Tarot can look intimidating at first: seventy-eight cards, strange medieval pictures, and a reputation for mystery. But underneath the imagery, tarot is really a language of human experience. Each card names a feeling, a turning point, or a lesson you already recognise from your own life. Once you learn that language, a reading stops being fortune-telling and becomes a way to think more clearly about where you are and where you'd like to go. This guide walks you through the whole system from the ground up, so you can pick up a deck today and actually understand what you're looking at.
How a tarot deck is built
A standard deck has seventy-eight cards split into two groups. The Major Arcana is a set of twenty-two cards, numbered from zero to twenty-one, that track the big themes of a life: beginnings, love, discipline, loss, renewal. The Minor Arcana holds the other fifty-six cards, divided into four suits — Cups, Pentacles, Swords and Wands — each dealing with a slice of everyday experience like emotions, money, thoughts and energy. When a Major card appears in a reading, it usually points to something significant and slow-moving. When Minors dominate, the story is more about the practical, day-to-day details.
The Major Arcana: the heart of the deck
Most beginners start with the Major Arcana because these cards carry the clearest, most memorable meanings. Read in order, they tell a single story often called the Fool's Journey — a traveller who leaves home, meets teachers and challenges, and slowly grows into wisdom. You don't need to memorise all twenty-two at once. Learn a handful, notice how they feel, and the rest will follow. Each one below links to a full guide with upright and reversed meanings.
How to read upright and reversed cards
Cards can appear the right way up or upside down. An upright card usually expresses its meaning openly and outwardly. A reversed card often points to the same energy turned inward, blocked, delayed, or overdone — not a curse, just a different angle. If reversals feel like too much at the start, it's completely fine to read every card upright until you're comfortable. Tarot rewards patience, not perfection.
The 22 Major Arcana cards
- The Fool — fresh starts, leaps of faith, open-hearted beginnings.
- The Magician — focus, skill, and turning ideas into action.
- The High Priestess — intuition, inner knowing, quiet mystery.
- The Empress — nurturing, abundance, and creative fertility.
- The Emperor — structure, authority, and steady leadership.
- The Hierophant — tradition, teaching, and shared belief.
- The Lovers — connection, choice, and values in harmony.
- The Chariot — willpower, drive, and victory through control.
- Strength — courage, patience, and gentle inner power.
- The Hermit — solitude, reflection, and seeking truth within.
- Wheel of Fortune — cycles, luck, and turning points.
- Justice — fairness, truth, and cause and effect.
- The Hanged Man — pause, surrender, and a new perspective.
- Death — endings, transformation, and release.
- Temperance — balance, patience, and gentle blending.
- The Devil — attachment, temptation, and shadow.
- The Tower — sudden change and necessary upheaval.
- The Star — hope, healing, and renewed faith.
- The Moon — dreams, illusion, and the subconscious.
- The Sun — joy, clarity, and warmth.
- Judgement — awakening, reckoning, and rebirth.
- The World — completion, wholeness, and arrival.
Doing your first reading
You don't need a complicated spread to begin. Shuffle while you hold a simple, open question in mind — something like “What do I most need to see right now?” — then draw a single card. Look at the picture before you reach for any book. What's the mood? Who is in it, and what are they doing? Your first honest reaction is part of the reading. Then compare it with the traditional meaning and notice where they meet. Over time, that dialogue between the image and your intuition becomes second nature.
FAQ
Do I need to memorise all 78 cards to start?
No. Begin with the Major Arcana, learn a few at a time, and let the meanings settle through practice rather than cramming.
Is tarot supposed to predict the future?
Think of it less as prediction and more as reflection. Tarot maps the energies and choices in front of you so you can respond to them with more awareness.
What deck should a beginner use?
The Rider-Waite-Smith deck is the most common starting point because almost every guide, including this one, is written around its imagery.