Meaning of Tarot Cards Major Arcana

Tarot Card Reading Poll ~~~ The Magician ~~~ The High Priestess ~~~ The Empress ~~~ The Emperor ~~~ Tarot de Marseilles ~~~ The Pope ~~~ The Lovers ~~~ The Chariot ~~~ Justice ~~~ ~~~ The Hermit ~~~ Wheel of Fortune ~~~ Strength ~~~ The Hanged Man ~~~ Death ~~~ Temperance ~~~ The Devil ~~~ The Tower ~~~ The Star ~~~ The Moon ~~~ Toth Tarot ~~~ The Sun ~~~ The Judgment ~~~ The World ~~~ The Fool ~~~ Secrets of Tarot Cards Reading ~~~ About the Author ~~~
Tarot Guestbook

The Magician is represented by a young man in front of a work table. This card represents the life's active ingredient, its number I (one) is male, it is the Yang element.

Magician Card Basic Meaning:
If this card comes in the right position, it means the beginning of the things, the will of a person, a man's profession or a woman's new affective relation.

When this card comes in the reversed position it means professional problems, lack of self-confidence, apathy...

This card is called The High Priestess because the woman who is drawn wears a pontifical tiara. She also represents Isis, an Egyptian divinity, Osiris's wife. The High Priestess represents wisdom, quality development by the sobriety of her costume. It is a very positive card of the Tarot as well as the Yin element.

High Priestess Card Basic Meaning:
The card in the right position symbolizes nature, pregnancy, knowledge, mother, perspicacity, wisdom...

The High Priestess in the reversed position symbolizes an immoderate and painful love, superficiality

The Empress is the second female character of the Tarot. The Impress is sitting on a throne and she is crowned and looks like a self-confident woman, calm, intelligent, worthy. This major arcana represents the capacity, the Empress clothing is luxurious and invaluable. This arcana is extremely positive.

Empress Card Basic Meaning:
In the right position the Empress represents the intelligence, dignity, the authority, the mother, the wife, the right decisions.

In the reversed position, this arcana represents the enemies, sterility, despotism, litigations.

The Emperor is represented with a man who reached the maturity and is sitting on a throne. He is invested by a great power, beside his throne, we see a gold shield where an eagle is painted; which is the crowned bird. The stature of the emperor means that he is never afraid. This tarot card represents a triumphing character.

Emperor Card Basic Meaning:
In the right position The Emperor card represents safety, authority, important and powerful characters, prosperity.

In a reversed position, The Emperor card represents ineffectiveness, meanness, brutality...

The Pope represented on this Tarot card is an old man, symbolizing purity. The accessories of his clothing are divine material and intellectual world symbols. The furniture of his palate represent the moral law, the free will. The symbols of seven traditional planets (the Moon, Jupiter, Venus...) are drawn on his crozier.

Pope Card Basic Meaning
In the right position, this Tarot card represents indulgence, wisdom, protection, kindness, being devoted to traditions.

In the reversed position, this Tarot card symbolizes cowardice, frivolity, lack of conscience.

Don't think that "The Lovers" card means systematically "Love". The principal character this Tarot card represents a young man surrounded by two young women. The first woman seems to be rich and tries to take him along towards the richness; the second seems to be poor and wants to convince him to follow her. Cupid, at the top of the Tarot card takes care of this young man's choice. This Tarot card symbolizes the choice, the free will.

Lovers Card Basic Meaning
In the right position, The Lovers represents love of beautiful things, the choices, youth, discovery of love...

In the reversed position, The Lovers represents selfishness, instability...

The Chariot; which is evoquing a Solar Tank, is conducted by The Emperor who seems being trustful and serene. The colors of this Tarot card are bright and positive. The Chariot represents success, this Tarot card is also of Osiri. The Chariot signifies the capacity to progress in our life.

Chariot Card Basic Meaning
The Chariot card in the right position means success, supremacy, import-export, financial success...

In the reversed position this Tarot card means: overwork, failure...

Justice is represented by a woman sitting on a golden throne. Gold is the color of her intelligence. Justice holds the Sword of Justice in her right hand and the Scale of Justice - which is in gold too - in her left hand. This character seems impartial, representing integrity and incorruptibility.

Justice Card Basic Meaning
In the right position, the Justice represents equity, virtue, impartiality, stability...

In the reversed position, this tarot card represents hypocrisy, intolerance, instability...

