Games - Major Arcana

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	Games - Major Arcana

The Major Arcana (Trumps Major, Major Trumps) of the Tarot deck consists of 22 cards. The Name Major Arcana is used only in esoteric practice; Tarot decks for playing call them Trumps and usually only show a roman numeral on each card, plus some decoration that is identical on all of them. In esoteric sets, each Major Arcanum depicts a scene, mostly featuring a person or several people, with many symbolic elements. In many decks, each has a number (usually in Roman numerals) and a name, though not all decks have both, and some have only a picture. The earliest decks bore unnamed and unnumbered pictures on the Majors (probably because a great many of the people using them at the time were illiterate), and the order of cards is not standardised. However, one of the most common set of names and numbers is as follows:

0 - The Fool
I - The Magician
II - The High Priestess
(or The Popess)
III - The Empress
IV - The Emperor
V - The Hierophant
(or The Pope)
VI - The Lovers
VII - The Chariot
VIII - Strength
IX - The Hermit
X - Wheel of Fortune
XI - Justice
XII - The Hanged Man
XIII - Death
XIV - Temperance
XV - The Devil
XVI - The Tower
XVII - The Star
XVIII - The Moon
XIX - The Sun
XX - Judgement
XXI - The World

(The most common variation in the order is the exchange of VIII and XI: the Rider-Waite-Smith deck uses VIII for Strength and XI for Justice, whereas the Marseilles deck uses VIII for Justice and XI for Strength.)

The images on the Major Arcana in esoteric decks are often very heavy with symbolism; in more occult decks, there is far more to the illustration than a mere depiction of the card title. The Major Arcana are usually regarded as relating to matters of higher purpose or deep significance, as opposed to the Minor Arcana which relate to the everyday world and matters of immediate significance.

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