ace through the Ten, plus four court cards — Page, Knight, Queen and King. Four suits of fourteen makes 56.

Each suit has a traditional area of life, often linked to one of the four elements:

• Wands — fire: energy, drive, creativity and action.
• Cups — water: emotions, relationships and the inner life.
• Swords — air: thought, communication, conflict and clarity.
• Pentacles (sometimes Coins) — earth: money, work, the body and the material world.

So a Cup card tends to speak to feelings, a Pentacle to practical matters, and so on. The number on the card and the suit it belongs to are read together.

Try it before you reveal it

How many cards are in each group, and how do you get 56 in the Minor Arcana?

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Worked answer

22 in the Major Arcana and 56 in the Minor Arcana, for 78 in total. The 56 come from four suits of fourteen cards each (Ace to Ten, plus Page, Knight, Queen and King).

A likely mix-up

The four suits belong to the Minor Arcana; do not divide all 78 cards into four suits.

Try a fresh case

Choose one suit and list its ten numbered cards and four court cards.