Tarot card meanings

All 78 tarot cards with their upright and reversed keywords — and the zodiac degrees each one rules, which is the column every other list leaves out.

78 cards

Card	Upright	Reversed	Rules
The FoolMajor Arcana 0	beginningsinnocenceleap of faith	recklessnesshesitationbad timing	Air
The MagicianMajor Arcana 1	willresourcefulnessmanifestation	manipulationuntapped talentpoor planning	Mercury
The High PriestessMajor Arcana 2	intuitionthe unconscioussecrets	hidden motivesdisconnectionsilence withheld	Moon
The EmpressMajor Arcana 3	abundancenurturefertility	dependencesmotheringcreative block	Venus
The EmperorMajor Arcana 4	structureauthorityboundaries	dominationrigiditylost control	Aries
The HierophantMajor Arcana 5	traditionteachinginstitutions	dogmarebellionhollow ritual	Taurus
The LoversMajor Arcana 6	unionvaluesa real choice	misalignmentavoidancesplit loyalties	Gemini
The ChariotMajor Arcana 7	drivedirectionhard-won control	scattered forceobstructiondrift	Cancer
StrengthMajor Arcana 8	couragepatiencegentle power	self-doubtforced effortraw impulse	Leo
The HermitMajor Arcana 9	solitudesearchinner counsel	isolationwithdrawalrefusing guidance	Virgo
Wheel of FortuneMajor Arcana 10	turning pointcyclesluck	resistancedelayrepeating the loop	Jupiter
JusticeMajor Arcana 11	fairnesscause and effecttruth	imbalanceevasionunaccountability	Libra
The Hanged ManMajor Arcana 12	suspensionnew anglesurrender	stallingmartyrdomwasted pause	Water
DeathMajor Arcana 13	endingtransitionclearing out	clingingstagnationfear of change	Scorpio
TemperanceMajor Arcana 14	balanceblendingmoderation	excessimbalanceimpatience	Sagittarius
The DevilMajor Arcana 15	attachmentappetitethe bargain	releaseseeing the trapreclaiming power	Capricorn
The TowerMajor Arcana 16	upheavalrevelationcollapse	delayed reckoningaverted disasterresistance	Mars
The StarMajor Arcana 17	hoperenewalquiet guidance	discouragementdisconnectionlost faith	Aquarius
The MoonMajor Arcana 18	uncertaintyprojectiondreams	clarity returningconfusion liftingtruth surfacing	Pisces
The SunMajor Arcana 19	clarityvitalitysuccess	dimmed joydelayoverexposure	Sun
JudgementMajor Arcana 20	reckoningcallingawakening	self-doubtavoidanceignored summons	Fire
The WorldMajor Arcana 21	completionintegrationarrival	unfinished businessshortcutsdelayed closure	Saturn
Ace of WandsWands · fire	sparkinitiativeraw potential	false startstalled drivescattered energy	Root of Fire
Ace of CupsCups · water	new feelingopennessoverflow	blocked emotionguardednessemptiness	Root of Water
Ace of SwordsSwords · air	claritytruthbreakthrough	confusionmisused insightharsh words	Root of Air
Ace of PentaclesPentacles · earth	opportunityseedtangible start	missed chancepoor footingdelay	Root of Earth
Two of WandsWands · fire	planningscopefirst decision	indecisionplaying smallfear of leaving	Mars in Aries · decan 1 · 0°–10°
Three of WandsWands · fire	expansionforesightships out	delaysnarrow viewobstacles ahead	Sun in Aries · decan 2 · 10°–20°
Four of WandsWands · fire	celebrationhomemilestone	transitionunstable groundmuted joy	Venus in Aries · decan 3 · 20°–30°
Five of PentaclesPentacles · earth	hardshipexclusionlack	recoveryhelp acceptedturning point	Mercury in Taurus · decan 1 · 30°–40°
Six of PentaclesPentacles · earth	givingreceivingfair exchange	strings attachedimbalancedebt	Moon in Taurus · decan 2 · 40°–50°
Seven of PentaclesPentacles · earth	patiencereviewlong game	impatiencewasted effortpoor return	Saturn in Taurus · decan 3 · 50°–60°
Eight of SwordsSwords · air	restrictionself-limittrapped thinking	releasenew perspectivefreeing yourself	Jupiter in Gemini · decan 1 · 60°–70°
Nine of SwordsSwords · air	anxietysleeplessnessdread	reliefperspectivenaming the fear	Mars in Gemini · decan 2 · 70°–80°
Ten of SwordsSwords · air	endingrock bottomfinality	recoverysurvivingrefusing the ending	Sun in Gemini · decan 3 · 80°–90°
Two of CupsCups · water	mutual regardpartnershipattraction	imbalancedisconnectionwithheld feeling	Venus in Cancer · decan 1 · 90°–100°
Three of CupsCups · water	friendshipgatheringshared joy	overindulgenceexclusionthinning ties	Mercury in Cancer · decan 2 · 100°–110°
Four of CupsCups · water	discontentapathymissed offer	new interestacceptancere-engagement	Moon in Cancer · decan 3 · 110°–120°
Five of WandsWands · fire	frictioncompetitiontesting	avoided conflictinner tensionresolution	Saturn in Leo · decan 1 · 120°–130°
Six of WandsWands · fire	recognitionvictorymomentum	lost creditself-doubthollow win	Jupiter in Leo · decan 2 · 130°–140°
Seven of WandsWands · fire	defending groundconvictionstanding firm	overwhelmgiving wayexhaustion	Mars in Leo · decan 3 · 140°–150°
