Types of Tarot Cards: A Guide to the 78-Card Deck

Types of Tarot Cards at a Glance

A standard tarot deck has 78 cards divided into two main types of tarot cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana represents broad life themes and turning points. The Minor Arcana explores everyday experiences through four suits, numbered cards, and court cards.

This structure is the clearest place to begin learning tarot card types. It explains why The Fool feels different from the Two of Cups, why a Queen can describe a person or an approach, and why several cards from one suit can shift the emphasis of a reading.

For a focused explanation of deck size and nonstandard decks, see how many cards are in a tarot deck. The sections below concentrate on what each card category does.

Major Arcana: 22 Archetypal Cards

The Major Arcana is a sequence of 22 named cards, traditionally numbered from 0 to 21 in many modern decks. The Fool is usually numbered 0, followed by cards such as The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Hermit, The Tower, The Sun, and The World.

Major Arcana cards tend to widen the frame of a reading. They can point to a defining choice, a shift in perspective, a long-running lesson, or an experience that carries more weight than a routine detail. That does not mean every Major Arcana card predicts a dramatic event. Its importance depends on the question, spread position, neighboring cards, and the reader’s method.

The sequence is sometimes described as the Fool’s Journey: a teaching model that follows The Fool through encounters with the other archetypes. It is useful for study, but it is not the only way to organize or interpret the cards.

Minor Arcana: 56 Cards of Everyday Life

The Minor Arcana contains 56 cards arranged into four suits. Each suit has ten numbered cards, Ace through Ten, and four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen, and King. Four suits multiplied by 14 cards creates the full 56-card Minor Arcana.

These cards often bring a reading closer to daily life. They can describe conversations, emotions, plans, obstacles, resources, habits, and practical choices. The label “minor” describes the deck division, not a lack of importance. A Minor Arcana card can be the clearest and most actionable card in a spread.

The Four Tarot Suits

The four suits provide the basic topic areas of the Minor Arcana. In the most common modern correspondence system, Wands relates to Fire, Cups to Water, Swords to Air, and Pentacles to Earth.

These associations are starting points rather than single-word definitions. The Five of Cups does not mean the same thing as the Ten of Cups simply because both belong to the emotional suit. Number, image, orientation, position, and context refine the suit theme. Explore the full framework in the four tarot suits guide.

Numbered Cards from Ace Through Ten

Every suit includes an Ace and cards Two through Ten. Readers often study number patterns across the suits because the rank can suggest a stage in a process.

• Aces often introduce potential, an opening, or the concentrated quality of a suit.
• Twos and Threes can involve choice, relationship, planning, or early development.
• Fours and Fives often contrast stability with disruption or adjustment.
• Sixes and Sevens can show response, recalibration, testing, or strategy.
• Eights and Nines often explore movement, skill, pressure, or approaching completion.
• Tens tend to bring a cycle to fullness, consequence, completion, or transition.

This pattern is a learning aid, not a rule that overrides the card. The Ten of Swords and Ten of Pentacles both carry a sense of culmination, but one expresses it through the Swords domain and the other through the Pentacles domain.

Court Cards: Page, Knight, Queen, and King

The 16 court cards combine four ranks with four suits. They may represent a person, a role in a situation, a behavior to develop, or the style in which the suit’s energy is being expressed.

• Pages commonly suggest learning, curiosity, messages, or an early relationship with the suit.
• Knights emphasize movement, pursuit, testing, or action.
• Queens often show inward command, stewardship, receptivity, or mature embodiment.
• Kings often show outward direction, responsibility, authority, or applied mastery.

Court cards do not have to describe literal age, gender, or appearance. Many contemporary readers interpret the rank as an approach or level of experience first, then consider whether a real person fits the context.

Upright and Reversed Cards Are Orientations, Not New Types

An upright card and a reversed card are not separate types of tarot cards. They are two orientations of the same card. Readers who use reversals may interpret them as internalized energy, resistance, delay, imbalance, or a modified expression of the upright meaning.

Other readers use only upright cards and find contrast through spread positions, surrounding cards, visual details, and context. Both are coherent methods. A beginner can choose one system and use it consistently instead of treating reversals as a second deck of meanings to memorize.

