The Structure of the Deck

A standard tarot deck has 78 cards.

Major Arcana (22 cards)

Numbered 0 (The Fool) to 21 (The World). They are often read as big life themes, like chapters in a story.

Minor Arcana (56 cards)

• Four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles.
• Each suit has Ace to Ten, plus four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King.
• They are often read as everyday situations, actions and moods.

Upright and reversed

Some readers give a card a different emphasis when it appears upside down — often a blocked, delayed or inward version of its theme. Others ignore reversals. Both approaches are valid choices, not rules.