There are 22 Major Arcana cards in a tarot deck numbered 0-21. They can be divided into 3 levels of development called the Fool’s Journey.
Cards 1 – 7 = Our childhood or basic development. How we learn to survive in society from birth to teen age years.
Cards 8- 14 = Young adult (20-40) when we learn about the universal laws of society, figure out who we are and build our profession. Early adulthood is spent exercising discipline.
Cards 15 – 21 = Maturity. We discover a whole new phase of life in middle-age. No longer concerned with following the dictates of society but rather learn more about who we really are, develop our spirituality.
A Brief Descripttion of the Tarot Cards:
0. The Fool is the beginning of the journey, new and taking a leap of faith.
- The Magician is the burst of energy, becoming master of the tools at our disposal.
- The High Priestess is incoming energy, unofficial religions, taking in our surroundings and listening to our intuition.
- The Empress is creative power, motherhood and nurturing.
- The Emperor represents fatherhood, the patriarchy of society, rules and authority.
- The Hierophant is official religions, advice and morality.
- The Lovers represent partnership, choices, and sense of oneself.
- The Chariot is seeing both sides of an issue while pushing forward with a mission.
- The Strength card represents self-control, discipline and gentle use of personal power.
- The Hermit symbolizes looking inward for answers, solitude and higher knowledge.
- Wheel of Fortune is destiny, things out of our control.
- Justice is our ability to discern, the realization that we reap what we sew and making decisions.
- The Hanged Man is removing oneself from a situation and adopting a new perspective.
- Death is a dramatic change in our personal lives that takes us to a new place that we cannot turn back on.
- Temperance is working with grace and balance as we combine different people or things.
- Devil is when we confront our shadow, face oppressive conditions that we placed ourselves in and recognize that we have the ability to extricate ourselves.
- Tower is unexpected major change that is not personal but that can change our belief systems.
- Star is hope and faith to rebuild structures in our lives that have been destroyed.
- Moon is fear of the unknown and the realization that things are not always as they seem. We must use our intuition to navigate and listen to our dreams.
- Sun achievement, happiness, and support as we know who and where we are and what is real.
- Judgement is when we make a review of our lives and what we have accomplished to be able to move onto a next phase in life. May also be a call to action.
- World is when we have learned all of our lessons and have become fully integrated, balanced and spiritually aware.
Reference:
Johnson, Robert A.; Owning Your Own Shadow; ISBN: 006-250-422-3
Moore, Barbara; Gilded Tarot Companion; ISBN 13:978-07387-05200