Category:Tarot Card Trumps: The Major Arcana

From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers

A trump card tarot layout consisting of three rows of three-card cuts, sometimes called the Tic-Tac-Toe spread; a crystal pendulum is on hand to check-read the cards

Tarot card readings are by far the most popular method of telling fortunes with cards. The tarot deck resembles a playing card deck because it originated as a trick-taking card game that was invented in the mid-15th century in Italy. It is known as trinonfi or tarocchi in Italy, tarock in Austria and Germany, and tarot in France. In any game of cards that features trick-taking or trumping, the most potent suit is called the trump. Tarocchi decks differ from other card decks because of they contain a special set of permanent trump cards, called the trumps or trionfi. In fact, tarocchi and tarot packs were often originally designated "Cards With Trumps" to distinguish them as different from other types of card decks.

There are 78 cards in the tarot deck, arranged in four suits, plus extra non-suited trumps or trick-taking cards. There are 40 numbered pip cards, 16 court cards, and 22 trump cards. During the 19th century re-imagining of the tarot as an essentially spiritual tool, the trump cards were renamed the major arcana (the great mysteries) and the pip cards and court cards were lumped together as the minor arcana (small mysteries).

Tarot Trumps as The Major Arcana

In tarot decks, the trumps are a special portion of the deck, usually consisting of 22 cards which do not have a suit of their own, but instead constitute a series of "triumphs" or symbolic punctuations or exaltations. As the so-called "major arcana" or greater mystery cards, they are generally given Roman numerals rather than Arabic numerals, to distinguish them from the pip cards or "minor arcana."

Most psychic tarot card readers interpret the trumps as important themes that are currently active in the querent's situation or that may emerge in the near future. It should be noted that despite their early name of "triumphs," not all of the trump cards are positive and triumphant in nature. Some, like the Tower, have notorious reputations as harbingers of doom, and can indicate past, present, or future disaster or a dramatic re-structuring of the querent's life. Other cards, like The Lovers (which depicts Adam and Eve and is related to love, sex, and relationships), Justice (related to Court Cases), or Strength (related to personal power) bear obvious visual symbolism that makes their interpretation easy to understand.

To some occult tarot card readers, the trumps are interpreted as a sequence having greater significance than mere rank, and they are typically related in some way to the card known as the Fool, who is said to engage a spiritual journey through the symbolic 'keys' or encounters and events depicted there from card number I through card number XXI (the Fool constituting the first, last, or '0' card amongst them). These readers develop the idea of the Fool's Journey carefully, implying that the querent takes on the role of Fool and that each trump card indicates what challenges he or she may face in the current phase of work. They believe that these cards taken together depict an upward journey ultimately leading to a greater source of wisdom and understanding for The Fool.

Other tarot card readers, equally occult in their orientation, treat each trump as a singular card in its own right, without regard to the Fool or a symbolic journey. These cartomancers view all of the tarot cards -- pips, court cards, and trumps alike -- as indicators of the querent's past, present, and future. These tarot card readers may give greater weight to the trumps than to the pips, as befits the importance of the trumps in the game of tarot, but they do not seek to relate the trumps to a pre-laid sequence or life-journey.

The Twenty-Two Trumps of the Tarot

For more information, see Divination with Tarot Cards

The Fool

The Magician

The High Priestess

The Empress

The Hierophant

The Lovers Tarot Card

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

Credits

This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:

Authors: Miss Bri, catherine yronwode
Contributor: Papa Newt, nagasiva yronwode
Images: Photo by Miss Bri; Pamela Colman Smith

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