Eight of PentaclesPentacles · earth	skillrepetitionmastery	shortcutsdull workmisdirected effort	Sun in Virgo · decan 1 · 150°–160°
Nine of PentaclesPentacles · earth	self-sufficiencycomfortearned ease	dependenceoverworkhollow luxury	Venus in Virgo · decan 2 · 160°–170°
Ten of PentaclesPentacles · earth	legacystabilitylong-term wealth	instabilityfamily strainshort horizon	Mercury in Virgo · decan 3 · 170°–180°
Two of SwordsSwords · air	stalemateavoidanceheld balance	decision forcedinformation arrivesoverwhelm	Moon in Libra · decan 1 · 180°–190°
Three of SwordsSwords · air	heartbreakhard truthgrief	healingreleasinglingering hurt	Saturn in Libra · decan 2 · 190°–200°
Four of SwordsSwords · air	restrecoverywithdrawal	restlessnessforced returnburnout	Jupiter in Libra · decan 3 · 200°–210°
Five of CupsCups · water	griefregretfocus on loss	moving onforgivenessseeing what remains	Mars in Scorpio · decan 1 · 210°–220°
Six of CupsCups · water	nostalgiainnocenceold bonds	stuck in the pastidealisingoutgrowing	Sun in Scorpio · decan 2 · 220°–230°
Seven of CupsCups · water	optionsfantasyunclear choice	claritydisciplineone real path	Venus in Scorpio · decan 3 · 230°–240°
Eight of WandsWands · fire	speedmessagesalignment	delayscattered aimcrossed wires	Mercury in Sagittarius · decan 1 · 240°–250°
Nine of WandsWands · fire	resiliencelast pushguardedness	depletionparanoiarefusing help	Moon in Sagittarius · decan 2 · 250°–260°
Ten of WandsWands · fire	burdenovercommitmentthe last stretch	putting it downdelegationcollapse	Saturn in Sagittarius · decan 3 · 260°–270°
Two of PentaclesPentacles · earth	jugglingadaptabilitypriorities	overcommitmentdropped ballimbalance	Jupiter in Capricorn · decan 1 · 270°–280°
Three of PentaclesPentacles · earth	craftcollaborationapprenticeship	frictionpoor qualityunrecognised work	Mars in Capricorn · decan 2 · 280°–290°
Four of PentaclesPentacles · earth	holding onsecuritysaving	loosening gripscarcity thinkingloss	Sun in Capricorn · decan 3 · 290°–300°
Five of SwordsSwords · air	conflictwinning badlycost	reconciliationstepping downamends	Venus in Aquarius · decan 1 · 300°–310°
Six of SwordsSwords · air	passageleavinggradual relief	stuckunfinished departureresistance	Mercury in Aquarius · decan 2 · 310°–320°
Seven of SwordsSwords · air	strategyevasiongoing it alone	exposureconfessioncoming clean	Moon in Aquarius · decan 3 · 320°–330°
Eight of CupsCups · water	walking awaysearchdisillusion	reluctanceaimless driftingreturning	Saturn in Pisces · decan 1 · 330°–340°
Nine of CupsCups · water	contentmentwish grantedsatisfaction	smugnessshallow wishunmet longing	Jupiter in Pisces · decan 2 · 340°–350°
Ten of CupsCups · water	harmonybelongingfulfilment	misaligned valuesstrained homebroken picture	Mars in Pisces · decan 3 · 350°–360°
King of WandsWands · fire	visionleadershipboldness	domineeringimpulsive rulearrogance	20° Scorpio – 20° Sagittarius
Queen of WandsWands · fire	warmthconfidencemagnetism	insecurityjealousydemanding attention	20° Pisces – 20° Aries
Knight of WandsWands · fire	boldnesspursuitadventure	impulsivenessburnoutabandoned chase	20° Cancer – 20° Leo
Page of WandsWands · fire	curiositynewsfree spirit	unfocusedunreliableall talk	The Fire quadrant
King of CupsCups · water	emotional steadinesscarecomposure	suppressioncoldnessmanipulation	20° Aquarius – 20° Pisces
Queen of CupsCups · water	empathyattunementholding space	depletionover-givingemotional flooding	20° Gemini – 20° Cancer
Knight of CupsCups · water	romanceofferfollowing feeling	moodinessunrealistic promisewithdrawal	20° Libra – 20° Scorpio
Page of CupsCups · water	tendernessinvitationimagination	oversensitivityescapismimmature feeling	The Water quadrant
King of SwordsSwords · air	judgementprincipleclear authority	harsh rulerigid logicmisuse of power	20° Taurus – 20° Gemini
Queen of SwordsSwords · air	perceptionhonestyclear boundaries	coldnesscutting wordsbitterness	20° Virgo – 20° Libra
Knight of SwordsSwords · air	driveargumentheadlong action	recklessnessaggressionunfocused speed	20° Capricorn – 20° Aquarius
Page of SwordsSwords · air	curiosityquestionswatchfulness	gossiphastehalf-information	The Air quadrant
King of PentaclesPentacles · earth	provisionmastery of meansstability	greedcontrol through moneyrigidity	20° Leo – 20° Virgo
Queen of PentaclesPentacles · earth	practical careresourcefulnessgrounding	self-neglectsmotheringoverwork	20° Sagittarius – 20° Capricorn
Knight of PentaclesPentacles · earth	diligencereliabilitysteady pace	stagnationstubbornnessdull routine	20° Aries – 20° Taurus
Page of PentaclesPentacles · earth	studypracticalitya first step	procrastinationunfocused plansmissed detail	The Earth quadrant

