Tarot card meanings
Major Arcana Tarot Card Meanings
A journey through life’s larger experiences
Explore the meanings of all 22 Major Arcana cards, from The Fool to The World. Each card brings a significant archetypal experience into focus, helping us recognise the choices, changes, relationships and lessons shaping a particular part of life.
Understanding the Major Arcana
What do the Major Arcana cards represent?
The Major Arcana describes the larger stages and experiences through which people grow, choose, struggle, change and begin again. These themes may appear through major turning points, but they can also become visible within an ordinary situation that carries particular meaning for the person involved.
Together, the cards form a journey from The Fool’s first step into the unknown to The World’s sense of completion. Read individually, each card represents a distinct archetype and a recognisable kind of human experience.
Look for the larger theme
A Major Arcana card often shows what the situation means within the wider story of someone’s life.
Keep the question in view
The card’s established meaning becomes more precise when interpreted in relation to the subject and position.
Notice where it appears
Several Major Arcana cards can indicate that the reading is touching on a particularly formative period or experience.
The complete Major Arcana
Explore all 22 Major Arcana cards
Select a card to explore its core meaning, archetype, symbolism and the different ways its themes may appear in a reading.
0The Fool
Beginnings · Curiosity · Risk
IThe Magician
Willpower · Potential · Direction
IIThe High Priestess
Intuition · Mystery · Insight
IIIThe Empress
Nurture · Comfort · Growth
IVThe Emperor
Authority · Discipline · Structure
VThe Hierophant
Tradition · Guidance · Wisdom
VIThe Lovers
Choice · Union · Alignment
VIIThe Chariot
Determination · Control · Momentum
VIIIStrength
Courage · Restraint · Resilience
IXThe Hermit
Reflection · Solitude · Patience
XWheel of Fortune
Fate · Cycles · Change
XIJustice
Truth · Accountability · Balance
XIIThe Hanged Man
Surrender · Perspective · Pause
XIIIDeath
Endings · Transformation · Renewal
XIVTemperance
Harmony · Healing · Moderation
XVThe Devil
Addiction · Shame · Attachment
XVIThe Tower
Upheaval · Revelation · Collapse
XVIIThe Star
Hope · Healing · Renewal
XVIIIThe Moon
Illusion · Intuition · Uncertainty
XIXThe Sun
Joy · Clarity · Vitality
XXJudgement
Awakening · Reflection · Reckoning
XXIThe World
Fulfilment · Completion · Freedom
Reading the cards
How to interpret Major Arcana cards
Begin with the card’s established meaning, then consider how that experience relates to the question, position and other cards around it.
Recognise the archetype
Identify the familiar role, experience or stage of life represented by the card.
Place it in context
Ask how that underlying theme may be appearing in this situation and at this point in the spread.
Connect the story
Bring the card into conversation with the surrounding cards, noting relationships, tensions and progressions.
A Major Arcana card adds weight to a reading, but its meaning still belongs to the person, question and circumstances being explored.
Continue exploring
Build your understanding of the deck
Free reflective study tool
Try our Major Arcana Study Tool
Choose any Major Arcana card and work through guided prompts that help you connect its established meaning and archetype with a real or observed experience. When you have finished, you can download your reflection to keep.
Use the Major Arcana Study ToolSelect any card from the Major Arcana.
Connect the card with lived or observed experience.
Download your completed study to return to later.
Looking for tarot card meaning?
Explore all 78 tarot cards through symbolism, themes, keywords and interpretation. Browse the Major Arcana, discover the four suits, or search the archive to find a specific card.
Browse by card name, suit or archetype — from The Fool and The Lovers to the Aces, Court Cards and Minor Arcana.