Tarot Cards Hanging Ornament by WitchysCauldron
Create a cut out at zazzle

The Hermit is the nineth Tarot card. This tarot card represents an old man wearing a cape and carrying a lantern, walking with a cane. This old person seems to walk with caution. His clothing is quite particular: the inside of his cape is richer than the outside; which means that the Hermit gives more value to the inner wealth than to the external wealth. The Hermit is not a negative tarot card, it is a card representing wisdom.

Hermit Card Basic Meaning
In the right position, the Hermit symbolizes caution, protection, but also reflection and misanthropy.

In the reversed position this tarot card represents selfishness, greed, indolence, dishonest actions.

The Wheel Of Fortune card symbolizes our destiny. Two figures are on the Wheel of Fortune: on the right is Hermanubis, good engineering and on the left is Typhon, the perversion symbol. A Sphinx is sitting at the top of the wheel to counterbalance good and evil. This character is also the symbol of our destiny. The Wheel of Fortune represents the ups and downs of our life, good and evil, joys and sorrows.

Wheel of Fortune Card Basic Meaning
In the right position this Tarot card represents success, good intuitions, money, victories.

In the reversed position this arcana major represents failure, lost opportunities, instability, loss of money, blocked situations...

Strength is the eleventh tarot card and is represented by a young woman controlling a lion. Her head dresses a hat adorned by a crown; which means she is a woman who has the power. Her red dress is the symbol of her strength. This tarot card is the symbol of the spirit domination over brute physical strength, this tarot card also represents humanity as it is supposed to be.

Strength Card Basic Meaning
In the right position Strength is a card that represents conviction, energy, heroism, mental and/or physical strength...

In the reverse position, the Strength is weak pettiness, pride, arrogance...

The Hanged Man represents passivity, the events over which we have no control. It is also a stage of mysticism. The Hanged Man has lost his energy. The prevailing colors of this Tarot card are yellow (the intellect), red (passion), blue (action) and green (nature). The Hanged Man sees the world upside down, but perhaps The Hanging Man sees what others do not. This Tarot card represents introspection, questioning. It is synonymous with expectation. But certainly not the end of something.

Hanged Man Card Basic Meaning
The Hanged Man card in the right position: punishment, immobility, discipline, you have no control on what happens to you or on what you are expecting...

This Tarot card in the reversed position: unnecessary sacrifice, egotism, delusions, anxiety...

The Death card inspires fear to people but it's a mistake. In fact, The Death is the symbol of life. The design represented on this tarot card is a skeleton holding a scythe in its right hand. We also see human bones on the card and some flowers. This card represents the Nature, the removal of bad things... When something disappears, something else appears. The Death card represents the end of a chapter and the birth of another. The Death card is also the spiritual rebirth, progress, freedom of thought.

Death Card Basic Meaning
The Death in the right position: renewal, changing elements, end of a chapter, sentimental failure...

The Death in the reversed position: immobility, injury, illness, disappointment.

The fool by Pendragon1Deville
View other Tarot Posters

Temperance is a very positive tarot card even even though it seems to represent patience. This Tarot de Marseilles major arcana is the representation of a winged woman, a female angel. She wears a long red and blue, belted gold dress but on some other card plays, it may be only red. On her forehead, a gold star. The line of her wings is gold as well. The angel is decanting the liquid from an amphora (the reason) into another one (sensitivity). The decor of this tarot card appears to be rustic, which adds to the serene aspect of this card. Temperance is an allegory of magnetic healing, physical and mental energies.

Temperance Card Basic Meaning
Righ position: patience, serenity and harmony, friendship, sympathy, communication, therapeutic magnetism, sociability.

Reversed position: disorder, impatience, apathy, uncertainty, lack of contact.

The Devil is represented by a character in a frightening ugliness. As the angel of Temperance, the Devil has wings but, in addition, he is provided with horns, female breasts, forked legs and the lower part of his body is hairy. It is a creature made out of a blend of a man, a woman, a goat and a bat. The pedestal under the Devil's feet is the symbol of the altar of Sabbat. Two monsters (fauns) are surrounding the Devil.

The Devil is the enemy of humans and only wants to make them his slaves. This Tarot card symbolizes the powers terrestrial unlike angels that symbolize the Light of God.

It is up to humans not to sell their soul to the Devil.

