Major Arcana · XXI
The World — tarot meaning
completion, return, wholeness
Upright
Completion and wholeness. A cycle closes with everything integrated; dance, rest, and begin again.
Reversed
Nearly there — loose ends that keep a completion from landing.
In the Papus Tarot, 1909
Le Monde — The World · Hebrew letter ת Tau
Papus: the crown of the magical operation, the microcosm perfected within the macrocosm. Martinists read it as the end of the road walked in the two previous arcana.
In the Oswald Wirth Tarot, 1889
Le Monde — The World · Hebrew letter ת Tau
The crowning arcanum: Wirth sets the dancer in the wreath with the four living creatures at the corners — the elements reconciled, and the initiatic path arrived at its own beginning.
Shown from the 1909 William Rider & Sons deck (public domain). A card is read in relation to the question and the cards around it; these meanings are a starting point, not a verdict.