Sexual Symbolism & Love in the Major Arcana · A 22-Card Reference Chart
The Major Arcana are the 22 trump cards of the Tarot, and read for love each one carries a teaching about desire, intimacy and the body, from The Fool's first leap to the wholeness of The World. This chart gives every card's intimate theme, key symbols, and upright and reversed love meanings, free to read here and to download as a printable PDF.
This is the complete reference chart of sexual symbolism and love meanings across all 22 Major Arcana Tarot cards. Each card is listed with its intimate theme, key symbols, and both upright and reversed meanings for love and relationship readings · drawn from the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition, Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), Rachel Pollack's Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom (1980), and the Golden Dawn esoteric framework. Use it as a reference during readings, print the free PDF, or read each card's full guide.
If you would like to read the cards for love and intimacy with more depth, you can learn Tarot online through our library of instructor-led courses.
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Major Arcana Love Meanings & Sexual Symbolism · All 22 Cards
Every card in the Major Arcana, from The Fool to The World, read through the lens of love, desire, and intimate connection. The upright column describes the card's teaching when desire is conscious and flowing; the reversed column shows what happens when that energy is blocked, distorted, or avoided. Each card name links to its full love and intimacy guide.
| Card | Theme | Key Symbols | Upright in Love | Reversed in Love |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 · The Fool | Innocence · The Leap | Cliff edge, white rose, small dog, open sky | New beginnings in love · Innocence · Trust · Spontaneity · Fearless desire | Recklessness · Fear of commitment · Naivete · Serial beginnings · Inability to deepen |
| I · The Magician | Charm · The First Word | Raised wand, infinity sign, four suit tools, red roses | Genuine charm · Skilled communication · Attraction · Creative connection · Intentional pursuit | Manipulation · Love-bombing · Deception · Performance over feeling · Calculated seduction |
| II · The High Priestess | Mystery · Silent Desire | Veil, crescent moon, pomegranates, Torah scroll | Sacred feminine · Unspoken desire · Intuition · Emotional depth · Magnetic attraction | Secrets creating distance · Withholding · Disconnection from body · Over-intellectualizing desire · Hidden agendas |
| III · The Empress | Sensuality · The Body's Yes | Venus glyph, wheat field, flowing water, cushioned throne | Sensuality · Fertility · Creative desire · Body wisdom · Abundant love | Over-giving · Smothering · Body image struggles · Depleted nurturing · Disconnection from pleasure |
| IV · The Emperor | Structure · Authority | Stone throne, ram heads, red robe, ankh scepter | Protective love · Stability · Commitment · Structure desire needs · Masculine devotion | Control as care · Rigidity · Domination · Emotional unavailability · Possessiveness |
| V · The Hierophant | Vows · Sacred Union | Papal cross, two acolytes, crossed keys, blessing hand | Sacred vows · Spiritual partnership · Devotion · Traditional commitment · Shared values | Obligation over love · Constricting tradition · Power imbalance · Empty vows · Fear of unconventional love |
| VI · The Lovers | Choice · Inner Marriage | Angel Raphael, Tree of Knowledge, Tree of Life, naked figures | Sacred union · Authentic choice · Values alignment · Deep partnership · Inner marriage | Misaligned values · Avoidance of choice · Loss of self in merger · Temptation · Paralysis between paths |
| VII · The Chariot | Desire in Motion | Black and white sphinxes, starry canopy, city behind, armor | Momentum in love · Directed desire · Triumph over obstacles · Confident pursuit · Willpower in romance | Obsessive pursuit · Ego-driven desire · Emotional suppression · Controlling behavior · Scattered energy |
| VIII · Strength | Gentleness · Surrender | Lion, infinity sign, open hands, flower garland | Gentle power · Taming desire with presence · Patience · Courage in vulnerability · Sacred eroticism | Suppressed desire · Lust without tenderness · Shame about appetite · Domination or submission · Self-doubt |
