Tarotcards; all cards of the tarot

The classic tarot deck consists of 78 tarot cards: 22 figure cards, the major arcana which represent major themes of life. Then you have 56 tarot cards, also known as the minor arcana, which represent everyday events.

View all major arcana cards:

• The Fool
• The Magician
• The High Priestess
• The Empress
• The Emperor
• The Hierophant
• The Lovers
• The Chariot
• Justice
• The Hermit
• Wheel Of Fortune
• Fortitude
• The Hanged Man
• Death
• Temperance
• The Devil
• The Tower
• The Star
• The Moon
• The Sun
• The World
• The Last Judgment

The minor arcana consists of 4 suits and 4 court cards.

The suits are often associated with the 4 elements: Wands represent the element of fire, Cups represent the element of water, Swords represent the element of air, and Pentacles represent the element of earth. Other classifications and interpretations are also common. Some card decks contain two extra cards, 'Truth' and 'Intuition'.

Tarot

The tarot deck probably originated in the 15th century in Northern Italy, by adding 4 extra court cards and 22 trump cards to the existing card game. As far as is known, tarot cards were used for playing games for centuries.

Only after Antoine Court de Gebelin claimed in his book Le Monde Primitif in 1781 that tarot cards contained "secrets of the Egyptians", did people start using tarot cards for fortune-telling. Since then, various alternative theories about the origin of the tarot have emerged, most of which, however, have been formulated without taking historical facts into account.

(For example, the theory that the joker developed from the card with the image of a Fool is incorrect. The joker probably originated from the game Euchre.) Although the tarot was not originally intended for fortune-telling, the cards, with their strong symbolism, are very suitable for use as fortune-telling cards.