Tarot card meanings

How to read tarot card meanings

Every tarot card carries a core meaning, but a card is never read in isolation — its message shifts with your question, its position in a spread, and the cards drawn around it. Use the meanings below as a starting vocabulary, then let your intuition fill in the rest.

Major vs Minor Arcana. The 78-card deck splits in two. The 22 Major Arcana (The Fool through The World) mark big, fated life themes and turning points — when several show up in a reading, powerful forces are at play. The 56 Minor Arcana describe everyday life, divided into four suits: Wands (fire — passion, drive, creativity), Cups (water — emotions, love, intuition), Swords (air — thoughts, truth, conflict) and Pentacles (earth — money, work, the body). Whichever suit dominates tells you the arena your situation is really about.

Upright vs reversed. A card drawn upright expresses its meaning openly; reversed, that energy is often blocked, turned inward, or only just beginning. Reversals aren't “bad” — they simply invite a softer, more internal reading of the same theme.

Tap any card below to read its full upright and reversed meaning with Wooly.

Cards by theme

A quick-reference shortlist for four questions that come up again and again — not every card that touches the theme, just the clearest ones. Each entry names whether it's the upright or reversed meaning that applies.

💰 Money & abundance

❤️ Love & connection

⚠️ Warning & shadow cards

💼 Career & direction

For reflection & entertainment ✦ — a card's meaning always bends to your real question and the cards around it.

Major Arcana

The 22 cards of life’s big lessons and turning points.

Suit of Wands 🔥

Fire — passion, creativity, drive and ambition.

Suit of Cups 💧

Water — emotions, love, relationships and intuition.

Suit of Swords ⚡

Air — thought, truth, conflict and communication.

Suit of Pentacles 🌿

Earth — money, work, home and the body.

For reflection & entertainment ✦