| IX · The Hermit | Solitude · Inner Light | Lantern, staff, mountain peak, grey cloak | Purposeful solitude · Self-knowledge before partnership · Inner wisdom · Selective intimacy · Soul searching | Isolation as avoidance · Emotional unavailability · Fear of intimacy · Withdrawal · Loneliness disguised as wisdom |
| X · Wheel of Fortune | Timing · Fate | Wheel, sphinx, Anubis, four fixed signs, TARO letters | Destined meeting · Positive timing · New phase · Trusting the turning · Karmic connection | Missed connections · Bad timing · Stuck cycles · Clinging to what is leaving · Right person wrong time |
| XI · Justice | Truth · Accountability | Scales, double-edged sword, pillar pair, crown | Honest desire · Fair partnership · Accountability in love · Balanced give-and-take · Clear boundaries | Unfairness in relationship · Self-deception · Blame imbalance · Avoiding consequences · Uneven standards |
| XII · The Hanged Man | Surrender · Waiting | Inverted figure, living tree, halo, crossed leg | Letting go of control · Seeing love differently · Voluntary pause · Spiritual surrender · Changed perspective | Paralysis · Martyrdom as devotion · Stalling · Stuck without purpose · Avoidance disguised as patience |
| XIII · Death | La Petite Mort · Rebirth | Skeleton rider, white horse, rising sun, fallen king | Transformation · Necessary ending · Grief as renewal · Letting go to receive · Rebirth of desire | Resistance to change · Relationship on life support · Fear of the unknown · Stagnation · Going through the motions |
| XIV · Temperance | Alchemy · Sacred Blend | Angel, two cups, water flow, one foot in water, irises | Alchemical union · Patient blending · Balance in partnership · Integration of opposites · Tantric awareness | Imbalance in giving · Forced compatibility · Impatience · Self-medication through love · Competing interests |
| XV · The Devil | Shadow · Loose Chains | Baphomet, chained figures, inverted pentagram, loose chains | Shadow desire · Obsession acknowledged · Bondage patterns · Raw attraction · Seeing the trap | Liberation from toxicity · Breaking codependency · Shadow integration · Reclaiming power · Chains removed |
| XVI · The Tower | Revelation · Crisis | Lightning, crown toppled, falling figures, flames | Truth revealed · Sudden breakup · Liberation through destruction · False structures collapsing · Breakthrough | Suppressed truth · Delayed crisis · Cracks beneath surface · Fear of revelation · Avoiding hard conversations |
| XVII · The Star | Vulnerability · Healing | Naked figure, two water vessels, eight-pointed star, ibis | Vulnerability after heartbreak · Healing desire · Body acceptance · Renewed hope · Openness to love | Closed after heartbreak · Loss of faith in love · Numbness · Pouring from empty vessel · Cynicism as protection |
| XVIII · The Moon | Illusion · The Unconscious | Full moon, crayfish, twin towers, howling dogs, winding path | Unnamed desires · Projections on lovers · Intuition in love · Dream realm of desire · Threshold confusion | Fog lifting · Deception revealed · Hidden agendas surfacing · Repressed instincts · False clarity |
| XIX · The Sun | Joy · Sexual Celebration | Child on horse, sunflowers, red banner, bright sun | Joyful love · Sexual celebration · Clarity in partnership · Inner child freedom · Nothing to hide | Joy blocked · Sabotaging happiness · Burnout · Loss of spontaneity · Overexposure in relationship |
| XX · Judgement | Awakening · Second Chances | Angel trumpet, rising figures, coffins, cross flag | Relational awakening · Second chances · Becoming who you are · Rising to love's call · Resurrection of desire | Refusing the call · Fear of change · Self-doubt as humility · Clinging to dead patterns · Delayed reckoning |
| XXI · The World | Wholeness · The Final Dance | Dancing figure, laurel wreath, four evangelists, completion | Wholeness in union · Sacred completion · Full-circle love · Integration of self · The dance of two | Incompletion · Stagnation as stability · Fear of next cycle · Going through motions · Holding pattern |
This chart follows the Rider-Waite-Smith ordering (Strength VIII, Justice XI). The Thoth deck reverses these positions and renames Strength as Lust · a card that addresses sacred sexuality even more directly. The symbolism here draws from Arthur Edward Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) and the Golden Dawn tradition that informed Pamela Colman Smith's illustrations.
