The Majors as a journey

The 22 Major Arcana read in order, 0 to XXI, as one road: where it starts, where the count puts the Fool, and what each step adds.

Zero, before the count

The Fool has no number. He is zero, and that is the point: he is not behind the other cards, he is before them. Court de Gébelin, writing on the tarot in 1781, called the Fool the zero of the count, the card that takes nothing and that nothing takes. Read as a journey, the Majors start with the one card that has not started yet.

The road, 0 to XXI

Each card below has its own page. Read them in order once, five moves each, before you read any of them in depth.

Where the count puts the Fool

The old writers did not agree. Levi and Papus set the unnumbered Fool just before the last card. Paul Foster Case set him first. Etteilla lifted him above the count. Zero is the hub, not the first spoke, so it fits wherever a wheel is about to turn. On this site he is first, as the Golden Dawn placed him, with Aleph and the element air.

Two names for one card

The Isis deck names each Major by the figure on it: the Fool is Horus the Child, the Magician is Thoth, the Empress is Isis. The card is the same card; the page keeps the standard name in its title and says what the deck calls it.

Try it

Lay the 22 pages out in order and read only the one thing people miss on each. Where does the road turn for you?