Complete Tarot Guide

Tarot is a system of 78 illustrated cards used as a tool for reflection, storytelling, and self-discovery. Each card carries a rich visual language drawn from mythology, kabbalah, numerology, astrology, and Jungian psychology. When read together, the cards create a narrative that mirrors the questioner's current situation, inner landscape, and potential paths forward.

Contrary to popular belief, tarot does not predict a fixed future. Instead, it surfaces hidden thoughts, unconscious fears, overlooked strengths, and patterns of behaviour — helping you make more informed and intentional choices. Think of it less as fortune-telling and more as a guided conversation with your own intuition.

Today tarot is practised by millions worldwide as a mindfulness tool, a creative writing prompt, a journaling companion, and a framework for personal growth. AI-powered platforms like Arcanum now make professional-quality readings accessible to everyone.

Tarot cards were not originally designed for divination. The earliest decks — called tarocchi — appeared in northern Italy in the 1440s as playing cards for a trick-taking game similar to bridge. The lavishly painted Visconti-Sforza deck (circa 1450), commissioned by the Duke of Milan, is one of the oldest surviving examples.

The shift toward esoteric use began in 18th-century France. Antoine Court de Gébelin incorrectly claimed in 1781 that tarot was an ancient Egyptian text — but this romantic notion sparked enormous interest in occult circles. By the 19th century, French occultist Etteilla had published the first tarot deck specifically designed for cartomancy.

The most influential deck in modern practice is the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck, published in 1909 by Arthur Edward Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. The RWS was the first to feature fully illustrated scenes on every Minor Arcana card, making intuitive reading far more accessible. Nearly all contemporary tarot decks are direct descendants of this visual tradition.

The 20th century saw tarot embraced by the psychoanalytic community — Carl Jung's concept of archetypes maps remarkably well onto the Major Arcana — as well as by feminist artists, New Age practitioners, and eventually the mainstream. Today there are thousands of published decks, from the traditional to the fantastical.

A standard tarot deck has exactly 78 cards split into two main sections:

The Four Suits at a Glance

The 56 Minor Arcana cards cover the texture of daily life. Numbers carry universal meanings across all four suits: Aces represent beginnings and pure potential; Twos, balance and choices; Threes, initial growth and collaboration; Fours, structure and stability; Fives, conflict and disruption; Sixes, harmony and recovery; Sevens, challenge and reflection; Eights, movement and momentum; Nines, near-completion and intensity; Tens, completion and sometimes overload.

Court Cards

Court cards — Page, Knight, Queen, King — traditionally represent people or personality aspects. The Page is a curious beginner full of potential; the Knight is action-oriented and sometimes impulsive; the Queen is emotionally mature and reflective; the King is authoritative and experienced. In practice, Court cards can represent you, another person in the situation, or a quality you need to embody.

Browse all 78 cards in the Arcanum card library, where each card includes upright meaning, reversed meaning, love and career interpretations, and elemental correspondences.

See all available spreads in our Tarot Spreads directory, or explore the dedicated Tarot Spreads Guide.

Arcanum combines traditional tarot card meanings with state-of-the-art AI to deliver nuanced, personalised readings. Each reading is tailored to your specific question and context — not a generic horoscope.

You can explore every spread format in our reading studio, or start small with a daily card of the day. Browse all 78 card meanings with symbolic analysis, upright and reversed interpretations, and elemental correspondences.