If you’re just starting out with tarot, the Major Arcana are the best place to begin.

When I was learning, I spent a long time reading with only these cards. No spreads, no complicated layouts, just a question and a few cards pulled from the Major Arcana. The answers were clearer because the cards feel a lot simpler and less nuanced. They get straight to the point.

Major Arcana cards describe the situation as a whole. They don’t focus on small details or passing moments, but on what’s actually happening and why it matters.

If you’re overwhelmed by a full 78-card deck, this is a simple way to build confidence without dumbing anything down. So here’s a complete guide to the Major Arcana!

What Are the Major Arcana?

The Major Arcana are 22 cards that describe the main turning points people run into over and over again in life.

They’re not about the day-to-day stuff. They don’t describe a conversation you had this morning or a mood that’ll pass by next week. They show up when something bigger is happening. When a situation is changing direction, reaching a breaking point, or asking for a decision you can’t keep putting off. In a reading, they’re less about what’s going on and more about where things are headed.

And each Major Arcana card describes a type of situation most people recognise once they see it written down. Starting something without really knowing what you’re doing. Realising you have more control than you thought o…r less. Watching something unravel because it can’t continue the same way. Reaching the end of a chapter and knowing there’s no going back.

These aren’t rare events. They’re just the bigger stretches of life that repeat in different forms. In relationships, work, identity, and direction, whenever something actually has to move forward.

What Are The Cards Of The Major Arcana?

The Major Arcana consist of 22 cards, starting with The Fool and ending with The World. When you look at them in order, the structure of the deck becomes much easier to recognise. This isn’t a random list, it’s a sequence.

The Fool’s Journey (Why I Think This Is The Easiest Way To Remember The Major Arcana)

I’ve always found the Major Arcana easier to understand as a sequence rather than as 22 separate meanings.

Learning the Fool’s Journey was the point where the cards stopped feeling like things I had to memorise and started feeling like something I already recognised. Instead of asking, what does this card mean? I could ask, where does this sit in the bigger picture?

At its simplest, the journey starts with The Fool, where you’re new to something and figuring it out as you go. It ends with The World, where a cycle feels complete and you’re not the same person you were at the beginning. (And a sidenote, when you know The Fool’s Journey, you also figure out where the person you’re reading for might be, and what came before.)

Everything in between is what usually happens along the way. You learn how to act on your own. You make choices that matter. You hit limits. Things don’t go to plan. Something forces a reset. You adjust, integrate what you’ve learned, and move forward with more awareness.

That’s it. That’s the journey.

I don’t think of it as a story you need to remember. I think of it as a rough map. When a Major Arcana card shows up, I’m not pulling a meaning out of thin air, I’m placing the situation somewhere on that map and asking what normally comes next.

For me, that’s always been easier than trying to hold 22 individual definitions in my head at once. This is a brief guide to The Fools Journey

• The Fool: You step into something new without knowing what you’re doing yet.
• The Magician: You realise you can act instead of waiting.
• The High Priestess: You pause, watch, and keep some things to yourself.
• The Empress: Things start to grow and feel more comfortable.
• The Emperor: You take control and set structure.
• The Hierophant: You learn the rules and expectations around you.
• The Lovers: A choice appears that actually matters.
• The Chariot: You commit and push forward.
• Strength: You learn to manage yourself, not just the situation.
• The Hermit: You step back to think for yourself.
• Wheel of Fortune: Circumstances change whether you’re ready or not.
• Justice: You face the consequences of what’s come before.
• The Hanged Man: You’re forced to wait or see things differently.
• Death: Something ends because it can’t continue.
• Temperance: You adjust and find a new balance.
• The Devil: Old habits or attachments pull at you again.
• The Tower: Something breaks so the truth can’t be ignored.
• The Star: You steady yourself and regain hope.
• The Moon: Things feel unclear and emotionally messy.
• The Sun: Clarity returns and confidence grows.
• Judgement: You realise what needs to change and answer the call.
• The World: The cycle completes, and you move on changed.

I’ve kept this version of the Fool’s Journey short because there’s a lot to cover in this guide. If you want to go deeper, I explore it card by card in my book, Intuitive Tarot.

It also covers the stories running through the Minor Arcana, the court cards, the suits, and the number patterns that repeat across the deck, Which is all the stuff that helps everything click together instead of feeling like separate pieces.

