Meaning of the Marseille Tarot Cards: A Guide to the 22 Major Arcana

What Is a “Card” in the Marseille Tarot?

A complete Marseille Tarot deck has 78 cards, divided into two sets: 22 major arcana (the “major cards” or “trumps”) and 56 minor arcana, spread across four suits — Batons, Cups, Swords and Coins. The 22 major cards are numbered in Roman numerals from I (The Magician) to XXI (The World), with one exception: The Fool, the only card with no number.

This structure was not esoteric in origin. The tarot appeared in northern Italy in the 15th century as a parlour game, and it was only from the late 18th century that it began to be used for divination. The name “tarot de Marseille” itself only became widespread in the 19th century. In other words: the images we interpret today were first and foremost game figures, which calls for caution about the “Egyptian” or “Kabbalistic” origin stories one sometimes reads.

How to Read a Card: Our 4-Step Method

The same card does not “say” the same thing in every spread. At SagaVoyance, our method comes down to four simple steps:

1. Describe before interpreting. Look at the card without preconceptions: who is the figure, what are they doing, where are they looking, what are they holding? Description limits fanciful interpretations.
2. Place the card within the sequence. Each arcanum is illuminated by its neighbours: The Magician acts, The High Priestess reflects, The Empress creates, The Emperor structures. The progression is not a hierarchy; it is a chain.
3. Read its position in the spread. A card in the “past”, “present” or “future” position does not tell the same story. It is the spread, more than the card alone, that produces meaning.
4. Look at the neighbouring cards. A card is never isolated: it is the combination that adds nuance. The Fool surrounded by stable cards does not say the same thing as The Fool surrounded by disruptive cards.

Reversed Meaning: A Modern Convention, Not an Ancient Rule

An important methodological point, valid for every page of this guide: in the Marseille Tarot tradition, cards are not read “upside down”. Interpretation depends on the card's position in the spread and on its surroundings. “Reversed” reading (an upside-down card = inverted meaning or the card's shadow) is a modern convention, inherited in particular from other decks such as the Rider-Waite-Smith, and popularised by contemporary practice.

That does not mean it is useless: used well, it offers a complementary angle for exploring the darker side of a card. But it should not be presented as an ancient rule of the Marseille Tarot, nor as a single truth. On each card page, we therefore indicate what the “reversed meaning” adds — while making clear that it is a modern reading, to be used with discernment.

The 22 Major Arcana, Card by Card

The pages below detail each card: description of the image, symbolism, upright meaning (love, work, finances), what the reversed meaning adds, practical advice and associations.

Pilot batch already published:

• The Fool — the card with no number, the great departure and letting go.
• The Magician — arcana I, talent, initiative and beginnings.
• The High Priestess — arcana II, intuition, hidden knowledge and patience.
• The Empress — arcana III, creativity, fertility and abundance.
• The Emperor — arcana IIII, structure, authority and foundations.

The following cards (The Pope, The Lover, The Chariot, Justice, The Hermit, The Wheel of Fortune, Strength, The Hanged Man, the unnamed arcana, Temperance, The Devil, The House of God, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World) will be added progressively, in the order of the sequence. This page will be updated with each new publication.