How to read these tarot card meanings

This is the full list of tarot card meanings, and it is four columns wide. The fourth is the one worth explaining. Upright and reversed keywords are the shared vocabulary of the category — you will find close variants of them on every tarot card meanings list, because they descend from the same Rider-Waite-Smith tradition and there is no point pretending otherwise. They are a starting vocabulary, not a verdict.

What the seventy-eight cards are made of: twenty-two Majors and four suits of fourteen.

What the fourth column says

The fourth column is different. It says which part of the zodiac each tarot card governs, and it is computed from the deck rather than written out card by card. For the thirty-six numbered cards from Two to Ten it gives a ruling planet, a sign, a decan number and an exact degree range: the Six of Cups rules 220° to 230°, which is the second ten degrees of Scorpio, under the Sun.

What that range makes possible

That range is what makes the rest of this site able to answer a question no card list can. If you know where your planets sit, you know which of these cards they fall under — not as an interpretation but as a lookup. The other rows work differently: the twenty-two Majors take a sign, a planet or an element each; the four Aces are the roots of their elements and hold no zodiacal span; the twelve non-Page court cards straddle twenty degrees of one sign and twenty of the next.

None of it is an opinion

Nothing in that column is an opinion, which means you can check any row of it against any published Golden Dawn correspondence table. That is a deliberately low bar to clear and almost nothing in this category clears it.

