What Tarot Cards Are Called in Spanish
Readers keep mailing the newsroom the same question: what do you call tarot cards in Spanish? The short answer is las cartas del tarot — or, between readers, los arcanos. The long answer is this page: all 78 tarot card names in Spanish and English, printed clean, the way a reader says them over the phone.
Spanish never had to borrow its tarot vocabulary; it grew its own. The deck is la baraja or el mazo, a single card is una carta, and the twenty-two trumps are los arcanos mayores — the major arcana. The remaining fifty-six, los arcanos menores, fall into four suits any Spanish-speaking family already keeps in a kitchen drawer: bastos, copas, espadas y oros.
That is why the names below sound sturdy rather than translated. If you ever book a reading in Spanish — and every reading at this house is in Spanish — think of this list as the printed program for the show: when the voice on the line says La Estrella, you will know the Star just landed on your table.
The short answerFour words to keep
Tarot cards in Spanish are las cartas del tarot; an older, newspaper-flavored word for any playing card is el naipe. A tarot reading is una lectura de tarot, laying the cards out is una tirada (a spread), and shuffling is barajar — the deck and the verb share a root, which tells you how old the habit is.
If you only keep four words from this page, keep these: carta (card), baraja (deck), arcano (arcanum — one of the 78) and tirada (spread). Everything else below is names, and names are the easy part: most of them you can guess by sound alone.
The 22 major arcanaLos arcanos mayores
A few trumps answer to more than one name, depending on the print run. In Marseille-style decks La Sacerdotisa appears as La Papisa and El Hierofante as El Papa; Los Enamorados is often printed Los Amantes, and El Colgado also goes by El Ahorcado. Same cards, different presses.
The four suitsLos cuatro palos
Wands — Bastos
Fire · Work and willBatons, clubs, staves — in Spanish always bastos, the same suit you would find in a Spanish playing deck.
Cups — Copas
Water · Love and feelingA copa is a stemmed glass; the suit of the heart's business, raised like a toast.
Swords — Espadas
Air · Thought and truthFrom espada, sword — the word English borrowed, point first, as “spade.”
Pentacles — Oros
Earth · Money and homeLiterally “golds”: coins. Also printed pentáculos in some modern decks, but on the phone you will hear oros.
The ranks run As through Diez — ace through ten — and then comes the court: the Page is la Sota, the Knight is el Caballero (some decks print el Caballo, the horse), the Queen is la Reina and the King is el Rey. Put rank and suit together with de and you can name all fifty-six: Ace of Wands, As de Bastos. Here they are anyway, every one.
Wands — Bastos14 cards
Cups — Copas14 cards
Swords — Espadas14 cards
Pentacles — Oros14 cards
Hearing them on the phoneFrom the list to the line
Now that you can name the cards, hear them named for you. You call +1 760 514 0354, pick how many minutes you want, and a reader shuffles for your question. As each card lands she says its name — El Sol, la Reina de Copas, el As de Oros — and tells you, plainly and at your pace, what it is doing on your table.
One thing to know before you dial: every reading is conducted entirely in Spanish. This page is in English so the list travels well, but the voice on the line, the questions and the answers are all in Spanish — warm, unhurried Spanish, the kind this gazette is written in. Se habla español, siempre.
If you want more from the house before you call, start at the Tarot Gaceta front page, see how the deck meets the calendar in Tarot and Your Zodiac Sign, or read the twelve signs in Spanish in our column ¿Qué dice tu signo?
Readers' questionsNames and the deck
What do you call tarot cards in Spanish?
Tarot cards are las cartas del tarot, and a single card is una carta. Readers also call them los arcanos: the 22 trumps are los arcanos mayores and the 56 suit cards are los arcanos menores. The deck itself is la baraja or el mazo, and a reading is una lectura or una tirada.
Are the Spanish suit names the same as in Spanish playing cards?
Yes. The tarot's four suits — bastos, copas, espadas and oros — are the same four suits used in the traditional Spanish deck, la baraja española. That is one reason the Spanish names sound so natural on the phone: wands, cups, swords and coins have been table vocabulary in Spanish for centuries.
Can I get a tarot reading in Spanish by phone?
Yes — that is exactly what this house does. You call +1 760 514 0354, choose your minutes, and a reader shuffles for your question and names every card in Spanish as it lands. Readings start at $8 for 15 minutes, with blocks up to 70 minutes, paid securely by card.
Seventy-eight cards, two languages, and one voice in Spanish naming them, one by one, for you.