Card Categories and Tarot Deck Systems

“Types of tarot cards” can also be confused with types of tarot decks. Major Arcana, Minor Arcana, suits, number cards, and court cards are categories within a deck. Rider–Waite–Smith, Tarot de Marseille, and Thoth describe influential deck systems or traditions with different artwork, ordering details, names, and interpretive emphases.

Many contemporary decks keep the familiar 78-card structure while changing the visual theme or renaming suits. Oracle decks are a separate category: they do not have to follow tarot’s 78-card structure, four suits, or Major and Minor Arcana divisions. The oracle cards vs. tarot cards guide explains that distinction in detail.

If you are choosing a physical deck rather than comparing card categories, the best tarot cards and decks guide explains imagery, format, experience level, and buying criteria.

Tarot Cards and Their Common Uses

Tarot cards are used for symbolic reflection, structured questions, journaling, creative prompts, spiritual practice, and conversations about choices or patterns. A card can help a reader notice assumptions, name a tension, compare possible responses, or approach a familiar situation from a different angle.

Tarot is not a scientific diagnostic instrument and cannot guarantee a future outcome. Responsible use leaves room for evidence, professional advice, personal agency, and changing circumstances. Health, legal, financial, and safety decisions should not rest on a card draw.

How a Tarot Reading Works

A tarot reading is a structured interpretation of one or more cards in relation to a question or theme. The reader shuffles, draws cards, places them in a spread, and combines several layers of information:

1. The question or focus defines the situation being explored.
2. The spread position gives each card a role, such as context, challenge, or next step.
3. The card category shows whether the message is broad and archetypal or closer to everyday life.
4. The suit and rank identify the life area and stage of development.
5. The imagery and surrounding cards refine the interpretation.

This is why a tarot reading is more than looking up isolated keywords. The same card can emphasize different aspects when it appears in a relationship spread, a career spread, or a reflective daily pull. Learn the process in the beginner’s guide to reading tarot or compare layouts in the tarot spreads guide.

A Simple Way to Learn the Card Types

1. Learn the difference between Major and Minor Arcana.
2. Memorize the four suits and their broad life areas.
3. Compare the same number across all four suits.
4. Study Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings as four approaches to each element.
5. Practice with a one-card or three-card spread and record the context.

Grouping cards reduces memorization. Instead of learning 78 unrelated definitions, you build a system and then notice how image, suit, number, and position work together.

Free Tarot Card Meanings and Practice Tools

Use Deckaura’s free tarot card meanings guide for upright, reversed, love, career, and yes-or-no interpretations across all 78 cards. The tarot card database offers a structured reference, while the free tarot reading lets you practice recognizing Major Arcana, suits, ranks, and repeated patterns in context.

Types of Tarot Cards FAQ

How many cards are in a tarot deck?

A standard tarot deck contains 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana divides into four 14-card suits, each with Ace through Ten plus Page, Knight, Queen, and King.

What are the two main types of tarot cards?

The two main types are Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. Major Arcana cards focus on broad themes and archetypal experiences; Minor Arcana cards organize everyday subjects through suits, numbers, and court ranks.

What are tarot cards used for?

People use tarot for reflection, journaling, creative prompts, spiritual practice, and structured exploration of choices or patterns. Tarot should not replace evidence, professional advice, or personal responsibility.

What is a tarot reading?

A tarot reading is the interpretation of drawn cards in relation to a question, theme, and spread positions. The reader combines card imagery, category, suit, rank, orientation, and surrounding cards rather than relying on one keyword.

Are reversed cards a different tarot card type?

No. A reversal is the same card appearing upside down. Readers may treat it as blocked, internalized, delayed, imbalanced, or simply modified energy; other readers choose not to use reversals.

Are oracle cards a type of tarot card?

No. Oracle cards are a separate family of divination and reflection decks. Their creators can choose any number of cards and any structure, while tarot usually follows the established Major Arcana and Minor Arcana framework.

Can beginners read with all 78 tarot cards?

Yes. Beginners can use the full deck from the start. Learning Major versus Minor Arcana, then suits, numbers, and court ranks, makes the 78 cards easier to understand without memorizing every meaning at once.