Add up the digits of your birthday and they land on the Major Arcana: a personality card and a soul card. They don't change, which is why people come back to them.
Add the day and month of your birthday to the current year and reduce it to 22 or less. That number is your year card, and it holds from one birthday to the next.
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Pick your birthday and turn the cards.
Your year card, 2026
Same sum with this year in place of your birth year. It changes every birthday.
The cards that stay
With your full date of birth, the same sum gives your birth cards: the personality card and the soul card.
The nine pairs
Every birthday lands in one of nine families. The number from 10 to 22 is the personality card; its digits added together give the soul card, from 1 to 9.
A total of 19 gives three cards: The Sun, Wheel of Fortune and The Magician.
1The Magician · Wheel of Fortune · The Sun
2The High Priestess · Justice · Judgment
3The Empress · The Hanged Man · The World
4The Emperor · Death · The Fool (22)
5The Hierophant · Temperance
6The Lovers · The Devil
7The Chariot · The Tower
8Strength · The Star
9The Hermit · The Moon
About birth cards
How is a tarot birth card calculated?
Add day, month and year as numbers, for example 29 + 9 + 1990 = 2028. Add the digits of the result (2 + 0 + 2 + 8 = 12) until you reach 22 or less. That is your personality card; its digits added together give the soul card.
How is the year card calculated?
Add the day and month of your birthday to the year you want to see, for example 12 + 12 + 2026 = 2050. Add the digits (2 + 0 + 5 + 0 = 7) until you reach 22 or less. Someone born on 12 December has year card 7, the Chariot, in 2026.
What is the difference between a birth card and a year card?
The birth card comes from your full date of birth and never changes. The year card swaps your birth year for the current year, so it changes every birthday.
What is the difference between the two cards?
The personality card is how you meet the world. The soul card is the quieter one underneath, the thing that stays the same across the years.
What if my total is 22?
22 stands for the Fool, the card numbered 0. Its digits add up to 4, so the Fool pairs with the Emperor.
Is this the same as a zodiac card?
No. Zodiac cards come from your sun sign; birth cards come from numerology. Many readers use both.