Tarot Glossary

The Tarot glossary page provides a list of phrases, words, people and places commonly encountered while studying tarot. There are brief definitions of each and every tarot related term.

Cartomancy:the art of telling fortunes by using cards.
Court cards:the Kings, Queens, Knights and Pages of the suits of the Minor Arcana.
Coins:one of the suits of the Minor Arcana also sometimes known as Pentacles, depending on the deck.
Cups:one of the suits of the Minor Arcana.
Deck:a pile of cards.
Divination:the act of predicting events.
Divinator:one who foretells events.
Divinatory:the interpretation of individual cards.
Meaning:the possible implications for the querent.
Major Arcana:the first twenty-two cards in a Tarot pack.
Minor Arcana:the remaining fifty-six cards divided into four suits.
New Age:a movement or philosophy concerned with spiritual harmony and ecology.
Occult:the supernatural.
Pack:a set of cards.
Pentacles:one of the suits of the Minor Arcana which is also known as Coins.
Pictorial symbolism:interpretations of Tarot cards based on the picture alone.
Querent:the person who seeks advice from tin Tarot cards.
Reading:the interpretation of a spread of Tarot cards.
Reader:the person performing reading.
Significator:the card chosen to represent the querent or situation in question.
Special consideration:further advice as to the best course of action relating to individual cards.
Spread:the arrangement of Tarot cards in patterns that allow divination.
Suit:one of the four sets in the Mi Arcana of a Tarot pack.
Swords:one of the suits of the Minor Arcana.
Wands:one of the suits of the Minor Arcana.
Trump:the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana.