The Tarot is a deck of seventy-eight cards made up of two sections, today commonly known as the Major and Minor Arcana.

The Major Arcana is a section of twenty-two cards, each showing a universal theme (what Jung would have called an archetype). The Major Arcana are also called the Trumps.

The Minor Arcana is a section of fifty-six cards, very similar to our deck of fifty-two playing cards, with four suits, made up of cards from One to Ten and four Court Cards (King, Queen, Knight, Page). The only difference between the common deck of playing cards and the Minor Arcana of the Tarot is the addition of a Knight. The Joker which appears in our deck of playing cards is very similar to the Fool of the Tarot. The Minor Arcana of the Tarot are also called the Suits.

We do not really know if the original Tarot deck was made up of two parts or if they were combined at a later date. There is compelling evidence to indicate that the two sections had separate origins and were combined quite early on to make a single deck.