How to Use This Chart in Love Readings
When a Major Arcana card appears in a love or relationship spread, it signals that something larger than everyday circumstance is at work. These are archetypal forces · patterns of desire, fear, transformation, and union that recur across every human life. The chart above gives you the essential meaning at a glance, but the real depth comes from noticing where a card falls in the Fool's journey.
Cards 0 through VII trace the arc from innocence to willful pursuit · the first half of desire, where we learn what we want. Cards VIII through XIV carry the inner work · patience, solitude, surrender, death and rebirth, the alchemy of blending two lives. Cards XV through XXI move through shadow, crisis, healing, and finally the wholeness of The World, where the dance of love becomes the dance of two complete selves.
Try pulling a single Major Arcana card before a love reading and asking: Where am I on this journey right now? The card will tell you not just what is happening in your relationship, but what stage of growth you are being asked to enter.
The complete 22-card chart, formatted to print and keep beside your deck.
Ready to go deeper into love and relationship readings? Relationship Readings is a complete recorded course that teaches you how to read for love, intimacy, and partnership · from choosing the right spread to navigating the most emotionally charged cards in the deck.
Sources & Tradition
The love and sexual symbolism presented in this chart draws from Arthur Edward Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910), Rachel Pollack's Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom (1980), and the Golden Dawn esoteric tradition that informed the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. The card illustrations were painted by Pamela Colman Smith and first published by Rider & Company in December 1909. The interpretive framework follows the tradition as taught at Global Spiritual Studies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Tarot cards represent sexual attraction?
The cards most directly associated with sexual attraction are The Empress (sensuality and the body's creative power), The Devil (raw desire and shadow attraction), Strength (sacred eroticism and the integration of instinct), and The Lovers (conscious union and the choice to merge). The Star also carries strong erotic symbolism through the naked figure pouring water · an image of vulnerability and openness after heartbreak.
What does the Devil card mean in a love reading?
The Devil in a love reading points to the shadow side of desire · obsession, codependency, power imbalance, or attraction you know is not healthy but cannot resist. The chains on the two figures are loose, which is the card's key teaching: the bondage is chosen, not imposed. Reversed, The Devil signals liberation · breaking free from toxic patterns and reclaiming your power in relationships.
Is the Lovers card always about romance or sex?
No. In the Tarot de Marseille, The Lovers depicted a moral choice between two paths, not a romantic scene. In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the card shows Adam and Eve beneath Archangel Raphael · it is about values alignment, authentic choice, and the inner marriage of opposites within yourself. The Lovers can appear in readings about career decisions, ethical dilemmas, or any moment where you must choose what you truly value. When it does appear in a love reading, it speaks to conscious partnership rather than mere attraction.
What is the most sensual card in the Tarot?
The Empress (III) is the most openly sensual card in the Major Arcana. Her imagery · the Venus glyph, the ripening wheat, the flowing water, the cushioned throne · communicates fertility, abundance, and the wisdom of the body. In the Thoth tradition, the Strength card is renamed Lust and depicts Babalon riding a seven-headed beast, making it arguably the most sexually explicit card in any major Tarot deck. In the Rider-Waite-Smith system, The Empress and Strength together form the sensual heart of the Major Arcana.
Does every Major Arcana card have a love meaning?
Yes. Every one of the 22 Major Arcana cards carries a teaching about love, desire, or intimate connection · because the Fool's journey is, among other things, a journey through every stage of human relationship. Even cards that seem unrelated to romance, such as The Hermit (purposeful solitude before partnership), The Tower (truth that shatters false structures), or Justice (accountability and honest boundaries), speak directly to the challenges and growth that love demands. The complete chart above maps all 22 cards to their love meanings.
A complete reference for the intimate side of the Tarot · return to it whenever you read the cards for love.
