Tuesday’s Tarot for Beginners – Major Arcana Overview

Whether you are learning Tarot for self-development or making choices once you have chosen a deck the next step is to gain a better understanding of the cards themselves. This week we will have a broad overview of the Major Arcana cards. The Major Arcana Tarot cards represent the life lessons, karmic influences and the big archetypal themes that are influencing your life and your soul’s journey to enlightenment.

All of the deck is filled with archetypal significance, but this is most pronounced within the Major Arcana. The Major Arcana, or “Trump Cards” are twenty-one numbered cards and one unnumbered card (the Fool). Some readers consider The Fool its own card, however historic precedent regards The Fool as the main character of the Major Arcana. The Fool card makes his journey through each of the cards, meeting new teachers and learning new life lessons along the way, making this card an essential part of the deck.

When you see a Major Arcana card in a Tarot reading, you are being called to reflect on the life lessons and themes that are currently being experienced at this time. This card is the card that will often set the tone for the entirety of the reading.  However, sometimes more than one Major Arcana card will be pulled.

When a Tarot reading is predominantly made up of Major Arcana cards, you are experiencing life-changing events that will have long-term effects. There are important lessons that you must pay attention to in order to progress further in your spiritual and personal journey. If these cards are reversed, or upside down, then you may not be paying enough attention to these aspects of your life.

Because they form the basis of the tarot, some readings can sometimes be conducted with only the Major Arcana as well. However, most readings use the entire deck, which includes 56 Minor Arcana, we will look at what those cards mean next Tuesday.