How I Read the Major Arcana in Real Life

When a Major Arcana card is in a spread, I don’t read the other cards on their own.

I read them through the Major.

For example, if the Major Arcana card is about ending something, then every Minor Arcana card around it gets read in that context. Conversations aren’t just conversations anymore. Delays aren’t just delays. They’re part of an ending that’s already in motion.

The Major sets the frame. The rest of the cards explain what’s happening inside it.

That’s why Majors matter, not because they’re louder, but because they give the situation its shape.

And if I pull several Major Arcana cards together, I read that as a longer phase rather than a short-term issue. Something is unfolding over time, not being decided in one conversation or one moment.

What It Means When the Same Card Keeps Coming Up

When the same Major Arcana card shows up again and again, I don’t look for hidden meanings.

I assume the situation hasn’t changed yet.

Major Arcana cards describe stages. If you’re still in the same stage, still circling the same decision, still stuck in the same situation, still not dealing with the thing that needs dealing with, the card has no reason to change.

Once something actually change, the card usually stops being drawn without you doing anything special.

What This Looks Like in a Real Reading

Let’s say you’re asking about a relationship and you pull Death, followed by a few Minor Arcana cards.

I wouldn’t read that as “something bad is happening” or “it’s definitely over.”

I’d read it as: this relationship is changing in a way that can’t be undone.

The Minor Arcana then tell you how that’s playing out, arguments, distance, relief, fear, practical complications. But the main point stays the same. You’re not deciding if something changes. You’re already in the middle of it.

That’s how I use the Major Arcana: to understand what stage the situation is in before worrying about details.

All 22 Major Arcana Meanings

Below is a quick guide to all 22 Major Arcana cards, listed in order from The Fool to The World.

Each card is given a few keywords for both upright and reversed positions to help you recognise what it’s pointing to in a reading. And if you want to know the meanings of every card, then you can check out this reference guide!

The Fool (0)

Upright: new beginning, leap into the unknown, curiosity
Reversed: hesitation, fear of starting, holding back

The Magician (I)

Upright: initiative, taking action, using available resources
Reversed: inaction, self-doubt, wasted potential

The High Priestess (II)

Upright: pause, intuition, things not yet revealed
Reversed: ignoring instincts, confusion, information blocked

The Empress (III)

Upright: growth, nurture, comfort, abundance
Reversed: neglect, stagnation, lack of care

The Emperor (IV)

Upright: structure, authority, taking responsibility
Reversed: rigidity, control issues, instability

The Hierophant (V)

Upright: tradition, guidance, established rules
Reversed: questioning beliefs, breaking from tradition, rebellion

The Lovers (VI)

Upright: meaningful choice, alignment, commitment
Reversed: misalignment, avoidance, conflicting values

The Chariot (VII)

Upright: determination, forward movement, discipline
Reversed: lack of direction, loss of control, scattered effort

Strength (VIII)

Upright: patience, inner control, emotional resilience
Reversed: insecurity, emotional overwhelm, self-doubt

The Hermit (IX)

Upright: reflection, withdrawal, inner guidance
Reversed: isolation, avoidance, refusing to look inward

Wheel of Fortune (X)

Upright: change, turning point, shifting circumstances
Reversed: resistance to change, stagnation, bad timing

Justice (XI)

Upright: accountability, truth, fairness
Reversed: dishonesty, imbalance, avoiding responsibility

The Hanged Man (XII)

Upright: pause, surrender, new perspective
Reversed: stubbornness, delay, refusal to adapt

Death (XIII)

Upright: ending, transformation, closure
Reversed: resistance to change, lingering attachments

Temperance (XIV)

Upright: balance, moderation, adjustment
Reversed: excess, imbalance, lack of harmony

The Devil (XV)

Upright: attachment, unhealthy patterns, feeling trapped
Reversed: release, breaking free, confronting habits

The Tower (XVI)

Upright: sudden change, collapse, truth revealed
Reversed: delayed disruption, avoiding the inevitable

The Star (XVII)

Upright: hope, healing, reassurance
Reversed: discouragement, loss of faith, doubt

The Moon (XVIII)

Upright: uncertainty, confusion, emotional fog
Reversed: clarity emerging, confronting fears

The Sun (XIX)

Upright: clarity, confidence, openness
Reversed: temporary doubt, blocked joy, low energy

Judgement (XX)

Upright: awakening, reckoning, decisive moment
Reversed: self-doubt, avoidance, refusing the call

The World (XXI)

Upright: completion, integration, moving on
Reversed: unfinished business, lack of closure, delay

How To Read Major Arcana Reversals

I keep reversals simple.

