Major Arcana Cards and Meanings

The Major Arcana are the 22 picture cards numbered from 0 to 21, and they are the part of the deck most people know without ever holding one: Death, The Lovers, The Tower, The Sun. Where the suits deal with the day-to-day, these cards stand for the turning points, the lessons that take months or years and the forces that feel bigger than any one decision.

Read in order, they tell a story often called the Fool’s Journey. The Fool steps off a cliff with a bag over his shoulder, meets teachers and temptations, hits bottom at the Tower, finds hope again at the Star and arrives at the World, a circle completed. When a Major Arcana card turns up in a reading, it is usually worth slowing down: the question is touching something important.

Pick a card below for its full meaning, upright and reversed, in love, as feelings and as a yes or no.