The cards

There are 78 cards in a tarot deck, which are decorated with detailed symbolic illustrations. There are two main types of card: the major arcana and the minor arcana.

The major arcana consists of 22 cards, which are also known as ‘triumph’ or ‘trump’ cards. These cards are: The Fool, The Juggler, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Justice, The Old Man, The Wheel of Fortune, Fortitude, The Hanging Man (Pendu), Death, Temperance, The Devil, The House of God, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Last Judgement, The World.

The minor arcana consists of 56 cards, a close equivalent of the modern 52-card deck of playing cards. It’s sometimes referred to as the ‘pip cards’. There are four suits: chalices (corresponding to ‘hearts’ in playing cards); pentacles (corresponding to diamonds); wands (corresponding to clubs); and swords (corresponding to spades). Each suit contains 10 cards numbered from one (ace) to 10, and four court (‘face’) cards (as opposed to three in a standard card deck) – king, queen, knight and page.

The similarity of the tarot deck to the playing card deck is no coincidence – tarot cards have been used throughout history for playing games. A version of one of these card games still exists today and it’s very popular in Western Europe, particularly France. It’s also called tarot.