Animals in tarot quiz: the creatures on the cards
A lion, two sphinxes, a dolphin, a fish leaping from a cup and a jackal on the wheel: match each creature to its card and learn what it says in a reading.
- 5 questions
- ≈ 2 min
- +5 bronze keys for a flawless run
What do animals mean on tarot cards?
This quiz checks whether you remember the beasts and creatures on the Tayna deck and know why they are there. You will match a card to its animal, choose the right reading and tell a living symbol from a popular fear. Every detail comes from the descriptions of our own artwork.
Animals in tarot are rarely decoration. They show the part of a person that is hard to put into words: instinct, passion, worry, habit or plain joy. When a creature stands next to a figure, look at how the two get along. Are they fighting, resting together, or is one leading the other?
How to read a creature in a spread
Start with behaviour. A lion calmed by an open hand and a horse rearing up both speak about strength, yet they say very different things. A calm animal usually means the energy is in hand; a restless one means it is in charge.
Next, look for pairs and opposites. Many cards show creatures in twos: two sphinxes, two serpents, dark beside light. A pair like that is almost always about two sides of one nature that have to be held together rather than traded for each other.
Finally, notice where the creature comes from. A fish leaps out of a cup, a crayfish crawls out of a pool, a dolphin breaks the waves. Whatever rises from water belongs to feeling and to what has stayed hidden for a long time.
How the quiz works
Each run draws five questions from a pool of twelve, and the answers are shuffled every time. After each answer you get a short explanation and a link to the card page with the full scene. Keys are awarded for a run with no mistakes, and you can replay as often as you like.
If a card slips your mind, open its page, look at the scene and come back. An animal is easy to remember, and its meaning tends to come along with it.
All questions and answers
Open after you play: the full question set with right answers and explanations.
1. On which card does a red figure with a jackal's head climb upward?
Right answer: Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune: jackal-headed Anubis rises as the serpent slides down. Life moves in cycles, and what sinks rises again.
2. What does the lion embraced by the woman on Strength stand for?
Right answer: Passion and instinct
The lion is passion, anger and instinct. She does not fight it; her touch calms it, and it leans toward her of its own accord.
3. On which card do two glowing serpents twine above a couple?
Right answer: Two of Cups
Two of Cups: the twined serpents over the pair mean healing and exchange, and a winged lion's head spreads above them.
4. Animals on tarot cards always warn of danger.
Right answer: Myth
The Fool's little dog is the voice of caution, and the dolphin beside the King of Cups speaks of kindness and joy.
5. On which card does a horse rear up with a mane of red fire?
Right answer: Knight of Wands
Knight of Wands: the horse rears and the cloak streams like flame. A surge like this moves what has stood still for years.
6. What does the dolphin leaping by the King of Cups' throne say?
Right answer: Kindness in the depths
The dolphin is kindness and joy that live even deep in the stormy sea around the calm king's throne.
7. Which ruler has lion faces on the greaves of his armour?
Right answer: The Emperor
The Emperor: a red mantle over armour, lions on his greaves. They speak of dignity and courage.
8. Why do the Chariot's sphinxes look in different directions?
Right answer: Two forces must be held
The sphinxes are opposing forces: reason and feeling, fear and desire. The driver holds them together by will, not reins.
9. The white horse on the Death card is a sign of disaster.
Right answer: Myth
The white horse and the white rose on the banner mean purity and renewal. Behind every ending on this card, the sun rises.
10. What does the blue crayfish crawling out of the pool on The Moon mean?
Right answer: Fears from the deep
The crayfish is what rises from the deep: fears, dreams, vague hunches. Moonlight shows them, but never completely.
11. What are the arms of the Queen of Wands' throne carved as?
Right answer: Lions' heads
The lions on her throne are courage and strength that need no proof: they are simply there to lean on.
12. What does the fish leaping from the Page of Cups' cup tell you?
Right answer: Unexpected news
The fish is news, a feeling or an idea surfacing on its own from the deep. The Page watches it calmly, a little surprised.