Tarot Card Meanings
A standard tarot deck contains 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana divided into four suits. Each card carries upright and reversed meanings that shift based on context, position, and neighboring cards. Understanding the deck's structure unlocks richer readings.
The Five Groups
Wands (Fire)
14 cards
Wands represent creative energy, ambition, passion, and will. The suit of action and inspiration. Ace through Ten show the arc of a project or passion; Page, Knight, Queen, King embody different expressions of fire energy.
Cups (Water)
14 cards
Cups govern emotional life, relationships, intuition, and the unconscious. The suit of love and connection. Emotionally oriented readings often feature many Cups cards reflecting the emotional field of the question.
Swords (Air)
14 cards
Swords represent thought, conflict, communication, and truth. Often misread as only negative — they're actually the suit of clarity, cutting through illusion, and the necessary pain of insight.
Pentacles (Earth)
14 cards
Pentacles deal with material life: money, career, body, and physical reality. The suit of practicality and manifestation. Pentacles readings focus on what's tangible, sustainable, and grounded.
Major Arcana
22 cards
The 22 major arcana (The Fool through The World) represent archetypal forces and life themes. When they appear in a reading, they carry more weight than minor arcana — pointing to deeper currents or pivotal moments.
Upright vs. Reversed
Upright Cards
Upright cards express their energy in its direct, outward, or active form. The Sun upright: vitality, joy, success, clarity. Upright doesn't always mean positive — the Tower upright is a disruption, whatever orientation it lands in.
Reversed Cards
Reversed cards typically suggest blocked, internalized, delayed, or shadow expressions of a card's energy. The Sun reversed: dimmed energy, self-doubt, setbacks. Not catastrophic — nuanced. AI interpretation always contextualizes reversals carefully.
Card Meanings FAQ
What are the 78 tarot cards?
The standard tarot deck contains 22 Major Arcana cards (The Fool through The World) and 56 Minor Arcana cards divided into four suits of 14 cards each: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. Each card ca
What do the four suits mean?
Wands (Fire): action, ambition, career, creativity. Cups (Water): emotions, relationships, intuition. Swords (Air): mind, communication, conflict, truth. Pentacles (Earth): material matters, money, bo
Do reversed cards always mean the opposite?
Not necessarily — reversed cards can mean blocked energy, internalized energy, the shadow aspect of a card, or resistance to the card's energy. Context and spread position matter significantly.
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