Major Arcana
From SourceryForge
The Major arcana are a part of the tarot. In fact they are the part that distinguishes tarot decks from regular playing card games, which most likely predate Tarot in Europe. Basically, there are two theories about how they were invented:
- There existed a deck of playing cards with five suits, the one that was trump in the usual trick-taking games was enlarged and adorned by card makers or players.
- The trumps were added to an existing deck with four suits in order to provide permanent trumps for trick-taking games
| Name (Rider Waite Deck) | Name (Tarot de Marsailles) | |
| 0 | The Fool | The Fool |
| 1 | The Magician | The Juggler |
| 2 | The High Priestess | The Popess |
| 4 | The Emperor | The Emperor |
| 5 | The Hierophant | The Pope |
| 6 | The Lovers | The lovers (or Love) |
| 7 | The Chariot | The Chariot |
| 8 | Strength | Justice |
| 9 | The Hermit | The Hermit |
| 10 | The Wheel of Fortune | The Wheel |
| 11 | Justice | Strength |
| 12 | The Hanged Man | The Hanged man |
| 13 | Death | Death (or nothing at all) |
| 14 | Temperance | Temperance |
| 15 | The Devil | The Devil |
| 16 | The Tower | The House of God |
| 17 | The Star | The Star |
| 18 | The Moon | The Moon |
| 19 | The Sun | The Sun |
| 20 | Judgement | Judgement |
| 21 | The World | The World |
Contents |
Correspondences
These are the correspondences as detailed by Paul Foster Case. They are usually used with the Rider Waite Deck and its clones. they draw heavily on Golden Dawn material. The reader should be aware that this is not the only possible correspondence system. See Tarot correspondences and related articles for a broader discussion on the subject.
Overview Table
| Name | Hebrew letter | Value | Letter meaning | >Colour | musical note |
| The Fool | aleph | 1 | ox | pale yellow or yellow(1) | E |
| The Magician | beth | 2 | House | yellow | E |
| The High Priestess | gimel | 3 | Camel | blue | G sharp |
| The Empress | daleth | 4 | Door | green | F sharp |
| The Emperor | heh | 5 | Window | red | C |
| The Hierophant | vau | 6 | Nail or hook | Red-Orange | C sharp |
| The Lovers | zayin | 7 | Sword | Orange | D |
| The Chariot | cheth | 8 | Fence | Orange-Yellow | D sharp |
| Strength | teth | 9 | Serpent | Yellow | E |
| The Hermit | Yod | 10 | Hand (open) | Yellow-green | F |
| The Wheel of Fortune | kaph (1) | 20 | Hand (closed) | Violet | A sharp |
| Justice | lamed | 30 | Ox Goad | Green | F sharp |
| The Hanged Man | mem | 40 | Water | Blue | G sharp |
| Death | nun | 50 | Fish | Blue-Green | G |
| Temperance | samekh | 60 | Prop | Blue | G sharp |
| The Devil | ayin | 70 | Eye | Blue-Violet | A |
| The Tower | peh | 80 | Mouth | Red | C |
| The Star | tzaddi | 90 | Fish-hook | Violet | A sharp |
| The Moon | qoph | 100 | Back of head | Violet-red or violet-indigo | B |
| The Sun | resh | 200 | Head | Orange | D |
| Judgement | shin | 300 | Tooth | Red | C |
| The World | Tau | 400 | Mark | Blue-violet or Indigo | A |
