Tarot Glossary: Essential Terms Every Reader Should Know
The language of tarot mixes Italian card-game history, 19th-century occultism and modern psychology. This glossary explains the terms you will meet in books, readings and on this site.
Arcana
From Latin arcanum, 'secret'. The two groups of tarot cards: the Major Arcana (22 trumps) and the Minor Arcana (56 suit cards). Learn more.
Card of the day
A single card drawn as a theme for reflection for the day. Learn more.
Cartomancy
Divination with cards, including tarot and ordinary playing cards.
Clarifier
An extra card drawn to shed light on a confusing card in a spread.
Correspondence
A symbolic link between a card and an element, planet, sign, Hebrew letter or other system. Learn more.
Court cards
The Page, Knight, Queen and King of each suit. They can represent people, roles or approaches. Learn more.
Cups
The water suit: emotions, love and intuition. Also called Chalices. Learn more.
Decan
One of 36 ten-degree divisions of the zodiac. The Golden Dawn assigned each pip card from Two to Ten to a decan. Learn more.
Elemental dignities
A method, from the Golden Dawn, of reading cards through how their elements support or weaken each other.
Fool's journey
A way of reading the Major Arcana as one story, in which The Fool meets each archetype in turn. Learn more.
Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a British esoteric society founded in 1888 whose correspondences shaped modern tarot, including the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
Intuitive reading
Reading the cards from the imagery and your intuitive impressions rather than fixed book meanings. Learn more.
Jumper
A card that falls out while shuffling. Some readers treat it as especially significant.
Major Arcana
The 22 trump cards numbered 0 to XXI, describing archetypes and major life themes. Learn more.
Minor Arcana
The 56 cards in four suits describing everyday situations. Learn more.
Oracle cards
Decks with no fixed structure, unlike tarot's 78 cards. Each oracle deck has its own themes and meanings.
Pentacles
The earth suit: money, work, body and home. Also called Coins or Disks. Learn more.
Pip cards
The numbered cards of the Minor Arcana, Ace to Ten. Learn more.
Position
A place in a spread with a defined meaning, such as 'past' or 'obstacle'. Learn more.
Querent
The person asking the question in a reading. In a self-reading, reader and querent are the same person.
Reader
The person interpreting the cards.
Reversal
A card that appears upside down. Readers interpret reversals as blocked, internalised or opposite energy, or ignore them. Learn more.
Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS)
The 1909 deck designed by A. E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, published by Rider & Company. The reference for most modern decks and for the meanings on this site. Learn more.
Shadow card
A card at the bottom of the deck after a reading, read by some as a hidden influence.
Significator
A card chosen to represent the querent, sometimes placed at the centre of a spread before drawing. Learn more.
Spread
A layout of cards in which each position has a specific meaning. Learn more.
Suit
One of the four groups of the Minor Arcana: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Learn more.
Swords
The air suit: thought, communication, truth and conflict. Learn more.
Tarot de Marseille
A family of French and Italian tarot designs from the 17th and 18th centuries, with non-illustrated pip cards.
Thoth tarot
A deck designed by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Frieda Harris, published in 1969, with its own titles and correspondences.
Trump
Another name for a Major Arcana card, from the Italian trionfi, the name of the earliest tarot decks used in card games. Learn more.
Upright
A card appearing the right way up, read with its primary meaning. Learn more.
Wands
The fire suit: energy, passion, creativity and action. Also called Rods, Batons or Staves. Learn more.
Yes/No reading
A reading, often with one card, that answers a direct question using each card's yes, no or maybe value. Learn more.