78 cards: 22 Major Arcana for the big themes, 56 Minor Arcana for everyday life, split into 40 numbered cards and 16 court cards.
Each suit is one element. The element sets the area of life; the number or court card sets what is happening there.
The tarot shows infinite loops in three cycles. The main cycle is the 22 Major Arcana, from the Fool to the World. The World is the Fool realised: it returns to nothingness (the Fool) and projects outward into the Magician, beginning again. Cards express a movement of energy, a relationship from divine to material.
Numbers express a creative process. The 40 numbered cards show the four elements through ten numbers: events, circumstances and experiences, and sometimes attitudes or whole chapters of life. Note the suit’s element, look at how the scene interacts with the suit symbol, then combine that with the number.
The Qabalistic Tree of Life with the deck laid on it. Each of the ten spheres holds its four numbered cards (with the court cards on 2, 3, 6 and 10), and the 22 Major Arcana are the paths between the numbers to enlightenment. For example, moving from the 5 of Cups to the 6 of Cups, the way to get there is through the path of Justice.
Your birth cards come from your date of birth. Add the month, day and full year together, then add the digits of that total. A result of 22 or less is your personality card; reduce it to a single digit for your soul card. Cards that share the same single digit form your constellation.
All 78 cards of the original 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck. Tap a card to open it in its tab.
Card art by Pamela Colman Smith, first published by Rider & Co. in 1909 (public domain). Scans of an original printing restored by Steve P.