The Major Arcana: the twenty-two

The Majors are the tarot cards most people can name. Numbered zero to twenty-one, they are usually described as a journey — the Fool sets out at zero and the World closes the circle at twenty-one — and read as the large, structural themes of a reading rather than its day-to-day detail.

The twenty-two Majors in order, with the planet, sign or element each one carries.

Why they feel weightier than they are

That reputation is partly a matter of proportion. Twenty-two cards out of seventy-eight means a Major turns up in roughly one draw in four, so a spread with two or three of them genuinely is unusual, and readers have learned to treat that as a signal. It is also why a reading of nothing but Minors is not a weak reading; it is a reading about ordinary life, which is what most questions are about.

How the twenty-two split astrologically

Astrologically they split three ways. Twelve take a zodiac sign each, seven take a classical planet each, and three take an element. That the three groups add to exactly twenty-two without a card left over or doubled up is the reason this particular attribution became standard rather than one scheme among several.

Strength and Justice: the numbering trap

One trap worth knowing before you compare tables. In the Rider-Waite deck Strength is numbered eight and Justice eleven, while the Golden Dawn had them the other way around. Waite swapped the numbers, not the signs — Strength is Leo and Justice is Libra either way. A table that moves the sign along with the number has made an error that looks exactly like a correction.

The four suits

The fifty-six Minor Arcana split into four suits of fourteen, and each suit is an element. The correspondence is old and consistent across the tradition, which is why it is the safest structural fact in the deck: if you remember nothing else about a suit, its element will carry most of the meaning.

Fire
Wands
Wands are fire: drive, initiative, the part of a situation that wants to move. They cover the nine decans of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. A spread heavy in Wands is usually about momentum, and about whether there is too much or too little of it.
Water
Cups
Cups are water: feeling, attachment, what a situation means to you rather than what it does. They cover Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. Cups answer the question underneath the question, which is why they turn up so often in readings that were ostensibly about something practical.
Air
Swords
Swords are air: thought, speech, conflict, the cost of clarity. They cover Libra, Aquarius and Gemini. The suit has a hard reputation because several of its cards are genuinely bleak, but air is also the element of naming things accurately, and a Swords-heavy reading is often one where the useful move is to say the thing out loud.
Earth
Pentacles
Pentacles are earth: money, work, the body, anything with a material result. They cover Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo. This is the suit of outcomes you can count, and it is the one that most often answers "yes, but it will take time".

The ranks are a second structure

The ranks follow a second structure, and it is what ties the suits to the zodiac. Twos, Threes and Fours fall in cardinal signs, Fives, Sixes and Sevens in fixed signs, Eights, Nines and Tens in mutable ones. So the Six of Cups has to be a fixed water sign, and the only fixed water sign is Scorpio. Suit and rank together determine the decan before anyone gets to interpret anything.

The court cards

Sixteen cards, four per suit: Page, Knight, Queen and King. They are the tarot cards most readers find hardest, because a court card can be a person, an attitude you are taking, or an attitude being taken toward you, and nothing on the card says which.

The sixteen court cards: four ranks across four suits, and the span twelve of them hold.

Read the rank as a mode, not a person

The useful habit is to read the rank as a mode rather than a rôle. Pages are beginning and learning; Knights are pursuing, sometimes past the point of usefulness; Queens hold and sustain; Kings direct and take responsibility for the result. Combine that with the suit element and most court cards resolve without needing to decide whether they are a person at all.

The twelve that carry a zodiacal span

Astrologically twelve of the sixteen carry a zodiacal span of thirty degrees — twenty degrees of one sign running into twenty of the next — which is why they sit across sign boundaries rather than inside them. The four Pages are the exception: the Golden Dawn gave them quadrants of the sky rather than arcs of the zodiac, so they have an element and no degree range, and the chart tool on this site never returns one.

Upright and reversed

A reversed tarot card is one that comes out of the shuffle upside down, and what it means is one of the few genuinely contested questions in tarot. The three common positions: a reversal blocks or weakens the upright meaning; it inverts it; or it turns it inward, from something happening to you to something you are doing.

What a reversal changes, and what it leaves alone.

