How many cards are in a tarot deck? All 78 cards explained

How many cards are in a tarot deck?

A complete tarot deck has 78 cards. That number holds for the Tarot de Marseille and for the English-style decks most people use today, so if you count yours and reach 78, nothing is missing.

Here’s how the 78 break down:

• 22 Major Arcana, numbered 0 to XXI.
• 56 Minor Arcana, split into four suits of 14 cards.
• Within the Minors: 40 numbered cards (Ace to Ten in each suit, sometimes called pip cards) and 16 court cards (four per suit).

An easy way to remember it: 22 + 40 + 16 = 78. You can look up every single one in our list of all 78 tarot cards.

The 22 Major Arcana, one by one

The Major Arcana are the cards with their own names and Roman numerals. They cover the big themes: deep decisions, life stages and lessons that stay with you. A handy way to remember them is to picture The Fool (0) as a traveller walking through the other 21 cards in three stretches of seven:

• I to VII, the world around you: The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers and The Chariot. They’re about who you are, what you learn from others and your first big choices.
• VIII to XIV, the world within: Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death and Temperance. This is the stretch of reflection, shifts in perspective and endings that open new doors.
• XV to XXI, the great transformation: The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement and The World. Here come attachments, upheavals, hope and, finally, the feeling of a cycle complete.

When several Major Arcana turn up in one spread, take note: they’re only 22 of 78 cards, a little over one in four, so a cluster of them usually means the matter runs deep.

The 56 Minor Arcana and the four suits

The Minor Arcana describe everyday life: what you do, feel, think and own. They’re divided into four suits, each linked to an element:

• Wands (fire): energy, drive, projects and creativity. The suit opens with the Ace of Wands.
• Cups (water): emotions, love, friendship and intuition. Its doorway is the Ace of Cups.
• Swords (air): ideas, words, decisions and conflict. Start with the Ace of Swords.
• Pentacles (earth): money, work, the body and everything practical. It begins with the Ace of Pentacles.

A quick tip: if one suit dominates a reading, you already have a clue about the theme. Lots of Cups point to something emotional; lots of Swords to something going round in your head; lots of Pentacles to a practical matter; and lots of Wands to a desire that wants action.

The numbered cards: Ace to Ten

Each suit has ten numbered cards. The number tells you where you are in the process, and the suit tells you which area of life it’s happening in. Broadly speaking:

• Ace: a seed, a pure beginning.
• Two: a choice or a meeting.
• Three: growth and first results.
• Four: stability and rest.
• Five: tension or a test to get through.
• Six: harmony returning.
• Seven: taking stock and choosing a strategy.
• Eight: movement and effort.
• Nine: nearly there.
• Ten: a cycle reaching completion.

With that in mind, you can sense the gist of many cards without memorising them: the Ten of Cups is emotional fulfilment, while the Five of Pentacles speaks of a lean patch in practical matters that invites you to reach out for support.

The 16 court cards

Each suit ends with four court cards. They can stand for someone in your life, an attitude you’re taking on or how maturely you’re handling that area:

• Page: the learner, curiosity and messages. The Page of Cups, for example, brings a fresh feeling or a sweet piece of news.
• Knight: action and movement towards a goal, like the momentum of the Knight of Wands.
• Queen: inner mastery of the element, with care, intuition and good judgement, like the clarity of the Queen of Swords.
• King: outer mastery, with responsibility, authority and experience, like the steadiness of the King of Pentacles.

Names vary between decks: in some the Page becomes a Princess and the Knight a Prince. The count stays the same, though: four court cards per suit, sixteen in all.

Do all tarot decks have 78 cards?

Traditional tarot decks do. What changes from one to another is the style and a small detail of the order:

• Tarot de Marseille: 78 cards. Its numbered Minors usually show only the suit symbols, without scenes, and card XIII often appears without a name.
• English-style decks (the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition and the many decks inspired by it): 78 cards, with illustrated scenes on the Minors too. Here Strength is VIII and Justice is XI; in the Marseille order they swap places. Cardaluna follows this order.
• Modern indie decks: nearly all keep the 78, although some add an extra or blank card that isn’t part of classic tarot.

Watch out for mix-ups: an ordinary deck of playing cards has 52, a Lenormand deck has 36 and oracle decks can have any number at all. They can be lovely and useful, but they aren’t tarot.

Do you need all 78 cards to get started?

You don’t have to master them all from day one. There are two easy routes:

• Start with the 22 Major Arcana only. There are fewer of them, the images are instantly recognisable and they give big-picture answers. Perfect for your first few weeks.
• Use the full deck from the start, leaning on the suit and the number to make sense of the Minors, as you’ve just seen.

Whichever you choose, build up gradually: draw your card of the day each morning, try the past, present and future spread when you want to see how something is unfolding, and keep the yes or no tarot for small, specific questions. And remember that tarot is a tool for reflection, not a fixed prediction.

Practise for free on Cardaluna

Now that you know the map of the deck, keep exploring, free and with no sign-up:

• Look up the meanings of all 78 cards, upright and reversed.
• Learn to interpret them step by step with our guide how to read tarot cards.
• Try your love tarot spread or browse all our free tarot spreads.
• If you’re breaking in a new deck, prepare your space before the first reading with a simple rosemary energy cleansing.

Seventy-eight cards can feel like a lot, but once you see how they’re organised, the deck stops being a mystery and becomes a language you can learn at your own pace.