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A tarot card (rhymes with "arrow", not "carrot") refers to one of several special cards used for tarot. This can be either fortune telling or playing card games depending on country. On e621, viewers are far more likely to encounter the former than the latter.

Modern tarot decks associated with fortune telling and the occult commonly feature custom-made art for the various cards, typically rich with symbolism. The deck is made of 78 cards, of which 22 cards are called the major arcana and the other 56 the minor arcana.

Miffed at having the tarot deck repurposed for fortune-telling, those who prefer the old-fashioned use of tarot cards as playing cards have devised their own variants of the tarot deck, such as the Tarot Nouveau deck. In these decks, the major and minor arcana are never referred to as such. Instead, the major arcana are called trumps and the minor arcana are simply the suited cards.

Our modern playing cards are derived from the minor arcana with the four knights removed and two jokers added. Despite similarities, the jokers and tarot's The Fool card are not related.

The Major Arcana

• 0 The Fool
• I The Magician
• II The High Priestess
• III The Empress
• IV The Emperor
• V The Hierophant
• VI The Lovers
• VII The Chariot
• VIII Strength
• IX The Hermit
• X Wheel of Fortune
• XI Justice
• XII The Hanged Man
• XIII Death
• XIV Temperance
• XV The Devil
• XVI The Tower
• XVII The Star
• XVIII The Moon
• XIX The Sun
• XX Judgment
• XXI The World

The Minor Arcana

• 1-10, Jack/Page, Knight, Queen, and King in the following four suits:
• pentacles
• cups
• swords
• wands

Related tags

• card_template

For more information:

• Tarot (Wikipedia)
• Tarot Card Games (Wikipedia)
• Image showing the Major Arcana (right here on e621)