You can break down tarot into two big chunks: the major arcana and the minor arcana. Cracking open a new box of tarot cards, the distinction is usually made clear. The first 22 cards you should see will be known as the Major arcana. These cards reflect the journey of life through the eyes of card 0, The Fool. These tarot cards reflect key moments or milestones in our life like a huge victory (the Chariot), finding true love (the Lovers), or even finding the light at the end of the tunnel (the Star). The minor arcana represents the hum drum of daily life shown through the suit cards – the Wands suit, the Cups suit, the Swords suit, and the Pentacles suit.

If you are learning the cards and developing your own card-slinging practice, pulling a card a day is the most common way to do it. So what happens when you pull a major arcana? If you pull the Tower card, does that mean someone is going to fall out of a tower? No, probably not, and it most likely won’t feel that major all the time. In this post, we’ll break down the impact major arcana cards have in both a big and small way.

How Major Arcana cards Play Out in Mundane Life

Frankly, the cards can be literal at times when performing a predictive reading. If you pull the Tower, you could encounter a disaster in your day. If you pulled the Hermit, you might be feeling standoffish or like you need to be by yourself, needing to reflect on your intrinsic world. On an energetic level, major arcana cards represent a shift around you. Upcoming changes are bubbling to the surface and your tarot cards are showing that through the majors. If you’re pulling major arcana cards on consecutive days, that is something to take note of. The impact of a major arcana card could mean a significant life event/change, especially when there’s a pattern, but generally, they can come off as notable blips in your day.

What happens if most of your tarot spread is Major Arcana?

Duck and hide! There’s no way out, you’re doomed!… Naah, just kidding. When there are many or all major arcana cards in a tarot spread, it could indicate big changes coming your way. Depending on the cards, it can show you that your current circumstances are shifting–good or not-so-good, with or without you. In a more woo-woo sense, it can mean destiny is taking its course and these events are fated. This doesn’t mean, however, that you are completely helpless. You can always choose how to react to a situation, even if you can’t exercise total influence over it.

The tarot cards, in this way, can show you how to better understand these unavoidable circumstances, and thus, understand its lessons overall.

Interpreting Cards in your Daily Tarot Draw

So you’ve been doing your daily tarot pulls, as usual, and you pull a BIG ONE. What do you do? Do you spend your day waiting for the other shoe to drop? Are you supposed to do something about it? “How is this going to play out?” you think. Well, for starters, maybe don’t spend your day anticipating something to happen. Sounds anxiety inducing, right? Especially when you pull a serious card like Judgement or the Devil. Let’s not allow our imaginations to get the best of us.

If you were to take a predictive approach to tarot and are using it to find out how events will play out during your day, let that tarot card sit in the back of your mind. Hopefully, you have ten minutes in your morning to reflect on this tarot card. You could use this time to consider its themes as objective information. Once you have those ideas fresh in your head, write keywords (the pros and cons of it) down. After that, you can go about your day like you would normally. Let your subconscious catch on to these themes throughout your day, and maybe even make note of when you notice a theme or keyword playing out. Alternatively, you can wait until the end of your day and journal about it.

When reading tarot for guidance, the same idea applies but the perspective shifts onto you. Focusing on what’s in your control, taking accountability and gathering themes from the cards will guide you throughout your day.