Tarot Birth Card: Life Guidance from the Major Arcana

Everyone needs a guide to help them through the difficult times. A guide to turn to when we need spiritual counselling, or to offer advice when required. So who or what are these important life guides? And where do you find them? Meet your tarot birth card.

How to Calculate your Tarot Birth Card

Everyone has at least one, and some have two. One lucky group has three. They are the Major Arcana tarot archetypes. It is a simple thing to work out which your guide is. Simply add up the digits in your birth date. So someone born on the 23rd day of October in 1985 would have the following calculation 2 + 3 + 1 + 0 + 1 + 9 + 8 + 5 = 29, then 2 + 9 = 11 gives us Justice. Note that 11 can be further reduced to 2, giving the second archetype, The High Priestess.

Another example: say someone born on 3rd day of November 1996. 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 6 = 30 then 3 + 0 = 3, The Empress.

Should your birth date reduce to 19, then you have three tarot birth cards; The Sun, The Wheel of Fortune and the Magician. Consider yourself blessed three times over.

Birth Card Pairs

This is just one method of working out your tarot birth card. There are others which will give you a pair of cards. For instance once you reduce your birth date to a double digit number, you multiply the two together - say your number is 36 (3 +6 = 9, The Hermit), then 3 x 6 will give you 18, The Moon. Perhaps your number is 23 -The Hierophant and 2 x 3 = 6, The Lovers.

Should your result be greater than 21, simply multiply the digits again. It’s possible that you will end up with the same card as when you added up the individual birth digits - that means your birth card has a very strong influence in your life. There are online calculators that can find your birth card pair for you.

How to Connect with Your Major Arcana Archetype

You might ask how a mere picture card can help during times of trouble and stress? It’s just an image after all. We know that it means ‘transformation’ or ‘abundance’ because our tarot book says so, but how can we glean personal life-long knowledge and guidance from this one card or pair of cards?

Use a deck with artwork you enjoy. It’s pointless trying to make friends with your birth card if you hate the way it looks.

You may find, once you have discovered your birth card or cards, that you feel a small frisson of recognition. Someone who connects to the Hermit might say, “Oh… that’s why I like spending time by myself.” Or a person who has the World (& Empress) might recognize that they’ve always felt they were destined for higher things.

It is important to spend some time studying the card. Get to know what the archetype stands for, think about how the Fool, the eternal traveller, would feel when confronted by this persona or life stage (not all the Major Arcana are illustrated by human-like figures). Once he has taken the deeper meaning into his psyche, how then would he use the information to move forward?

Let’s take the Devil. Just imagine the Fool (who is never a birth card) wandering into the vicinity of this archetype. He’s just come from the influence of Temperance where he has understood the importance of balance and moderation. Now he comes face-to-face with this terrifying entity and all his previous experience evaporates. He begins to feel stuck, trapped, caught in some recurring nightmare. He feels his power being drawn out of his very being. Somewhere, in the back of his mind he hears the Devil speak, “You are doing this to yourself, you know?” The Fool begins to gather his thoughts and finds that yes, he can change direction, change his perception and ultimately free himself and walk away. Just like Glinda in the Wizard of Oz says, “You are capable of more than you know.”

Really Get to Know Your Birth Card

It’s all very well finding your tarot birth card, saying, “Oh that’s cool,” then forgetting all about it. Many will do this. However, to really get the benefit of the card’s advice, you need to dig deep. There are several things you can try:

Describe the card in great detail. This is best written in your tarot journal.

Research each symbol and colour in the card.

Investigate what the number of the card means.

Meditate on the card. Pretend you meet them in person or as a huge sculpture.

Have a conversation with the card. Ask what you need to learn from it at this time.

Carry the card (or a photo of it on your phone) with you and look at it as often as possible.

Try to feel the emotional energy that surrounds the archetype. Feel it in your body. Is it good or uncomfortable? Do you want to absorb it even more or do you want to gently let it go?

Notice if the card or its energy appears in your dreams.

Notice when situations arise that could be helped by using the energy of your personal tarot card.

The Theme of Your Birth Card

The theme of your tarot birth card is like a golden thread that runs through your life. Someone deeply connected to the High Priestess will have a highly developed sense of intuition that will always be a factor in how their life unfolds. Another might have the Tower, which gives them an extraordinary ability to deal with crises - this person could find themselves working in disaster zones or counselling people affected by war or global events. The Hermit will manifest in some people as a need for solitude, introspection and the discovery of their unique life path, or perhaps helping others to find their own path; acting as a guiding light on their journey.

Examine the theme of your birth card to see where it has surfaced in your life so far. If you are lucky enough to have two cards, you can interact with them separately, or you can see how they work as a pair.

Turning to Your Birth Card for Advice

By the time you have studied your card, or cards, in such detail as described, you will be able to tune into it at any time. All you have to do is ask yourself what advice would your card offer in this situation, or in that crisis, or when dealing with those obstacles. It becomes almost second-nature because you have taken on the energy of that archetype. It becomes part of who you are - it already was part of you, but it takes time to recognize it.

The cards used for illustration purposes are from The Golden Tarot by Kat Black. Photos by author.

Note: Originally published by the author at Lunar Café.

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