Three defensible systems, none of them correct

All three are defensible and none is correct in the way a decan is correct. The keywords in the table above lean toward the third reading, because it is the one that stays useful most often — "the Tower reversed" as a reckoning you are postponing says something you can act on, where "the opposite of the Tower" says almost nothing.

Reading without reversals at all

Reading without reversals at all is a legitimate practice and a common one. The information is still in the spread: a card that would have been reversed is a card sitting among others that qualify it, and most readers who drop reversals find they lose less than they expected.

Reversals do not reach the astrology

One place reversals do not apply is the astrology side of this site. Reversals come from the physical act of shuffling and laying cards out. A planet at a degree is not upside down, so the chart spread returns upright cards only — and a page that offered a reversed decan would be inventing a distinction the source has no room for.

Which of these cards are yours?

Two different questions hide inside that one, and they have different kinds of answer.

Question 1

Which cards your chart falls under

The first is which cards your chart falls under. That is a lookup: each planet sits at a degree, each degree sits in a decan, and each decan is one of the thirty-six numbered cards in the table above. Nine placements, nine cards, identical every time and checkable against the fourth column. The tarot and astrology page does this from your birth details and prints the degree beside every card.

Question 2

Your birth card, from the digits of a date

The second is your birth card, which comes from adding up the digits of your birth date until the total falls to twenty-two or less. It is deterministic and it is a real tradition, but it is worth being clear that it is a numerological convention rather than a statement about the sky. Both are worth knowing; only the first can be checked against where anything actually was.

Why keeping them apart matters

Keeping those two apart is not pedantry. The whole reason a card resolved from a degree is interesting is that it could be wrong and is not, and a page that quietly mixes it with an arithmetic trick gives up that distinction for nothing.

Using these tarot card meanings in a reading

Read the spread before you read the individual tarot card meanings. Which suits turned up, how many Majors, whether the ranks cluster low or high — those tell you what kind of question you are actually looking at, and they are visible before you have interpreted a single image.

Let the position modify the meaning

Then let position modify meaning. The same card in a "what is ending" position and a "what is beginning" position is not making the same statement, and a keyword list read card by card will flatten that difference. The keywords above are there to give you a vocabulary, not to be read out.

Keep the claim honest with yourself

And keep the copy honest with yourself. A card is a prompt for reflection attached to a question you chose to ask; it is not a forecast, and the tools on this site are written to that line throughout — timing of your own actions, never prediction of events. It is a better reading anyway, because advice you can act on beats a prediction you can only wait for.

Which of these cards is in your chart?

Every numbered card from Two to Ten rules ten degrees of the zodiac. Enter your birth details and see which ones your own planets fall under — with the degree printed beside each, so you can check it against the table above.

See my chart as cards Back to all 78

Frequently asked

Questions about tarot card meanings

How many tarot cards are there?

Seventy-eight: twenty-two Major Arcana numbered zero to twenty-one, and fifty-six Minor Arcana in four suits of fourteen. Each suit runs Ace through Ten plus four court cards — Page, Knight, Queen and King.

What is the difference between Major and Minor Arcana?

The Majors are twenty-two standalone cards usually read as the large themes of a situation; the Minors are fifty-six suit cards read as its texture and detail. Structurally the Minors carry the zodiac — the thirty-six numbered cards from Two to Ten hold one decan each — while the Majors take a sign, a planet or an element apiece.

Do I have to use reversed meanings?

No. Reading upright only is a common and legitimate practice, and most readers who drop reversals find the spread still says what it needs to. Reversals also do not apply to the astrology side of this site, because a planet at a degree is not upside down.

What does the "Rules" column mean?

The part of the zodiac that card governs under the Golden Dawn attributions. For a numbered card it is a planet, a sign, a decan and an exact degree range; for a Major it is a sign, planet or element; for a court card it is a thirty-degree span across two signs. It is a citation, so you can check any row against any published table.

Is this free?

Yes, entirely, with or without an account. Nothing on this page calls a model — the meanings are written, the correspondences are computed from the deck, and neither costs anything to serve.

Which card should a beginner start with?

Start with the four suits rather than a card. Knowing that Wands are fire, Cups water, Swords air and Pentacles earth resolves most of a spread before you have looked anything up, and it is four facts instead of seventy-eight.