The Structure of a Tarot Deck
A traditional Tarot deck consists of 78 cards, traditionally divided into two main sections: the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. Understanding these sections is key to grasping the overall meaning of the cards.
The Major Arcana
The Major Arcana comprises 22 cards, each representing significant life lessons, archetypal energies, and major turning points. These cards often signify more profound, overarching themes in a reading.
The Minor Arcana: The Four Suits
The Minor Arcana contains 56 cards and is structured much like a standard deck of playing cards. It is divided into four suits, each representing a different facet of human experience and often reflecting the day-to-day circumstances of life.
Suit of Wands
Archetypal Energy: The suit of Wands is associated with fire, representing passion, creativity, inspiration, energy, and action. It speaks to our drive, ambition, and the spark of new ideas.
Love & Relationships: Wands can indicate passion, new beginnings, or creative endeavors within a relationship. For singles, it might signal exciting romantic potential or a burst of self-confidence leading to new connections.
Career & Finance: This suit points towards taking initiative, pursuing passions in work, and innovative projects. Financially, it can suggest opportunities that require boldness and entrepreneurial spirit.
Actionable Advice: Embrace your creative impulses, take bold steps towards your goals, and channel your energy into projects that ignite your passion.
Suit of Cups
Archetypal Energy: The suit of Cups is linked to water, governing emotions, intuition, relationships, love, and the subconscious. It explores our feelings, connections with others, and inner emotional landscape.
Love & Relationships: Cups cards are central to matters of the heart, reflecting love, intimacy, emotional connection, and harmony. They can also highlight emotional challenges or the need for empathy.
Career & Finance: In a professional context, Cups might relate to working in fields involving care, creativity, or emotional intelligence. Financially, it can signify using intuition or finding joy and fulfillment in monetary pursuits.
Actionable Advice: Pay attention to your emotions and intuition, nurture your relationships, and seek to understand the feelings of yourself and others.
Suit of Swords
Archetypal Energy: Associated with air, the suit of Swords represents the intellect, thoughts, communication, truth, conflict, and challenges. It deals with mental clarity, decision-making, and facing difficult truths.
Love & Relationships: Swords can indicate communication breakdowns, disagreements, or the need for honest, perhaps difficult, conversations. They can also signify clarity in understanding relationship dynamics.
Career & Finance: This suit often relates to mental work, strategy, analysis, and overcoming obstacles. Financially, it might point to making logical decisions or facing the consequences of past choices.
Actionable Advice: Seek mental clarity, communicate honestly and directly, face challenges head-on, and be prepared to make difficult decisions.
Suit of Pentacles
Archetypal Energy: The suit of Pentacles (or Coins) is linked to the earth element, embodying the material world, finances, health, practicality, abundance, and grounding. It reflects our tangible reality and stability.
Love & Relationships: Pentacles can relate to building a stable foundation in relationships, commitment, and the practical aspects of partnership, such as shared responsibilities or finances.
Career & Finance: This suit is paramount for work, business, money management, and material success. It speaks to diligence, reliability, and the rewards of hard work.
Actionable Advice: Focus on practical matters, build stability, manage your resources wisely, and appreciate the tangible results of your efforts.
The Court Cards
Within each suit, there are four Court Cards: Page, Knight, Queen, and King. These represent different stages of development or archetypal personalities associated with the suit's energy. They can represent people in your life, aspects of yourself, or specific approaches to situations.
The Numbers 1-10
The numbered cards (Ace through 10) within each suit show a progression. The Ace signifies new beginnings or potential, while the numbers 2 through 10 depict the unfolding journey, challenges, and eventual culmination related to the suit's theme.