The Tower (or The House Of God) is a tall and imposing building, with golden battlement and that proudly runs in a cloudless sky. This building was destroyed by a lightning. Two persons are falling from the tower; according to some people, they are the architects of the tower.

This card represents our presumptions. The Tower reminds us that having too much ambition, being too materialistic led to the disaster, as these "defects" impede our ability to listen to common sense.

This tarot card also tells us that we must not be complacent about flattery. It also reminds us that we must remain faithful. The flames that surround this building under demolition represent the psychic, spiritual and material worlds.

The Star is a so lovely card!

The character on the card is a nude young woman with blond hair. Her nudity symbolizes purity. The young woman was on the verge of a river and pours the contents of two amphorae in the river. This act represents fertility.

There are also seven stars surrounding a 16 branches star (eight red and eight yellow). The water represented on the card symbolizes destiny, this card is a very positive announcement of new opportunities for the consultant.

The Star has a very special power: this tarot card cancels the negative effects of the other cards when it is correctly placed.

The Moon is the 18th Tarot de Marseilles arcana is a very special card. Indeed, it contains several different but important elements. It seems that the landscape, a rainy country with a water expanse, has been ravaged by a war as the soil is bloodied.

The map includes many characters:

• A crab ; which is the symbol of our unconscious
• Two guard dogs ; that suggest wolves howling at the moon
• Two protective towers
• The moon ; which shines through the sun's rays and not by itself

Have you noticed as, despite everything, the landscape is abandoned?

The Sun is the warmest arcana of the Tarot de Marseilles play and one of the most positive tarot cards. This card is synonymous with welfare and is luminous. The sun's rays are the basis of life, they show things under their real aspects while hiding nothing from the truth.

The characters on this 19th arcana are dressed as Adam and Eve with few fabric and seem to be in love. They are supposed to represent feelings and reason.

The Sun keeps its promises of love, kindness, benefits, honour, prestige...

The Judgement is represented by an angel with golden wings and that is in a golden trumpet. At the bottom of the card, there are three people being held in a tomb. The angel and the characters are symbolizing the Last Judgement and the sins committed by humans.

However, you don't have to be afraid of this card as there is forgiveness for every sin and the angel of the Tarot de Marseilles is an angel of forgiveness, consolation, a benevolent angel that will direct the sinners on the path to purification.

The world is the Tarot de Marseilles most positive major arcana. The "World" is represented by a woman who wears a red light veil. She is dancing in the centre of a laurel crown; which is synonymous with victory. Why is this woman unclothed? The reason is simple: she symbolizes the plain and honest truth; which is always naked. These symbols remind us that the world is always rotating, going towards the future and never goes back.

World Card Basic Meaning:
The world is synonym of success, achievement, straight actions, as well as medias (i.e. public characters).

In the reversed position the world is also synonym with failure, sacrifice, troubles...

Here is the last (but not the least) Tarot Major Arcana. The Fool - French-speaking people also call this Tarot arcana "The Mat" - is a very special card of the Tarot de Marseilles. This tarot card represents recklessness or irresponsibility; which is the reason why this Tarot de Marseilles major arcana is not numbered.

The Fool - which was a character very popular in the royal courts of the Middle Ages - is dressed in brightly coloured and multifaceted clothes. Little bells are surrounding the collar of his dress; which enables him to get noticed where ever he goes by their ringing.

His hat, with its curved spikes, is as much extravagant as the rest of the character. Besides his clothes, the Fool has also a lot of common peculiarities with the joker of our usual card games: above other cards, but has no tangible value.

The Fool Card Basic Meaning:
The Fool is synonym with mistakes, problems, unconsciousness, insecurity, immoderation...

In the reversed position it means exhibitionism, jealousy, violence...

Tarot Card Reading Poll ~~~ The Magician ~~~ The High Priestess ~~~ The Empress ~~~ The Emperor ~~~ Tarot de Marseilles ~~~ The Pope ~~~ The Lovers ~~~ The Chariot ~~~ Justice ~~~ ~~~ The Hermit ~~~ Wheel of Fortune ~~~ Strength ~~~ The Hanged Man ~~~ Death ~~~ Temperance ~~~ The Devil ~~~ The Tower ~~~ The Star ~~~ The Moon ~~~ Toth Tarot ~~~ The Sun ~~~ The Judgment ~~~ The World ~~~ The Fool ~~~ Secrets of Tarot Cards Reading ~~~ About the Author ~~~
Tarot Guestbook