Tarot Card Meanings: All 78 Cards Explained Simply

Q: How many cards are in a tarot deck?

78: the 22 Major Arcana plus the 56 Minor Arcana, which are four suits of 14 cards each.

Written by the Toe Bean Tarot team Aug 19, 2026 · 7 min read We built a full tarot curriculum: 98 guided lesson sections, spaced repetition, and two original 78-card decks.

Tarot card meanings feel like a mountain from the outside: 78 cards, each with its own name, number, and pile of keywords. Here's the secret: the deck is organized, and the organization does most of the work. The 22 Major Arcana cover life's big themes. The 56 Minor Arcana cover daily life across four suits. Below you'll find every card with its meaning in one line, plus links to deeper guides.

The Fool, the first of the 78 tarot card meanings, from the Toe Bean Tarot deck. — The Fool: card zero, where all 78 meanings begin.

How the deck is organized

22 Major Arcana: the big, archetypal cards (The Fool through The World). They tell one story, the Fool's Journey. Full guide: the Major Arcana explained.
56 Minor Arcana: four suits of 14. Each runs Ace through Ten, plus a Page, Knight, Queen, and King (the court cards).

Each suit has a theme: Wands is energy and action, Cups is emotion, Swords is the mind, and Pentacles is the material world. Suit plus number gets you most of the way to any minor card's meaning before you've studied it.

Major Arcana meanings

0. The Fool: a fresh start, stepping out open-hearted to see what life brings.
1. The Magician: willpower and skill turning ideas into real action.
2. The High Priestess: quiet intuition, secrets, and inner knowing.
3. The Empress: nurture, abundance, and things growing.
4. The Emperor: structure, authority, and making things solid.
5. The Hierophant: tradition, teaching, and shared belief.
6. The Lovers: love, connection, and a choice of the heart.
7. The Chariot: victory through willpower and staying in control.
8. Strength: quiet courage and gentle mastery over raw force.
9. The Hermit: solitude, reflection, and holding up a light for others.
10. Wheel of Fortune: cycles, change, and a turn of luck.
11. Justice: fairness, truth, and consequences.
12. The Hanged Man: pause, surrender, and a new point of view.
13. Death: an ending that clears the way for renewal.
14. Temperance: balance, patience, and the calm middle path.
15. The Devil: the habits and attachments that bind us, and the chance to loosen them.
16. The Tower: sudden upheaval that knocks down what was false.
17. The Star: hope, healing, and renewal after the storm.
18. The Moon: uncertainty, imagination, and moving carefully in the dark.
19. The Sun: joy, clarity, and a genuinely good day.
20. Judgement: awakening and answering a call.
21. The World: completion, a journey fulfilled.

Suit of Wands meanings

The suit of energy, action, and creative fire. Full guide: the Suit of Wands explained.

Ace of Wands: a spark of new creative energy.
Two of Wands: planning your next move.
Three of Wands: early success, your efforts setting sail.
Four of Wands: celebration, home, and belonging.
Five of Wands: friendly conflict and competition.
Six of Wands: victory and recognition.
Seven of Wands: standing your ground.
Eight of Wands: swift movement, things arriving fast.
Nine of Wands: resilience, one last stand before the finish.
Ten of Wands: carrying a heavy load.
Page of Wands: a curious, enthusiastic messenger.
Knight of Wands: bold, restless energy.
Queen of Wands: warm, magnetic confidence.
King of Wands: bold, honest leadership.

Suit of Cups meanings

The suit of emotion, relationships, and the heart. Full guide: the Suit of Cups explained.

Ace of Cups: an open heart, deep feeling begins.
Two of Cups: connection and mutual attraction.
Three of Cups: friendship, celebration, shared joy.
Four of Cups: restlessness, overlooking what's offered.
Five of Cups: grief over loss, with something still remaining.
Six of Cups: nostalgia, memory, gentle kindness.
Seven of Cups: daydreams, options, beautiful illusions.
Eight of Cups: walking away to seek something more.
Nine of Cups: contentment, the "wish" card.
Ten of Cups: emotional fulfilment and harmony.
Page of Cups: tenderness and sweet surprises.
Knight of Cups: romance and following the heart.
Queen of Cups: compassion and deep intuition.
King of Cups: emotional balance under pressure.

The full card library in the Toe Bean Tarot app, showing tarot card meanings for all 78 cards. — Every card's full meaning lives in the app's card library.

Suit of Swords meanings

The suit of the mind, truth, and conflict. Full guide: the Suit of Swords explained.

Ace of Swords: mental clarity, a breakthrough of truth.
Two of Swords: a stalled decision held in tense balance.
Three of Swords: heartache and painful truth.
Four of Swords: rest, retreat, quiet recovery.
Five of Swords: a hollow victory, the cost of conflict.
Six of Swords: moving on toward calmer waters.
Seven of Swords: strategy, stealth, mixed motives.
Eight of Swords: feeling trapped, though the trap is escapable.
Nine of Swords: anxiety and worry in the small hours.
Ten of Swords: a painful low point, with the worst behind you.
Page of Swords: watchfulness and quick wit.
Knight of Swords: fast, headlong drive toward a goal.
Queen of Swords: clear thinking and honest boundaries.
King of Swords: authority, logic, clear judgement.

Suit of Pentacles meanings

The suit of work, money, and the material world. Full guide: the Suit of Pentacles explained.

Ace of Pentacles: a promising new opportunity.
Two of Pentacles: juggling and staying balanced amid change.
Three of Pentacles: skilled work, teamwork, earned recognition.
Four of Pentacles: holding on tightly to what you have.
Five of Pentacles: hardship, with help nearer than it seems.
Six of Pentacles: giving and receiving in fair balance.
Seven of Pentacles: pausing to assess slow, growing effort.
Eight of Pentacles: focused craftsmanship and skill-building.
Nine of Pentacles: comfort and well-earned independence.
Ten of Pentacles: lasting wealth, family, legacy.
Page of Pentacles: study and a practical fresh start.
Knight of Pentacles: patient, dependable effort.
Queen of Pentacles: practical care and grounded warmth.
King of Pentacles: stability, abundance, grounded confidence.

What about reversed cards?

A reversed (upside-down) card shifts the upright meaning: blocked, turned inward, or overdone. You don't have to read reversals at all, and many readers skip them at first. We cover the whole topic in reversed tarot cards, explained.

How to learn these without memorizing 78 cards

Don't grind this page into flashcards. Learn the four suit themes and the feel of the numbers, meet one card a day, and look the rest up as you go. Our guides on memorizing card meanings and the one-page tarot cheat sheet make that concrete, and the full learn tarot roadmap puts it in order.

Looking things up is the part the Toe Bean Tarot app does for you. Every card has its own detail page: keywords, upright and reversed meanings, the symbolism in the art, and a deeper dive, all taught by a small black cat. It's on Google Play, with iPhone coming soon.

Quick answers

How many cards are in a tarot deck?

78: the 22 Major Arcana plus the 56 Minor Arcana (four suits of 14).

What's the difference between Major and Minor Arcana?

Majors cover big life themes and turning points. Minors cover everyday life: work, feelings, thoughts, and money.

Do I have to memorize all 78 meanings?

No. Learn the deck's structure, read with the meanings handy, and repetition does the rest.