Tarot Card Meanings
Look up any of the 78 tarot cards: upright and reversed keywords and meanings for life, love and work, a yes/no lean, element, astrology and number correspondences.
Meanings follow the Rider–Waite–Smith tradition in our own words; tarot is for reflection and entertainment, not prediction.
| Card | Upright | Reversed | Yes/no |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Fool ◀ | beginnings, spontaneity, trust, a leap of faith | recklessness, hesitation, naivety | Yes |
| The Magician | skill, willpower, resourcefulness, manifestation | manipulation, untapped talent, poor planning | Yes |
| The High Priestess | intuition, mystery, inner knowledge, stillness | secrets, ignored instincts, surface thinking | Maybe |
| The Empress | abundance, nurturing, creativity, comfort | smothering, creative block, self-neglect | Yes |
| The Emperor | structure, authority, stability, leadership | rigidity, control, misuse of power | Yes |
| The Hierophant | tradition, guidance, institutions, shared values | rebellion, dogma, breaking convention | Yes |
| The Lovers | love, harmony, choices, aligned values | imbalance, misalignment, an avoided choice | Yes |
| The Chariot | determination, willpower, victory, control | lack of direction, scattered energy, obstacles | Yes |
| Strength | courage, patience, compassion, inner strength | self-doubt, low energy, raw emotion | Yes |
| The Hermit | reflection, solitude, inner guidance, wisdom | isolation, loneliness, withdrawal | Maybe |
| Wheel of Fortune | change, cycles, luck, turning points | bad luck, resisting change, setbacks | Yes |
| Justice | fairness, truth, cause and effect, accountability | unfairness, dishonesty, dodging responsibility | Maybe |
| The Hanged Man | pause, surrender, new perspective, letting go | stalling, resistance, needless sacrifice | Maybe |
| Death | endings, transformation, transition, clearing space | resisting change, stagnation, fear of endings | No |
| Temperance | balance, moderation, patience, blending | excess, imbalance, haste | Yes |
| The Devil | attachment, temptation, habits, materialism | release, breaking free, reclaiming control | No |
| The Tower | sudden change, upheaval, revelation, breakdown | averted disaster, fear of change, delayed collapse | No |
| The Star | hope, renewal, inspiration, calm | discouragement, lost faith, disconnection | Yes |
| The Moon | uncertainty, illusion, dreams, intuition | clarity returning, released fears, lifting confusion | Maybe |
| The Sun | joy, success, vitality, clarity | temporary gloom, over-optimism, delays | Yes |
| Judgement | awakening, reckoning, renewal, a calling | self-doubt, ignoring the call, harsh self-judgement | Yes |
| The World | completion, achievement, wholeness, travel | loose ends, delays, lack of closure | Yes |
A tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana for big life themes, and 56 Minor Arcana in four suits — Wands (fire, energy), Cups (water, feelings), Swords (air, thought) and Pentacles (earth, material life). This reference gives every card's upright and reversed keywords and meanings for everyday life, love and work, its traditional yes-or-no lean, and its element, number and astrological correspondence from the Golden Dawn system that the Rider–Waite–Smith deck follows.
How to use this tool
- Choose a card from the list, or type part of its name.
- Read the upright and reversed meanings and the love, work and advice notes.
- Use the table to compare the card with the rest of its suit or the Major Arcana.
Formula
Minor card n (2–10) of a suit → decan ⌊(n − 2) ÷ 3⌋ of that suit's cardinal, fixed or mutable sign
In the Golden Dawn system each pip card from 2 to 10 rules a 10° decan: Wands cover Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, Cups Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, Swords Libra, Aquarius and Gemini, and Pentacles Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo. The decan rulers follow the Chaldean order Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, starting from Aries. Major Arcana carry a planet, a sign or an element.
Example
The Five of Pentacles is the fifth card of the earth suit: the first decan of Taurus, ruled by Mercury. Its keywords are hardship and insecurity upright, recovery and help arriving reversed. The Ten of Swords sits on the last decan of Gemini, ruled by the Sun.
Frequently asked questions
What does a reversed card mean?
Readers usually take a reversed card as the same theme blocked, weakened or turned inward. Some never read reversals; both approaches are common.
Why is Strength number 8 and Justice 11?
The Rider–Waite–Smith deck (1909) swapped the two to fit the Golden Dawn's astrology, so Strength (Leo) comes before Justice (Libra). Older Marseille-style decks number them the other way round.
Can I get a reading here?
Yes — the free tarot reading draws cards for one-card, three-card, love and Celtic Cross spreads using these same meanings.
For entertainment and reflection only: tarot does not predict events, and nothing here is health, financial, legal or relationship advice. The meanings are written for this site. Rider-Waite and Rider-Waite-Smith are trademarks of U.S. Games Systems, Inc.; they are named only to identify the 1909 deck tradition the meanings follow, and this site is not affiliated with U.S. Games. How we check our calculators · Full disclaimer
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kakaoCalc. (2026, November 8). Tarot Card Meanings. https://kakao.mobile/tools/tarot-card-meaning-lookup/
“Tarot Card Meanings.” kakaoCalc, 8 Nov. 2026, kakao.mobile/tools/tarot-card-meaning-lookup/.
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