Which tarot cards mean yes?

Of the 78 cards, 51 lean yes upright, 17 lean no, and 10 sit at maybe. Reversed, the deck turns cautious: 10 yes, 55 no, and 13 maybe. The Sun is the only card that leans yes in both directions. A leaning is something to reflect on. It does not decide for you.

Does a reversed card mean no?

Usually, though reversal is no simple minus sign. 52 of the 78 cards swap between yes and no when they land upside down, and 5 give the same answer either way: The Hanged Man, Death, The Tower, The Sun and Four of Pentacles. A reversal describes a condition, and most conditions that block a card from acting also block the thing you asked about.

Can tarot answer a yes or no question?

It can offer a leaning, and the leaning is the smallest part of the answer. A closed question gets a one-word reply with a reason attached, and the reason is what tells you whether the yes is worth having. The card reflects your situation. It cannot predict the outcome or decide for you. Questions about what someone else will do produce the least useful answers, because the card describes the situation and has no view of their decision.

78 cards · upright and reversed

Yes or no tarot

A yes-or-no reading puts a closed question to the deck and reads the card you draw as a leaning. Every card carries one in both directions. Across the seventy-eight, 51 lean yes upright, 17 lean no, and10 sit at maybe. Reversed, the count is 10 yes,55 no, and 13 maybe. The table below gives each card's leaning both ways, and every row links to the reasoning on that card's own page.

Treat the leaning as a place to start reflecting. It cannot predict an outcome or make the choice for you. What gives it weight is the sentence underneath it, which is why each card here has a whole page.

Major Arcana

The twenty-two cards for the large forces. A yes here tends to speak to direction more than logistics.

Card	Upright	Reversed
The Fool	yes	no
The Magician	yes	no
The High Priestess	maybe	no
The Empress	yes	maybe
The Emperor	yes	no
The Hierophant	yes	no
The Lovers	yes	no
The Chariot	yes	no
Strength	yes	maybe
The Hermit	maybe	no
Wheel of Fortune	yes	no
Justice	maybe	no
The Hanged Man	no	no
Death	no	no
Temperance	yes	no
The Devil	no	yes
The Tower	no	no
The Star	yes	maybe
The Moon	maybe	yes
The Sun	yes	yes
Judgement	yes	no
The World	yes	maybe

Cups

Water. Emotions, relationships, intuition.

Card	Upright	Reversed
Ace of Cups	yes	no
Two of Cups	yes	no
Three of Cups	yes	no
Four of Cups	no	yes
Five of Cups	no	maybe
Six of Cups	yes	no
Seven of Cups	maybe	yes
Eight of Cups	no	maybe
Nine of Cups	yes	no
Ten of Cups	yes	no
Page of Cups	yes	no
Knight of Cups	yes	no
Queen of Cups	yes	no
King of Cups	yes	no

Pentacles

Earth. Material world, wealth, career.

Card	Upright	Reversed
Ace of Pentacles	yes	no
Two of Pentacles	maybe	no
Three of Pentacles	yes	no
Four of Pentacles	maybe	maybe
Five of Pentacles	no	yes
Six of Pentacles	yes	no
Seven of Pentacles	maybe	no
Eight of Pentacles	yes	no
Nine of Pentacles	yes	no
Ten of Pentacles	yes	no
Page of Pentacles	yes	no
Knight of Pentacles	yes	no
Queen of Pentacles	yes	no
King of Pentacles	yes	no

Swords

Air. Intellect, conflict, truth.

Card	Upright	Reversed
Ace of Swords	yes	no
Two of Swords	no	yes
Three of Swords	no	maybe
Four of Swords	no	yes
Five of Swords	no	maybe
Six of Swords	yes	no
Seven of Swords	no	maybe
Eight of Swords	no	yes
Nine of Swords	no	maybe
Ten of Swords	no	maybe
Page of Swords	maybe	no
Knight of Swords	yes	no
Queen of Swords	yes	no
King of Swords	yes	no

Wands

Fire. Passion, creativity, action.

