Major vs Minor Arcana: What Is the Difference in Tarot?

By Julie Zhu · Published 5 November 2026 · 7 min read

Spread out a full tarot deck and you will notice that some cards have names, Roman numerals and dramatic scenes, while others show cups, wands, swords or coins in neat numbers. That is the split between the Major and Minor Arcana. Understanding it is one of the quickest ways to make your readings feel clearer, because it tells you how “big” a message is before you even read the details.

Short answer: The Major Arcana are 22 named cards, from The Fool to The World, that describe major life themes, lessons and turning points. The Minor Arcana are 56 cards in four suits (Cups, Wands, Swords and Pentacles) that describe everyday events, feelings and choices. Majors show the big picture; Minors show how it plays out day to day.

What are the Major Arcana?

The word “arcana” means secrets or mysteries, so Major Arcana roughly means the greater secrets. In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, these 22 cards are numbered from 0 to 21:

0 The Fool, 1 The Magician, 2 The High Priestess, 3 The Empress, 4 The Emperor, 5 The Hierophant, 6 The Lovers, 7 The Chariot, 8 Strength, 9 The Hermit, 10 Wheel of Fortune, 11 Justice, 12 The Hanged Man, 13 Death, 14 Temperance, 15 The Devil, 16 The Tower, 17 The Star, 18 The Moon, 19 The Sun, 20 Judgement and 21 The World.

Note that in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck Strength is 8 and Justice is 11. Some older decks swap them, which is why you may see different numbers elsewhere.

The Fool’s Journey

Many readers think of the Major Arcana as a story. The Fool sets out with open curiosity and meets each of the other cards as a teacher or a stage of life: skill, intuition, nurture, structure, belief, love, willpower, inner strength, solitude, change, fairness, surrender, endings, balance, temptation, upheaval, hope, uncertainty, joy, awakening and finally completion. It is a lovely way to remember the order, and it explains why a Major card in your spread can feel like a chapter heading.

How should you read a Major Arcana card?

When a Major card appears, we take it as a sign that the theme is significant. It might point to a lesson that runs deeper than one event, a period of your life rather than a single day, or a moment where your choices carry extra weight. That does not make it fixed or fated. It simply means it is worth paying attention.

What are the Minor Arcana?

The 56 Minor Arcana cards are organized much like playing cards. There are four suits, each with ten numbered cards (Ace to Ten) and four court cards (Page, Knight, Queen and King).

The four suits

• Cups (water): feelings, relationships, intuition and creativity. Start with the Ace of Cups.
• Wands (fire): energy, passion, ambition and action. Start with the Ace of Wands.
• Swords (air): thoughts, words, conflict and clarity. Start with the Ace of Swords.
• Pentacles (earth): work, money, health habits, home and the physical world. Start with the Ace of Pentacles.

The element pairings come from the Golden Dawn tradition that shaped the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. You will see other systems in other decks, so feel free to use whichever makes sense to you.

The numbers

Numbers give each Minor card a stage in a story:

• Aces are beginnings and raw potential.
• Twos are about balance, pairs and choices.
• Threes show early growth and collaboration.
• Fours bring stability, and sometimes stagnation.
• Fives bring challenge or disruption.
• Sixes restore harmony.
• Sevens ask for assessment and perseverance.
• Eights show movement and effort.
• Nines sit near completion.
• Tens complete the cycle, for better or for heavier.

Combine suit and number and you can make a strong guess at any card. A Five of Cups? Emotional disruption. An Eight of Pentacles? Effort in practical work. Look them up and you will usually find you were close: the Five of Cups is about loss and regret, and the Eight of Pentacles is about skill and dedication.

The court cards

Court cards can represent people in your life, parts of your personality or a way of approaching a situation. Pages are learners, Knights are movers, Queens are inward mastery and Kings are outward mastery. We have a full post on tarot court cards explained if you want to go deeper.

How do Major and Minor Arcana work together in a reading?

This is where the split becomes really useful. Think of the Major Arcana as the headline and the Minor Arcana as the article.

Say you draw The Tower next to the Eight of Cups and the Six of Swords. The Tower says a big shift is underway. The Eight of Cups shows the emotional choice to walk away, and the Six of Swords shows the quieter transition that follows. Together they tell a story with a clear arc.

A few patterns to watch for:

• Mostly Major Arcana: the reading touches something significant, possibly a turning point or a theme that has been building for a while.
• Mostly Minor Arcana: the situation is more day to day and within your direct control. That is often good news, because small choices can shift it.
• One Major among Minors: that card is usually the heart of the reading. Start your interpretation there.
• A strong suit: several cards from one suit show where the energy sits, such as many Swords pointing to a lot of thinking or tension.

Are Major Arcana cards more important?

They are more weighty, not more important. A single Minor card can be exactly the practical advice you need. The Four of Swords telling you to rest might matter more on a given day than any Major card. We prefer to think of the Major Arcana as describing the “why” and the Minors as describing the “how.”

Should beginners learn the Major or Minor Arcana first?

Many people start with the Major Arcana because there are only 22 cards and each one has a strong personality. That is a fine approach. Others prefer to learn the suits and numbers first, because once you understand the system, all 56 Minors start to make sense quickly.

Our suggestion is to do both in small amounts: learn one Major card and one suit card each day. Our daily tarot page is perfect for this. In roughly two months you will have met every card.

A simple exercise to feel the difference

Separate your deck into Majors and Minors. Draw one card from each pile and ask: “What is the big theme in my life right now, and what is one small thing I can do about it?” The Major card answers the first half and the Minor card the second. It is a quick way to feel how the two groups talk to each other.

You can also try this with our tarot card generator, drawing until you get one of each.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards are in a tarot deck?

A standard tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana, with 14 cards in each of the four suits.

Where to explore next

• Browse the Major Arcana hub for all 22 cards.
• Visit the Cups, Wands, Swords and Pentacles hubs.
• Read how to read tarot for beginners for your first spread.

However you learn the deck, enjoy the images and notice what they bring up for you.