The Meanings of the 22 Major Arcana Tarot Cards
The 22 Major Arcana tarot cards represent life lessons, archetypal characters, and major themes at play in your life or the situation.
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The Major Arcana tarot cards are the 22 powerful archetypes that form the foundation of the tarot deck. Starting with The Fool (0) and ending with The World (21), these cards represent the major themes, life lessons, and people or archetypes that will shape your journey.
While the Minor Arcana reflects day-to-day experiences, the Major Arcana speaks to turning points. These are moments of transformation, growth, and deeper meaning. Each card carries symbolic insight into your path, whether you’re navigating love, career, shadow work, or personal evolution. That’s why in a tarot reading, Major Arcana cards often signal events or energies that can’t be easily bypassed.
In this guide, you’ll find a brief overview of the Major Arcana’s meanings, including upright and reversed interpretations for each card. Click through to explore each one in depth and uncover what the universe might be trying to teach you.
What Is the Fool’s Journey of the Major Arcana?
The Fool’s Journey is the story woven through the 22 cards of the Major Arcana. It begins with the Fool who is a the archetype of innocence, curiosity, and unlimited potential. This card also represents you in your life’s journey as you move through each stage of transformation.
Each card the Fool encounters represents a key life lesson or experience: love, loss, success, fear, personal power, rebirth, and ultimately, wholeness. These are the turning points and lessons that shape who we become.
Let’s look at the meanings for the 22 cards in the Major Arcana.
The Fool | The Magician | The High Priestess | The Empress | The Emperor | The Hierophant | The Lovers | The Chariot | Strength | The Hermit | Wheel of Fortune | Justice | The Hanged Man | Death | Temperance | The Devil | The Tower | The Star | The Moon | The Sun | Judgement | The World
0. The Fool
The Fool tarot card represents the beginning of a new adventure. One filled with limitless potential, risk, and wonder. It encourages you to embrace the unknown, take bold chances, and move forward with trust, even if you can’t see where the path leads just yet.
Upright: Beginnings, taking the leap, idealism, stepping forward, free spirited, adventure, spontaneity
Reversed: Trepidation, recklessness, naivety, foolishness, carelessness, boredom
1. The Magician
The Magician tarot card is a reminder of your power to shape your own reality. With focus, confidence, and clarity, you can transform thoughts into actions and dreams into results. This card signals it’s time to channel your skills and trust in your ability to manifest what you desire.
Upright: Manifestation, possibility, willpower, skill, personal power
Reversed: Manipulation, scattered energy, illusion, misuse of power, self-doubt
2. The High Priestess
The High Priestess tarot card invites you to dive beneath the surface and listen to the quiet truths of your intuition. She represents sacred mystery, hidden knowledge, and the power of inner wisdom. With her guidance, you’re reminded that not all answers come from the outside world.
Upright: Intuition, spiritual knowledge, silence, inner guidance, subconscious mind, wisdom, balance, Divine Feminine, the Great Mysteries
Reversed: Not trusting intuition, confusion, blocked guidance, not listening to messages, imbalance, conceit, surface knowledge, hidden agendas
3. The Empress
The Empress tarot card radiates abundance, creativity, and nurturing. She represents the beauty of nature, the richness of the senses, and the ability to grow something meaningful through care and connection. She reminds you to soften, receive, and trust the cycles of creation.
Upright: Fertility, abundance, creativity, Divine Feminine, nurturing, compassion, feminine power, creation, growth
Reversed: Blocked creativity, insecurity, self-esteem issues, stagnancy, controlling, disharmony, lack of self care, need for self love
4. The Emperor
The Emperor tarot card calls in structure, discipline, and the power of authority. He helps you create order out of chaos, make strategic decisions, and take leadership of your own life. This is a card of responsibility and long-term vision.
Upright: Authority, discipline, Divine Masculine, focus, strength, determination, stability, structure
Reversed: Tyrant, overbearing, controlling, ruling with an iron fist, stubborn, reckless
Learn more about The Emperor card.
5. The Hierophant
The Hierophant tarot card bridges the earthly and the divine through tradition, ritual, and spiritual wisdom. He encourages you to explore belief systems, seek mentorship, and find grounding through tried-and-true ways. Sometimes the key to forward movement lies in deeper roots.
Upright: Tradition, authority, spiritual guidance, religion, orthodox thinking, mentorship, conformity, structure
Reversed: Rebellion, innovation, iconoclast, rejection of structure
6. The Lovers
The Lovers tarot card explores the themes of union, trust, and authentic choices. It’s not just about romance. It’s also about choosing relationships, values, and paths that align with your heart and soul.
Upright: Love, union, soulmates, choice, alignment, values, harmony, connection, trust, relationship
Reversed: Disharmony, imbalance, misalignment, difficult choices, conflict in values, lack of trust, breakup
7. The Chariot
The Chariot tarot card represents momentum, willpower, and triumph over obstacles. It’s a reminder that you can steer your life in the direction you choose, as long as you remain focused, balanced, and determined. Stay the course.
Upright: Willpower, focus, determination, triumph, self-control, exploring new roads
Reversed: Lack of direction, stagnation, conflict, loss of control, disarray, difficulty moving forward
8. Strength
The Strength tarot card is about quiet power, the kind that comes from inner courage, patience, and deep self-trust. It reminds you that true strength isn’t loud or forceful. It’s steady, loving, and brave in the face of uncertainty.
