The 56 Minor Arcana

Each of the four suits follows the same arc. The ace is the pure beginning: the force of the suit before it has found a form. The pip cards Two to Ten then tell a development — from the first connection through friction, crisis and ripening to a state that means either fulfilment or overload.

The four court cards at the end — Page, Knight, Queen and King — describe a stance rather than a situation. They can stand for people around you, for a role you are taking on, or for the way a force becomes visible in a character. The Page learns, the Knight acts, the Queen embodies, the King takes responsibility.

This structure helps you read: a Five is a crisis in every suit, only a different one — the Five of Pentacles is material hardship, the Five of Cups is grief, the Five of Swords a victory bought too dearly. Once you know the arc, you do not have to memorise 56 meanings.

A complete tarot deck holds 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor. The Major answer the question of what is fundamentally at stake — which development, which turning point, which theme. The Minor answer how that shows up concretely: in work, in money, in a conversation, in a feeling.

That is why a Major Arcana card weighs more in a spread. When several of them lie together, something fundamental is at work; when Minor Arcana dominate, the situation is real but everyday, and usually within your power to shape.

The 22 Major Arcana are explained individually here — from the Fool to the World.

There is no calculation that turns a birth date into a Minor Arcana card. These cards describe situations, and situations are drawn, not brought with you. We say this plainly because plenty of sites claim otherwise: a page that computes the Seven of Cups from your birthday is computing something that does not exist.

What your birth date does yield is your tarot birth card: one of the 22 Major Arcana, derived from the digit sum of day, month and year. It names no event but a core theme running through your life — and it stays the same whenever you look it up.

The birth card needs the date alone — no time, no place. Birth Codex derives it from there and interprets it alongside 23 further systems in one personal reading, some of which additionally draw on your birth time and birth place. The form further up this page is the way in — you need no deck and no prior knowledge.

The 22 Major Arcana — from the Fool to the World, every card interpreted.

Calculate your tarot birth card — your personality and soul card from your birth date.

Daily tarot card — today's card and its message.