Tarot is older than every brand of it on the internet. Seventy eight cards split into two groups: the Major Arcana, twenty two pictures of the big chapters of a life, and the Minor Arcana, fifty six cards for the small daily ones. You shuffle. You pull. You read what shows up. The card is not a fortune. It is a question wearing a costume.
How to actually read a card
Look at the picture before you look up the meaning. Your first reaction is more accurate than any book. The Tower is dramatic, yes, and also you knew before you flipped it that something was already falling. The card confirms. It rarely surprises.
Major Arcana versus Minor Arcana
The Majors are the chapter headings: love, death, the choice, the wheel turning. The Minors are the daily texture: a fight at work (the Five of Wands), a quiet sum of money arriving (the Page of Pentacles), a friend who is keeping score (the Seven of Swords). A reading with mostly Majors is asking you to look at your life. A reading with mostly Minors is asking you to look at your week.
What tarot does not do
It does not tell you the future. It does not tell you whether to leave. It does not tell you which job to take. What it does is interrupt the spinning of your own thoughts, hand you an image, and force you to put words on what you already half know. The point is the conversation between you and the card. Anyone who tells you they can predict your exact next five years from seven cards is selling something.