Every tarot card carries two voices: upright, the energy working at its best, and reversed, where that energy is blocked or turned inward. This encyclopedia walks through all 78 cards — the 22 Major Arcana life lessons and the 56 Minor Arcana cards of everyday life — so you can look up any card that appears in your reading.
Seventy-eight: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana run from The Fool to The World and describe large life themes. The Minor Arcana divide into four suits of fourteen cards each — Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles — and cover everyday events and moods.
Major Arcana cards mark turning points — they tend to dominate a reading when they appear. Minor Arcana cards describe the ordinary texture of the situation: a conversation, a delay, a small win. A spread made only of Minors usually means the situation is ordinary rather than destined.
It is a choice, not a rule, and both approaches are legitimate. Reversed cards are usually read as the same energy blocked, delayed or turned inward. What matters is deciding before you shuffle, so the reading stays consistent rather than being reinterpreted after the fact.