Tarot · 4 November 2026 · 5 min read

Tarot for Beginners: Major and Minor Arcana and Your First Reading

If you want to start with tarot for beginners, the first thing worth knowing is that a tarot deck is not an oracle handing down verdicts, but a set of symbolic images designed to help you look at your situation from another angle. People who use it calmly tend to come away with better questions rather than neat, final answers.

In this guide we look at how the deck is organised, what role each group of cards plays, how to frame a useful question and how to do your first reading without having to memorise anything. We also debunk a few common myths.

How the deck is built: 78 cards, two main blocks

A classic tarot deck has 78 cards divided into two groups with different functions:

• 22 Major Arcana: named and numbered cards, such as The Fool, The High Priestess, The Lovers, The Wheel of Fortune or The World.
• 56 Minor Arcana: cards closer to an ordinary playing-card deck, split into four suits.

A simple way to understand it: the Major Arcana speak of the big themes and stages of a life, while the Minor Arcana speak of everyday matters, of what happens day to day and how you experience it.

The Major Arcana: the underlying story

The 22 Major Arcana are usually read as a journey that begins with The Fool, the figure who takes the first step without knowing what lies ahead, and ends with The World, which symbolises integration and the closing of a cycle. In between appear figures of authority (The Emperor, The Hierophant), crossroads (The Lovers), trials (The Tower) and moments of clarity (The Star, The Sun).

When a Major Arcana card turns up in a reading, traditional interpretation treats it as an important theme, something that deserves attention rather than a passing detail. It doesn’t mean something momentous is about to happen: it could be a conversation you’ve been putting off or a decision you’ve been postponing for some time.

The Minor Arcana: four suits and four elements

The Minor Arcana are organised into four suits of fourteen cards each: ace to ten, plus four court cards (page, knight, queen and king). Tradition links each suit to an element, just as astrology does with the signs:

• Wands (fire): energy, initiative, projects, the urge to get moving.
• Cups (water): emotions, bonds, intuition, sensitivity.
• Swords (air): thought, words, decisions, mental conflicts.
• Pentacles (earth): work, resources, the body, practical matters.

These correspondences vary a little between schools, but this is the most widespread version. If you already know your birth chart, it will feel familiar: fire people recognise themselves in Wands, water people in Cups, and so on. The court cards are usually read as people, attitudes or facets of yourself, not as predictions.

How to frame an open question

The quality of a reading depends a great deal on the question. Closed questions (“Will they call me?”, “Will I get the job?”) push you to look for a yes or a no that tarot isn’t designed to give. Questions that begin with “what”, “how” or “what can I learn” work better.

• Instead of “Will the move go well?”, try “What should I bear in mind about this move?”.
• Instead of “Will my ex come back?”, try “What do I need to understand about this relationship in order to move on?”.
• Instead of “What will happen to me this year?”, try “What is worth my attention right now?”.

Also avoid asking about other people as if you could read their minds, and leave medical or legal questions to one side: that is what the relevant professionals are for.

Your first reading: a single card

You don’t need complicated spreads to begin with. The single-card reading is the best school, because it forces you to observe closely. Follow these steps:

1. Find a quiet moment and write down your open question.
2. Shuffle slowly while keeping the question in mind.
3. Cut the deck or choose a card and place it face up.
4. Before looking up its meaning, describe it: which figures are there, what are they doing, which colours dominate, how does it make you feel?
5. Then look up the traditional meaning and compare it with your first impression.
6. Finish with a question: “What would I do differently today because of this?”. Write it down.

Keeping a small notebook of your readings will let you see over time which cards keep recurring and how your interpretation of them changes. If you’d rather practise without shuffling, you can do a free tarot reading on the site and work with it in the same way.

Reversed cards: an option, not an obligation

A reversed card is one that comes up with the image upside down. Some people read them and some don’t, and both approaches are valid. As a beginner, it’s reasonable to start without reversals and add them once you’re comfortable with the upright cards.

When you do use them, don’t think in terms of “the opposite” or “bad luck”. A reversed card is usually interpreted as energy that is blocked, turned inwards, delayed or experienced with more difficulty. The Sun reversed, for example, is not a catastrophe: it may suggest that it’s hard to see the good that is already there.

Common myths worth letting go of

Death does not announce that someone is going to die.

In tarot it symbolises the end of a cycle, transformation and unavoidable change: closing a chapter, dropping a habit, letting go of something that no longer fits. The Tower isn’t a condemnation either: it speaks of structures being shaken to make way for something more honest. And The Devil usually speaks of attachments, dependencies or patterns we keep repeating, not of anything supernatural.

Other common myths:

• “You need to have a gift”: you don’t. You learn by observing images, practising and reflecting.
• “You can’t buy your own deck”: it’s a popular belief, but there is no rule to back it up. Choose the one you like.
• “Tarot decides for you”: quite the opposite, it is a tool for reflection. The decision is always yours.

Take a look at your own chart

Tarot and astrology share a symbolic language and complement each other well: a reading gives you a snapshot of the moment, while the birth chart offers a deeper portrait. You can calculate your birth chart for free in a few minutes and, whenever you want to practise, do your tarot reading on the same site.