The Structure of the Deck

The Structure of the Deck

The 78-card tarot deck is divided into two main sections: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.

Major Arcana (22 cards)

These are the big-picture cards — numbered 0 to 21, from The Fool to The World. They represent major life themes, karmic lessons, and significant turning points. When Major Arcana cards appear in a reading, pay close attention.

Minor Arcana (56 cards)

These cards reflect everyday events, feelings, and situations. They're divided into four suits:

• Wands — Fire energy. Passion, ambition, creativity, career.
• Cups — Water energy. Emotions, relationships, intuition, dreams.
• Swords — Air energy. Thoughts, conflict, truth, communication.
• Pentacles — Earth energy. Money, work, health, the physical world.

Each suit runs from Ace (1) to 10, plus four Court Cards: Page, Knight, Queen, King.

The Court Cards

The 16 court cards can represent real people in your life, aspects of your own personality, or energies you need to embody. They're often the trickiest to interpret — we'll cover them in depth in Course 4.