Major Arcana
TarotDefinition
The 22 trump cards of a tarot deck, numbered 0 (The Fool) through XXI (The World), representing major life archetypes and spiritual milestones.
Origin
The Major Arcana emerged in 15th-century Italy as the trionfi or "triumphs" added to the four-suited playing-card deck. The earliest surviving examples are the hand-painted Visconti-Sforza cards (c. 1440), commissioned by the dukes of Milan.
Development
Initially used for the card game tarocchi, the trumps were re-interpreted as esoteric allegories by 18th-century French occultists Antoine Court de Gébelin and Etteilla, who linked them to the Egyptian Book of Thoth. The 19th-century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn refined their meanings and assigned them to Kabbalistic Tree of Life paths, an attribution preserved by the Rider-Waite-Smith and Thoth decks.
In Practice
When a Major Arcana card appears in a spread, it signals a significant life theme, archetypal force, or spiritual lesson rather than a mundane daily event. Readings dominated by Major Arcana suggest periods of fated change; lighter decks of Minor Arcana point to everyday choices.
Deeper Reading
Carl Jung saw the Major Arcana as a complete map of the individuation process — the journey of the Fool through trials (The Tower, Death) toward wholeness (The World). Modern readers debate whether the cards are universal archetypes or culturally specific medieval iconography; both readings can coexist.
See Also
- trumps
- triumphs
- trionfi
- greater secrets
- arcanas mayores