How Many Cards are in a Tarot Deck?
Tarot is a fascinating tool for understanding the world around us.
People of various backgrounds and cultures have used it for centuries, including mystics and seekers of greater knowledge.
For some, it is simply a means of gaining insight into the unknown; for others, it is an essential component of spiritual practice or meditation.
Tarot, in either case, can offer valuable insight into our innermost selves as well as guidance in times of difficulty and uncertainty.
The tarot deck contains 78 cards.
This method of divination employs 78 cards, each with its own symbolism and meaning.
Tarot decks, like playing card decks, have four suits: Pentacles, Wands, Swords, and Cups, each with seven numbered cards and a total of 16 court/face cards.
The Fool (or Joker) and the World card round out the deck, bringing the total to 78.
The mysterious power of tarot lies in its symbols, which can be interpreted through a tarot reading to help us navigate all aspects of our lives, from relationships to career decisions.
Tarot is a spiritual tool that can reveal past events or predict future outcomes based on one's current situation or path. By utilizing all 78 cards in a deck, you can find answers to life's most challenging questions.
The History of Tarot Cards and the Evolution of the Tarot Deck
Before jumping into the practical and Spiritual reasons for there being 78 Tarot cards in a deck, let's first explore the history of Tarot. Have you ever wondered how Tarot cards came into being in the first place?
Well, a key aspect of that has to do with the original purpose of Tarot cards. Even though the Rider-Waite-Smith deck is the one we mostly use in our community, there are many decks that came before it that influenced the way it is today.
The original Tarot card deck was practically a standard playing card deck for its time, but it had a secret purpose: to preserve hidden Spiritual knowledge. During periods of Religious persecution under the Church, belief systems that differed from Catholicism were not allowed to exist.
Given the danger of possessing esoteric knowledge, there needed to be a way to disperse sacred imagery and beliefs. So, they were embedded into Tarot cards and passed off as an unthreatening deck of playing cards. There needed to be enough cards in Tarot card decks that could represent all of the motifs central to the teachings.
You will notice in many cards of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck that there are various symbols embedded within them. For example, the Kabbalah's Tree of Life is embedded within the High Priestess card. The suit of Pentacles is also known for a wide variety of symbols and ideas that are central to the esoteric belief systems.
With this in mind, lets venture on to understand how 78 cards became the practical standard for a divination deck.
Why 78 Cards?
A tarot deck contains 78 cards due to the magnitude of information it can provide.
Think about your life and all of the unique aspects and elements that it contains.
Now consider someone else with a wildly differently life experience.
There must be enough cards in a deck to help illustrate the answers to each question you both ask, no matter the different elements at play.
Tarot readings are allowed to draw any of the 78 cards depending on the tarot reader and the spread they use.
Tarot covers all aspects of life, such as the inner self, fortune telling, spiritual englightment, bad luck, material things, self exploration, new beginnings, finances, career, love, success, and pain.
In order to accurately portray all of these themes there must be a way to do so, hence each deck having 78 cards.
What exactly is the Fool's Journey in the Tarot?
The Fool's Journey is an important concept associated with Tarot.
This refers to a journey through life in which each person goes through various stages or steps.
These steps are represented in the Major Arcana, as each card represents a distinct step in the Fool's journey, providing insight into how we seek enlightenment and fulfillment in our lives.
The Fool travels through the major arcana, gaining insight throughout each of the major life lessons that they will experience them.
They also experience these life lessons through the minor arcana, dealing with the different energies that are present within certain experiences.
For example, experiencing the lover's card when paired with a two of cups is much different lesson than experiencing the lovers card paired with the three of pentacles.
Some believe the fool simply travels through the major arcana tarot cards, but the fool's journey, much like our own, is full of stops, set backs, success, challenges, and repeats. At the end, the Fool finds newfound enlightenment and inherits the World.
The fool's journey is the culmination of the experience provided by all of 78 card deck.
What is the Tarot Major Arcana?
The Major Arcana is made up of 22 cards numbered 0 to 21, each with its own unique symbolism that speaks directly to our subconscious mind.
Another name given to these cards are trump cards. These archetypal symbols are easily identifiable; they represent various aspects of our lives such as death, wealth, and love.
They also represent various stages in our lives and offer advice on how to best proceed on that path based on where we are now.
Some of these are the tower card or the devil card, the high priestess, and they represent the personal growth of the individual.
Major arcana cards explain the personal process one must go through to learn all of life's most powerful and essential lessons.
When speaking of the major arcana, think of the "big picture" of a reading, as these are the energies that these cards provide.
For instance, if the sun tarot card appears, it's a sign that the overall message of the reading, regardless of the minor arcana, will be positive, joyful, and uplifting.
What are the Tarot Minor Arcana?
There are 56 minor arcana cards in a tarot deck.
These cards are divided into four suits.
A good fortune teller will understand the complex differences between the suits, their associated elements, and all of the other significant factors that these cards hold.
Wands (or Staves), Cups, Swords, and Pentacles are the four suits of the minor arcana.
Each suit consists of Ace through ten cards, as well as four court cards: Page/Princess, Knight/Prince, Queen, and King.
These lesser arcana typically cover topics such as work or family life, as well as more specific topics such as emotions or physical health.
Most minor arcana cards contain their own imagery, a practice first developed when the Rider Waite Coleman Smith deck was introduced into the public.
Depending on whether you draw wands cards or cups cards, each suit contains their own specific energies that can help you determine which aspect of your life is affected by the major arcana cards in a particular reading.
What is the Relationship between the Major and Minor Arcana cards?
Every card in the Tarot deck tells a story.
The interaction of major and minor cards provides unique insight into any given situation.
The Major Arcana, or major cards, are twenty-two individual cards that represent significant events in our lives.
Wands, cups, swords, and pentacles are the four suits of minor cards. Each suit contains fourteen individual cards representing more subtle or mundane aspects of daily life.
The major arcana is made up of archetypes that help us understand our life journey.
They give us a glimpse into the subconscious mind by summarizing current events in our lives as well as what we can expect in the future.
Meanwhile, the minor cards provide us with a more detailed picture of how those events will unfold and advice on how to approach them effectively.
Some Tarot Decks contain only the Major Arcana.
A standard tarot deck usually has all 78 cards, some may only have the major arcana.
These 22 cards contain potent archetypal energy that can assist you in finding many of the answers you seek.
These decks can provide you with major life changes and the overall energies within a situation, but they won't provide you with the specifics gained by incorporating minor arcana cards.
The Position of the Cards
When any of the 78 tarot cards appear upright or reversed, one may question whether they represent bad news, moving forward, long term success, spiritual matters, and other grand topics of an individual's journey.
Both the major arcana and the minor arcana cards have specific meanings depending on their position in a tarot spread.
So, instead of having a general 78 card meanings, you would actually have at least twice that amount depending on the cards drawn and the placement they face.
For instance, the death card represents transformation when it appears upright, but when it appears in reverse, it represents stagnation and a lack of growth.
Reading tarot is a complex practice that takes time and effort to achieve because it's necessary to learn and reflect on all 78 cards and their full meanings.