Major Arcana

The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana. The terms "Major" and "Minor Arcana" are used in the occult and divinatory applications of the deck, and originate with Paul Christian. ^[1]

The Major Arcana

Each Major Arcanum depicts a scene, mostly featuring a person or several people, with many symbolic elements. In many decks, each has a number (usually in Roman numerals) and a name, though not all decks have both, and some have only a picture. The earliest decks bore unnamed and unnumbered pictures on the Majors (probably because a great many of the people using them at the time were illiterate), and the order of cards was not standardized.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, one of the most common sets of names and numbers is as follows:

Number	Name
None (0 or 22)	The Fool
1	The Magician
2	The High Priestess
3	The Empress
4	The Emperor
5	The Hierophant
6	The Lovers
7	The Chariot
8 or 11	Justice
9	The Hermit
10	Wheel of Fortune
11 or 8	Strength / Fortitude
12	The Hanged Man
13	Death
14	Temperance
15	The Devil
16	The Tower
17	The Star
18	The Moon
19	The Sun
20	Judgment
21	The World

The images on the Major Arcana are often very heavy with symbolism, with far more to the illustration than a mere depiction of the card title. The Major Arcana are usually regarded as relating to matters of higher purpose or deep significance, as opposed to the Minor Arcana which relate to the everyday world and matters of immediate significance.^{[citation needed]}

See Also

• Minor Arcana
• Tarot de Maléfices

Notes

1. ^ Place, Robert (2005). The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination. 

External links

• Iconography of Tarot cards / many examples

Media related to Major Arcana at Wikimedia Commons