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Tarot Encyclopedia

The 78 Tarot Cards

The complete Rider-Waite-Smith tradition — twenty-two archetypal Major Arcana, and fifty-six Minor Arcana spread across four elemental suits. Each card carries a classical reading, a shadow, and a quiet caveat: a card in a spread is one note, not a chord.

Browse by arcana below. Each entry links to a 150-250 word article with upright and reversed keywords.

A gracefully fanned arc of seven identical tarot card backs, each rendered in ornate gold-leaf filigree on deep indigo, set against a midnight-indigo cosmic backdrop with quiet stars and soft golden particle dust.

Archetypal Path

Major Arcana

The 22 archetypal stages — Fool to World

Read about Major Arcana →

Suit of Water

Cups

The suit of emotion, relationship, and inner life

Read about Cups →

Suit of Fire

Wands

The suit of creativity, will, and inspiration

Read about Wands →

Suit of Air

Swords

The suit of intellect, truth, and conflict

Read about Swords →

Suit of Earth

Pentacles

The suit of body, money, and craft

Read about Pentacles →

A note on scope

Tarot is a tool for reflection, not a forecast. Each card invites a question. The cards around it shape the answer. The reader's honesty is the final ingredient — no card is so strong that it can substitute for it.

Past the 78 cards

Tarot is one of four traditions

A deck is a deck. The other tools below ask the same questions through different machinery — nakshatras, numerology, planetary cycles. Same instrument family, different strings.

Or take a single tool further