Major vs Minor Arcana: How the 78 Cards Fit Together
The 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana offer different ways to focus a question. A Major card does not make an event inevitable, and a Minor card does not make the situation unimportant.
The structure of the deck
The Rider鈥揥aite鈥揝mith deck shown on this site has 22 Major Arcana, from The Fool (0) to The World (XXI), and four Minor suits. Each suit contains Ace through Ten plus Page, Knight, Queen and King: 14 cards per suit, 56 in total. The courts are included in those 56.
Strength is VIII and Justice is XI in this sequence. Other decks may use a different order. The Minor ranks do not continue the Major numbers from 22 to 77.
Two useful levels of attention
In this guide, Majors offer broad themes such as choice, structure, transition or reflection. Minors often give a more particular scene: exchanging cups, carrying staffs, examining work or navigating a disagreement. These are interpretive starting points, not a division between fate and free choice.
Start with the question and the assigned position. A Minor card in an Advice position deserves as much attention as a Major card elsewhere. Several Majors may invite comparison of broad themes, but their number cannot establish that a situation is outside your control.
The four suits
| Suit | Element used here | Reading focus |
|---|---|---|
| Wands | Fire | Initiative, effort and an undertaking鈥檚 direction |
| Cups | Water | Feelings, relationships and connection |
| Swords | Air | Thought, communication and decisions |
| Pentacles | Earth | Resources, practical learning and ongoing work |
The individual image narrows the focus. Five and Six of Pentacles both concern resources, but one can prompt questions about access to support while the other examines the terms of an exchange.
Worked example: one broad theme, one practical question
Illustrative question: How can our group organise a workshop more reliably? Assign Situation to The Emperor and Advice to Three of Pentacles.
The Emperor can focus attention on roles and responsibility. The Three asks how different contributions meet around a shared standard. The reading might lead you to make one sample handout together before dividing the remaining work. It does not establish that an authority figure will appear or that collaboration is guaranteed to succeed.
Reverse the named positions and the emphasis changes: a collaborative situation may need a clearer decision process. Without assigned positions, consider both themes together instead of inventing a fixed order.
Use this distinction on the site
The card directory contains all 78 references. Daily Draw, Three-Card Spread and Yes/No Oracle use only the 22 Majors. The pair explorer covers all 231 different-card Major pairs, plus separate entries about repeated draws. A mixed Major/Minor example in this guide can be practised with a physical deck or by deliberately choosing images from the directory.
Try one question, identify the position and write one observation from each image before looking up a meaning. Compare the interpretation with your circumstances and choose a proportionate next step.
Common questions
Are Major cards more important than Minor cards?
There is no rule here that makes one group automatically more important. Read each card in relation to the question, position and actual situation. Broad themes and specific scenes can both be useful.
Do I need all 78 cards to practise?
You can practise with a chosen subset if you state it clearly. Lumina鈥檚 interactive draws use 22 Majors; the full reference collection also includes all 56 Minors.
Does a reading full of Majors mean fate is taking over?
No. The number of Major cards does not verify external forces or remove your choices. Use their themes as questions to examine, not evidence of inevitability.
Sources and interpretation
Historical card descriptions and deck reference: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, Part II and Part III, with imagery by Pamela Colman Smith. The practical methods and illustrative scenarios on this page are Lumina Tarot鈥檚 modern editorial interpretations. They do not claim a single universal reading convention. Tool descriptions refer to the implementation on this site.
Our approach and corrections 路 All reading guides 路 All 78 card meanings