If a Major Arcana card comes up upright, I assume the situation is already in motion. Someone is talking about it, making decisions, taking steps, or at least trying to move it forward.

If it comes up reversed, I assume the situation hasn’t moved yet.

That usually looks like someone thinking about it but not acting. Putting off a decision. Avoiding a conversation. Going back and forth in their head. Knowing something needs to change, but not doing anything about it.

Same situation. Different behaviour.

I’m not looking for a second meaning. I’m just asking: is anything actually happening yet, or not?

If the same reversed Major Arcana card keeps coming up, I take that literally. The situation is still in the same place because no one has done anything different.

Once a decision is made, a conversation happens, or an action is taken, that card usually stops showing up.

That’s all reversals tell me. Whether something is moving, or still stuck in someone’s head.

(And as you read more, your understanding naturally gets more detailed. You start to notice patterns, timing, and how people handle the same situation differently. Reversals can mean slightly different things depending on context.

But when you’re starting out, you don’t need all of that yet. Reading reversals as “is this being acted on, or is it still being avoided?” works in the vast majority of readings. It’s simple, it’s reliable, and it keeps you focused on what’s actually happening instead of second-guessing yourself.)

Common Mistakes People Make With the Major Arcana

Most confusion around the Major Arcana doesn’t come from the cards themselves. It comes from the way people are taught to think about them.

I see the same misunderstandings come up again and again, and if you know this, your readings are going to become a lot smoother!

Treating Major Arcana Cards as Good or Bad

A lot of people tense up when they see cards like Death or The Tower, and relax too much when they see cards like The Sun or The World.

That reaction usually gets in the way.

Major Arcana cards aren’t rewards or punishments. They’re not saying something good or bad is happening. They’re describing where a situation has reached. An ending isn’t automatically negative, and a positive card doesn’t mean everything’s sorted. What matters is what stage the situation is in, not whether the card has a scary name.

Assuming They Predict Big Events

Another common mistake is thinking Major Arcana cards are always predicting something big happening on the outside. Most of the time, they aren’t.

They’re usually pointing to a change in direction, awareness, or understanding. Something is changing in how a situation is being handled or seen. Sometimes that does lead to external change, sometimes it doesn’t. Reading every Major Arcana card as a prediction quickly turns readings into something stressful instead of useful.

Letting One Card Override the Whole Reading

It’s easy to fixate on a Major Arcana card and ignore everything else on the table.

That’s rarely helpful.

As we previously mentioned the Major Arcana gives you the main situation. The Minor Arcana shows how it’s playing out day to day. If you ignore the surrounding cards, you lose the context that actually makes the reading accurate. The cards work together. One card doesn’t cancel out the rest.

Overcomplicating Reversals

Reversal’s usually mean the same situation is happening more quietly, more slowly, or with some resistance. Someone might be avoiding it, delaying it, or dealing with it internally instead of out in the open. Treating reversed Major Arcana cards as “bad versions” of upright ones creates confusion that isn’t there.

Trying to Memorise Instead of Pay Attention

This is the biggest one.

People try to memorise meanings instead of looking at what’s actually happening in the situation they’re reading about. They search for the correct definition instead of asking what the card is pointing to right now.

The Major Arcana become much easier once you stop trying to remember them and start recognising when they show up in real life. You don’t need perfect recall. You need awareness.

Do You Now Feel More Confident Reading The Major Arcana?

You don’t need to memorise every meaning to read the Major Arcana well. You need to notice what’s happening, what’s stuck, and what’s moving.

The more you read, the easier this gets. Patterns repeat. Situations start to look familiar. You stop guessing and start recognising what’s in front of you.

If you want to practise this way of reading, it helps to work with a deck you’re comfortable with and can come back to again and again. That’s why the Star and Strength Tarot Deck for Beginners makes it so easy! You get the meaning and keywords right on the cards!