Card	Upright	Reversed
Ace of Wands	yes	no
Two of Wands	yes	no
Three of Wands	yes	no
Four of Wands	yes	maybe
Five of Wands	maybe	no
Six of Wands	yes	no
Seven of Wands	yes	no
Eight of Wands	yes	no
Nine of Wands	yes	no
Ten of Wands	no	yes
Page of Wands	yes	no
Knight of Wands	yes	no
Queen of Wands	yes	no
King of Wands	yes	no

What the leaning is reading

A card does not know your question. What it shows is a situation, and the leaning is a reading of whether that situation supports the thing you described. The Eight of Swords leans no because the figure in it has not yet noticed the blades are not touching her. The no comes from the picture. That is why the same card can answer yes to "will this end" and no to "should I stay".

This matters for how much weight to put on a single pull. A leaning drawn against a badly formed question is answered accurately and uselessly. If you find yourself asking the same closed question twice in a week, the question is the thing to change.

Why turning a card over usually changes the answer

Reversal moves the deck sharply toward no. 51 cards say yes upright and 10 say yes reversed, and those are almost entirely different cards: 52 of the seventy-eight swap outright between yes and no when they turn over, and only 5 hold the same answer whichever way they land: The Hanged Man, Death, The Tower, The Sun and Four of Pentacles.

That last group is the interesting one. A card that answers the same way in both directions is describing something that does not depend on timing or willingness, which is why The Tower and Death sit there, and why The Sun is the only card in the deck that says yes whichever way up it lands. If you want the four conditions a reversal usually describes, and how to tell which one is in play, reversed tarot cards is the longer treatment.

What a maybe is asking you to do

10 cards lean maybe upright: The High Priestess, The Hermit, Justice, The Moon, Seven of Cups, Two of Pentacles, Four of Pentacles, Seven of Pentacles, Page of Swords and Five of Wands. A maybe is the deck being precise. Each of these describes a situation with a decision still inside it, usually yours: an offer not yet accepted, a choice made with the eyes closed, a set of options nobody has narrowed. Drawing one points you toward the thing the card says is unsettled. Settle it, then ask again if it still matters.

Reversed, 13 cards read as maybe, against 10 upright. Reversals describe conditions, and a condition tends to hold an answer open. Read a reversed spread for what is in the way, and leave the door where it is.

Questions that produce a yes worth nothing

Three shapes come back reliably unhelpful. Questions about what another person will do, because the card reads the situation and cannot see their choice. Questions with a hidden second question inside them, where "should I take the job" is standing in for "am I allowed to leave". And questions asked to be talked out of something, which get answered, and then get asked again in different words.

The version that works is narrow and about you: what would happen if I did this, what am I not looking at, what does this situation support. Those get a leaning you can do something with, and the explanation on each card page is written to be read against that kind of question.

Common questions

Which tarot cards mean yes?: Of the 78 cards, 51 lean yes upright, 17 lean no, and 10 sit at maybe. Reversed, the deck turns cautious: 10 yes, 55 no, and 13 maybe. The Sun is the only card that leans yes in both directions. A leaning is something to reflect on. It does not decide for you.
Does a reversed card mean no?: Usually, though reversal is no simple minus sign. 52 of the 78 cards swap between yes and no when they land upside down, and 5 give the same answer either way: The Hanged Man, Death, The Tower, The Sun and Four of Pentacles. A reversal describes a condition, and most conditions that block a card from acting also block the thing you asked about.
Can tarot answer a yes or no question?: It can offer a leaning, and the leaning is the smallest part of the answer. A closed question gets a one-word reply with a reason attached, and the reason is what tells you whether the yes is worth having. The card reflects your situation. It cannot predict the outcome or decide for you. Questions about what someone else will do produce the least useful answers, because the card describes the situation and has no view of their decision.

One card and one leaning is the fastest reading there is, and the least forgiving. If you want the full meaning of any card here, upright and reversed, in love, work, and money, it is on that card's page in the card meanings. If you want the half of reading that a leaning cannot reach, which is what cards do beside each other, how to read tarot covers it. If the question you brought is not a closed one at all, tarot card of the day is the other one-card practice: no question, one image, read against the day. The arcana hubs are here too: Major Arcana and Minor Arcana.

There is also a page on what Reflecta is, if the waitlist is a step too early.