Upright: Inner strength, courage, compassion, self-trust, confidence, resilience
Reversed: Self-doubt, weakness, insecurity, lack of confidence
9. The Hermit
The Hermit tarot card guides you toward solitude, reflection, and inner wisdom. It calls you to step back from the noise, unplug from the outside world, and rediscover the answers already waiting within. It’s time to reconnect with your truth.
Upright: Contemplation, reflection, inner work, seeking inner wisdom, soul-searching
Reversed: Withdrawal, isolation, refusal to do the work, time to come back to society, loneliness
10. The Wheel of Fortune
The Wheel of Fortune tarot card reminds you that life is always in motion. It represents fate, change, and the cycles that carry you through both high points and hard times. Whether you’re riding a wave of luck or facing setbacks, this card signals a shift and divine timing.
Upright: Luck, destiny, change of fate, karmic cycle, turning point
Reversed: Resistance to change, things changing for the worse, bad luck, unforeseen setbacks
11. Justice
The Justice tarot card is the embodiment of truth, fairness, and cause and effect. It asks you to take responsibility for your choices and examine situations clearly. Whether it’s about accountability, integrity, or legal matters, Justice ensures that balance will be restored.
Upright: Truth, fairness, karma, integrity, accountability, balance, legal battle
Reversed: Dishonesty, unfairness, imbalance, denial, corruption, lost case
12. The Hanged Man
The Hanged Man tarot card represents pause, surrender, and suggesting you see things from a new perspective. When forward movement feels blocked, this card invites you to shift your mindset and let go of what you can’t control. Sometimes progress comes through stillness.
Upright: Surrender, letting go, perspective, sacrifice, pause, spiritual insight
Reversed: Resistance, stalling, martyrdom, missed insight, fear of change, time to move forward
Learn more about the Hanged Man card.
13. Death
The Death tarot card symbolizes profound transformation. Sometimes literal death (though, rarely), but the ending of one chapter and the beginning of another. It’s a card of release, renewal, and letting go so that new growth can take root.
Upright: Death, transformation, endings, rebirth, letting go, release, cycles, necessary change
Reversed: Resistance to change, fear of endings, stagnation, clinging, delayed transformation
14. Temperance
The Temperance tarot card is all about balance, harmony, and intentional blending. It suggests moderation, patience, and the alchemy of opposites. When Temperance appears, it’s time to trust the process and find your flow.
Upright: Balance, moderation, healing, integration, harmony, divine timing, alchemy
Reversed: Imbalance, impatience, excess, disconnection, overcompensation, avoidance
15. The Devil
The Devil tarot card represents where you may be feeling stuck, controlled, or bound by illusions. It invites you to confront your shadows and reclaim your power. Liberation begins with awareness.
Upright: Temptation, obsession, addiction, control, materialism, shadow self, illusions, having no fun
Reversed: Liberation, reclaiming power, breaking free, healing from toxicity
16. The Tower
The Tower tarot card symbolizes sudden change, upheaval, or revelation. Though often shocking or difficult, the Tower clears what is no longer aligned so something truer can be built in its place. It’s often the collapse that sparks your awakening.
Upright: Sudden change, upheaval, revelation, awakening, chaos, breakdown, breakthrough, ego death
Reversed: Delayed disaster, fear of change, suppressed truth, delayed transformation
Learn more about the Tower card.
17. The Star
The Star tarot card shines with hope, healing, and divine guidance. After chaos or heartbreak, this card offers peace and a renewed sense of purpose. It reminds you to trust the universe and your place within it.
Upright: Hope, healing, renewal, inspiration, spiritual connection, faith, peace
Reversed: Disconnection, despair, cynicism, hopelessness feeling lost, shut down
18. The Moon
The Moon tarot card stirs the subconscious and beckons you into mystery, illusion, and deep emotion. Not everything is as it seems. This card encourages reflection, dreamwork, and trusting your instincts over external facts.
Upright: Intuition, illusion, subconscious, dreams, fear, mystery, the unknown, deception, confusion
Reversed: Clarity, disillusionment, suppressed emotion, secrets revealed, confusion
Learn more about The Moon card.
19. The Sun
The Sun tarot card radiates joy, confidence, and vibrant success. It brings clarity, energy, and a reminder to celebrate life. When The Sun appears, say yes.
Upright: Joy, clarity, success, optimism, vitality, freedom, self-expression, positivity
Reversed: Ego, burnout, overexposure, unrealistic expectations, temporary setbacks
20. Judgement
The Judgment tarot card marks a moment of awakening, reckoning, or calling. It’s a card of self-reflection and rising from the past with new understanding. You’re being asked to take full responsibility and step into your next evolution.
Upright: Awakening, renewal, forgiveness, rebirth, self-evaluation, higher calling, growth, transformation
Reversed: Self-doubt, avoidance, denial, fear of change, being stuck in the past, martyrdom
21. The World
The World tarot card represents fulfillment, wholeness, and the successful completion of a major journey. It’s the final card of the Major Arcana and marks a time of celebration, integration, and readiness for what’s next.
Upright: Completion, integration, success, celebration, wholeness, mastery
Reversed: Stagnation, incomplete cycles, delays, lack of closure, unfinished business
