Major Arcana - Definition

The Major Arcana (Trumps Major, Major Trumps) of the Tarot deck consists of 22 cards. The Name Major Arcana is used only in esoteric practice; Tarot decks for playing call them Trumps and usually only show a roman numeral on each card, plus some decoration that is identical on all of them. In esoteric sets, 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 is not standardised. However, one of the most common set of names and numbers is as follows:

• 0 - The Fool
• I - The Magician
• II - The High Priestess (or The Popess)
• III - The Empress
• IV - The Emperor
• V - The Hierophant (or The Pope)
• VI - The Lovers
• VII - The Chariot (This link is to a band named after the card)
• VIII - Strength
• IX - The Hermit
• X - The Wheel of Fortune
• XI - Justice
• XII - The Hanged Man
• XIII - Death
• XIV - Temperance
• XV - The Devil
• XVI - The Tower (of Babel)
• XVII - The Star
• XVIII - The Moon
• XIX - The Sun
• XX - Judgment
• XXI - The World

(The most common variation in the order is the exchange of VIII and XI: the Rider-Waite-Smith deck uses VIII for Strength and XI for Justice, whereas the Marseilles deck uses VIII for Justice and XI for Strength.)

The images on the Major Arcana in esoteric decks are often very heavy with symbolism; in more occult decks, there is 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.