How many tarot cards are there, and do I

A standard tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana (the big life-themes, 0–21) and 56 Minor Arcana (four suits of 14 — Ace through 10, plus Page, Knight, Queen, King).

No, you don't need to learn all 78 first. Here's a gentler way in:

• Start with the 22 Majors. They tell the big story of a life — Fool's Journey, Death, The Star. Memorize those and you can already read half a spread.
• Then add one suit at a time. Cups (feelings) → Swords (thoughts/conflict) → Wands (action/energy) → Pentacles (work/money/body). One suit a week is plenty.
• Read the picture before the keywords. That's how the deck was designed. If you can describe what you see (who's holding what, where they're looking, what's in the background), you're already reading.
• One card a day for a few weeks beats a cram session. Pull a single card in the morning, glance at the meaning, and see whether the day matches. That's a real reading, not homework.
• Reversals can wait. Read upright-only for the first month. Add reverse meanings once uprights feel natural.

The goal isn't to memorize a dictionary — it's to recognize the card when it shows up. That happens by *looking at lots of them*, not by studying them all up front.

If you want, I can pull a single practice card for you right now and walk you through how to read just that one — picture, position, and one small thing to notice about your day.