Episode 30: Tarot By the Numbers

This episode was recorded in December 2020 when Melissa had a birthday. Strap in everyone, we get nerdy this week. Listener Chuck K reminded us to talk about the birth card stuff that Hilary and Jaymi use in their readings. So, we did, and Melissa got to be the primary test case. She was kicking and huffing as we gladly analyzed her from this tarot by the numbers perspective. 

How do you calculate birth cards? Well, it’s easier than you think. Add the numbers together. Keep adding until the number is between 1 and 22 (this is your Personality Number). You may then add the digits of that sum to find your Soul Number.

[birth month, birth day, birth year]

____ + ____ + ____ + ____ = ____ [birth number]

“Since we are looking for twenty-two possible results for a Personality Card, then a method of adding dates that maximizes these results will serve us best. That is why [Mary K. Greer] recommends[s] the addition method.”

—Who Are You in the Tarot?, p. 36

If you get a single-digit or a sum greater than 22:

Since there are only 22 cards in the Major Arcana, reduce the number to 22 or less (to result in a single-digit).

In cases like these, it results in the same Personality and Soul Card (in Melissa’s case, she is a Single 9 Hermit; in Hilary’s case, she is a Single 4 Emperor; and Jaymi reduces her 21 World card to a 3 Empress).

If you get 19, you have three cards: The Sun/The Magician/The Wheel of Fortune (MLK is a 19, for example)

If you get 22, Emperor/Fool: combine great impulsiveness and mastery/22 is a master number in Numerology

The constellations of the tarot run through the Magician to the Hermit card. For example, if you get a 16, you’re not the Tower alone! You’re in the constellation of the Chariot (Mastery through Change 16/7) because 16 reduces by addition to 7 (1+6=7). 

Homework: Test out the Birth Card systems and see what they have to say for you.

Resources:

Tarot for Your Self, 35th-anniversary edition by Mary K Greer

Who Are You in the Tarot?: Discover Your Birth and Year Cards and Uncover Your Destiny by Mary K Greer

The Tarot School’s Birth Card Calculator

Want to go deeper? Take the Amberstone’s Birth Card course

Donate to St Louis Metro Trans and make Melissa happy 

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