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Sabio Tarot · Tarot basics and learning

By Sabio Tarot

The 78 tarot cards as a system

Spread a complete tarot deck across the table and you do not have 78 unrelated messages. You have several groups of cards that play different roles. Recognising those groups gives your study some order. More importantly, it helps you see why a card's meaning can change with the question and the cards around it.

A present-day tarot deck usually contains 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana are divided into four suits of 14 cards: ten numbered cards and four court cards. The Metropolitan Museum of Art explains this structure when describing historical decks; the Victoria and Albert Museum shows examples of both groups. Usually matters here: older decks and some modern ones have variations. Before applying a rule, look at the deck you actually hold.

A map before the meanings

Group Cards in the usual structure What to observe first
Trumps or Major Arcana 22 Figure, name, number and position in the spread.
Numbered Minor Arcana 40 Suit, number, composition and the specific image in your deck.
Court cards 16 Suit, rank, gesture and possible role in the question.

The last two groups add up to 56 Minor Arcana. You do not need to memorise 40 plus 16 plus 22 unchanging meanings. The table simply shows you where to look for clues. A Swords card shares its suit with others, but the Two is not interchangeable with the Nine. A Queen may represent a way of acting rather than a particular woman.

The Major Arcana: a theme, not a verdict

You can recognise the Major Arcana by figures and names such as the Fool, Justice and the World. In early tarot decks, these cards were trumps in a game. Calling them “major” belongs to a later interpretive tradition. That distinction matters when you read about history: a modern meaning should not be presented as a fact about fifteenth-century Italy.

In a reading today, a Major Arcana card often invites you to consider a broad theme: a decision, a change of perspective, your relationship with a rule or a period of reassessment. It does not automatically override every other card. If you ask how to prepare for a conversation and draw Justice, you might use it to examine what a fair agreement would look like. If Justice falls in a “resource” position, it might point to criteria you already have. The question and the position both matter.

Nor does every deck number these cards the same way. In many Tarot de Marseille decks, Justice is VIII and Strength is XI. In Rider–Waite–Smith, Strength is VIII and Justice is XI. If your book and deck follow different systems, their chapters may seem to be swapped. Identify both systems before you study.

The four suits: questions that open up a reading

Cups, Swords, Wands and Coins are the four Italian suits described by the Met. In contemporary practice they are often associated with relationships, thought or conflict, action, and material resources. Treat those as ways into a reading, not fixed equations. A Cup does not prove love, a Sword does not announce harm and a Coin does not promise money.

When you see a suit, try an initial question:

  • Cups: What relationship, feeling or need for care is involved?
  • Swords: What decision, tension, idea or boundary needs clarity?
  • Wands: What initiative, effort or movement is at stake?
  • Coins or Pentacles: What resources, material conditions or observable results matter?

Then check whether the question helps with the actual spread. If you ask about an artistic project and draw a Cup, collaboration with others may matter. If you ask about a friendship and draw a Coin, available time or practical help may be the issue. A suit opens a line of observation; it does not sort all of life into four boxes.

Numbers: a sequence to test against the cards

There is a visible numerical progression from Ace to Ten. Some methods use the number as a clue to a beginning, a relationship, development or accumulation. That can help you remember cards, provided the suit and the image temper the abstraction. The Two of Cups and the Two of Swords share a number, but their symbols and scenes do not raise precisely the same question.

In a traditional Tarot de Marseille, numbered Minor Arcana mainly show suit objects arranged in a pattern. Look at how many there are, where they sit, how much space they occupy and which card is beside them. In Rider–Waite–Smith, many numbered cards depict scenes. There you can also observe gestures and relationships between figures, alongside suit and number. Do not import a Rider–Waite–Smith scene into a Marseille card that does not show it.

Try two cards with the same number. Before opening a guidebook, write one sentence about what they share and another about how they differ. If those sentences would fit any pair of cards, look again at the artwork. The method becomes useful when a concrete observation changes your interpretation.

Court cards: more than one possible interpretation

In the usual structure, each suit has a Page, Knight, Queen and King. It is tempting to turn every court card into a person of a particular age or gender. That may fit a specific situation, but it is not the only possible reading. A court card can also represent a role in a project, an attitude you take, a way of communicating or a dynamic between people.

Suppose you ask what would help you finish a shared piece of work and draw the Knight of Wands in the “resource” position. You might think of someone who speeds the project up. You might instead consider whether you need to take the initiative. Which interpretation fits facts you know and the neighbouring cards? If there is no evidence for identifying a person, leave that possibility open. Precision does not mean inventing details.

How to use the system in a real spread

Imagine a three-card spread to prepare for a decision: the theme I need to recognise, the information I lack and an action within my control. Justice, the Two of Pentacles and the Page of Swords appear in that order. This is a made-up example for practice, not a fixed formula for those cards.

First classify the cards: one Major Arcana, one numbered Pentacles card and one Swords court card. Then look at their positions. Justice as the theme might prompt you to define your criteria for fairness. The Two of Pentacles in the missing-information position might invite you to compare resources, deadlines or workloads. The Page of Swords in the action position might suggest asking precise questions and requesting information in writing. Your summary could be: “Before deciding, I will state my criteria, compare the conditions and ask for the missing details.” That sentence answers the question; it does not claim the cards know a future outcome.

You may disagree with this reading if your deck's artwork or your circumstances point elsewhere. What matters is being able to explain how you moved from each card to the conclusion. If you cannot, you may have put three keywords side by side rather than interpreted a relationship.

A lighter route through your studies

Start by recognising the three groups and four suits. Then practise with one card a day: note what is visible and a question the card raises before consulting a book. At the end of each week, compare cards of the same suit or number. Once you can describe them without checking a list, move to a small spread and study how each card changes with its position.

The guide to reading tarot cards for the first time can help with your first spread. If you want a manual suited to your deck's imagery, compare Marseille Tarot for Beginners and Rider–Waite Tarot for Beginners. The system of 78 cards is a map; the right book helps you read the particular territory of your deck.

You can go deeper with how Major and Minor Arcana work together and the method for reading Marseille pip cards.

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