Tarot Card Meanings

The Major Arcana, Explained Properly

Every Major Arcana card carries a century of Rider–Waite tradition: symbols drawn by Pamela Colman Smith in 1909 and meanings refined by generations of readers. These guides cover each card upright and reversed, in love and as feelings, with a clear yes-or-no verdict — written by hand, one card at a time. More cards are added weekly.

Card 0 · Uranus

The Fool

The Fool is card zero of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means new beginnings, unlimited potential and a leap of faith taken with an open heart. Upright, it invites you to begin before you feel ready; reversed, it warns of recklessness — or of hesitation quietly killing the journey.

Card I · Mercury

The Magician

The Magician is card one of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means willpower, manifestation and resourcefulness — every tool you need is already on your table. Upright, focused intention turns an idea into reality; reversed, it flags manipulation, scattered energy or talent left untapped.

Card II · Moon

The High Priestess

The High Priestess is card two of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. She means intuition, hidden knowledge and the power of what is not yet spoken — seated between two pillars before a thin veil of water and pomegranates. Upright, she asks you to listen inward before acting; reversed, she signals secrets withheld or a distrusted inner voice.

Card III · Venus

The Empress

The Empress is card three of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. She means abundance, nurture and creation made flesh — a crowned figure in a wheat field, her cushion embroidered with the sign of Venus. Upright, life is asking to be grown and enjoyed; reversed, nurture has tipped into smothering or creation has stalled in over-giving.

Card IV · Aries

The Emperor

The Emperor is card four of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. He means authority, structure and protection through order — enthroned in stone armor, holding the ankh of life and the world's orb. Upright, he builds systems that keep people safe; reversed, control hardens into domination or leadership stalls in rigidity.

Card V · Taurus

The Hierophant

The Hierophant is card five of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. He means tradition, institutional wisdom and teaching — raising a blessing between two pillars, with two keys crossed at his feet. Upright, he counsels learning from what has endured; reversed, he flags dogma worth questioning or conventions worth leaving.

Card VI · Gemini

The Lovers

The Lovers is card six of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means love as choice — a man and a woman beneath the angel Raphael, between the tree of flames and the tree of knowledge. Upright, an alignment of heart, mind and value is forming; reversed, a misalignment — or a choice being avoided — wants naming.

Card VII · Cancer

The Chariot

The Chariot is card seven of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means will, victory and controlled momentum — a crowned driver in a stone chariot pulled by two calm sphinxes, beneath a canopy of stars. Upright, opposing forces are harnessed to one direction; reversed, the reins have slipped into force or drift.

Card VIII · Leo

Strength

Strength is card eight of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means courage as gentleness — a woman in white closing a lion's mouth with bare hands, an infinity symbol above her head. Upright, raw energy is tamed by calm; reversed, self-doubt or unmastered appetite has the upper hand.

Card IX · Virgo

The Hermit

The Hermit is card nine of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means solitude with purpose — a hooded elder on a snowy peak, holding a six-pointed lamp at eye level. Upright, the answers require withdrawal and the light is your own; reversed, isolation has curdled or the retreat is hiding, not seeking.

Card X · Jupiter

Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune is card ten of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means cycles, luck and the turning point — a great wheel in the sky bearing the word TARO, with a sphinx above, a serpent descending and four fixed creatures reading at the corners. Upright, fortune turns your way; reversed, luck lags or you are fighting the cycle.

Card XI · Libra

Justice

Justice is card eleven of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means fairness, truth and consequence — a crowned figure between two pillars, scales in the left hand, sword raised in the right. Upright, the truth is surfacing and the balance is being set right; reversed, bias or avoided accountability is tilting the scales.

Card XII · Neptune

The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man is card twelve of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means pause, surrender and a radical change of perspective — hung upside down by choice, the figure sees the world anew. Upright, a voluntary wait becomes insight; reversed, it flags stalling, martyrdom or resisting a necessary pause.

Card XIII · Scorpio

Death

Death is card thirteen of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana, and it is a card of transformation, not physical death. A skeleton rides a white horse while the sun rises between two towers: endings here are clearings that make new life possible. Upright, a chapter is genuinely finishing; reversed, an ending is being resisted — and the stagnation costs more than the goodbye would.

Card XIV · Sagittarius

Temperance

Temperance is card fourteen of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means balance, patience and the art of blending — an angel with one foot on land and one in water, pouring liquid between two cups without spilling. Upright, opposites are being mixed into something better than either; reversed, extremes are pulling apart or moderation has become excess.

Card XV · Capricorn

The Devil

The Devil is card fifteen of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means attachment, shadow and temptation — a winged, goat-headed figure enthroned above two loosely chained figures. Upright, something has more grip on you than you have on it; reversed, the chains are coming off — or the attachment is being seen clearly at last.

Card XVI · Mars

The Tower

The Tower is card sixteen of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means sudden upheaval, revelation and the collapse of structures that were never true. Upright, what strikes the tower liberates as much as it destroys; reversed, a disaster is being averted — or a necessary change fiercely resisted.

Card XVII · Aquarius

The Star

The Star is card seventeen of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means hope, renewal and calm after the storm — a naked figure kneeling by a pool, pouring water onto land and water beneath one great eight-pointed star and seven smaller ones. Upright, healing has quietly begun; reversed, faith in the future needs rekindling.

Card XVIII · Pisces

The Moon

The Moon is card eighteen of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means intuition mixed with illusion — a moon with a face dropping dew, a crayfish surfacing from a pool, a dog and a wolf howling between two towers on a dim road. Upright, things are not fully what they seem; reversed, the fog is lifting and deception is being unmasked.

Card XIX · The Sun

The Sun

The Sun is card nineteen of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana — the deck's unconditional yes. A naked child rides a white horse beneath a great sun and a wall of sunflowers: joy, success and visibility without armor. Upright, warmth and clarity are simply winning; reversed, the cloud on the sun is temporary or the joy is being dimmed from inside.

Card XX · Pluto

Judgement

Judgement is card twenty of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means awakening and the reckoning that rises you — an angel blowing a great trumpet, from which falls a flag bearing a cross, while the dead rise from coffins on the sea. Upright, a calling has sounded and it is time to answer; reversed, the call is being ignored or self-judgement is drowning it out.

Card XXI · Saturn

The World

The World is card twenty-one — the final card of the Rider–Waite Major Arcana. It means completion, wholeness and the integration of everything the journey taught. Upright, a cycle genuinely closes and you are entitled to stand on the summit; reversed, loose ends remain and closure is being sought rather than achieved.