Many tarotists use numerology to complement their tarot reading. I’m gonna come out right now and tell you that I’m not one of them, but I do think it’s fun to find out what your tarot birth card is! This as simple as working out your numerological ‘life path number,’ and checking out the corresponding tarot card.
Sorry, what’s numerology?
Good point. Essentially, its the study of the symbolism, science and resonance of numbers. According to numerology, every person has a unique set of numbers assigned to them when they are born. These are derived chiefly from your name and your date of birth.
This intriguing numerology/tarot chart will not be explained in this article.
Via livechennai.com
These numbers are used by numerologists to determine things about your life and character. Your behaviour, your strengths and weaknesses, what you like and dislike, how you interact. Furthermore, many numerologists believe that by looking at your numbers, they can predict key events in your life and opportunities that may arise along the path.
The basic principle is that every number has a vibrational frequency, which means it’s emitting energy. Your birth numbers vibrate at particular frequencies, so theoretically you, too, are emitting energy at these frequencies. This has the power to influence the world around you, what you attract into your life, your relationships with others and how you move through the world.
If you’re interested in learning more about numerology, I’d start with numerology.com, or if you’d like to take things further, tarot reader Joanna Ash runs a one-to-one online course — contact her directly to find out more.
Now for the tarot bit: finding your birth card!
First, you need your life path number. To get this, add up all the digits in your birthday. My birthday is 22nd January 1982 — or, in numbers, 22.01.1982.
So the sum would be: 2 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 1 + 9 + 8 + 2 = 25.
You’re aiming for a single digit number, so if yours is above 9, you then ‘reduce’ this number by adding the two together. Keep reducing til you get a single digit. In my case, 2 + 5 = 7.
Seven is my life path number!
Now, find the corresponding card from the major arcana. In my case, card seven is The Chariot. So what does that say about me? Well, that’s incredibly personal. To me, it suggests I’m driven, focused, in constant motion. It’s true — I have a tendency to go at life full-pelt, sometimes a little too fast. On the downside, I can be very blinkered, not always seeing the full picture as I gallop towards my goal.
Yee-ha.
Obviously you can’t sum up (literally) an entire person in this way. You are not your birth card, your life path number, your star sign or anything else you can figure out by adding up numbers on a website!
But sometimes it’s nice to have symbols, words, cards — anything at all – to hold onto, to help make sense of what we are doing and why. When I think about The Chariot and how it might influence my life, it helps me to remember not to be so blinkered. And when I feel stuck, I can think ‘hang on Beth, be the bloody Chariot!’, and draw down a bit of that forward-moving energy to help me get up and attem.
Over to you!
As you know, Tarot School is all about you finding your own interpretations to the tarot cards, so I’m not going to provide you with a long, rambling description of what each card means (though can look up cards on my blog if you’re interested in my take.)
Instead here’s a quick reference guide to the nine possible cards with a few really basic ideas to get you started. Feel free to totally ignore my suggestions and come up with your own!
1. The Magician: resourceful, proactive… someone who really knows how to make shit happen.
2. The High Priestess: a deeply intuitive and creative person, someone with psychic tendencies. Secretive and mysterious.
3. The Empress: someone who likes the finer things in life, a posh hippy, an earth-mama, a nurturer, a gardener.
4. The Emperor: a person who likes structure, who is a natural leader, who is strong, protective and resilient.
5. The Hierophant: a teacher, someone in touch with their roots and their history and ancestry. A guide, a mentor, a counsellor, a pillar of the community.
6. The Lovers: a loving, caring person who sees more than one side to every story and who works hard to make good choices in life.
7. The Chariot: someone who moves fast, who has great focus and energy for their projects, who doesn’t let stuff stand in their way.
8. This varies according to your tarot deck! Sometimes this is Justice: a clear thinker with a strong sense of right and wrong. Or it might be Strength: someone with a strong heart, who always tries to act from a really loving place.
9. The Hermit: a thoughtful, reflective person who takes the time to listen to their inner wisdom. Again, a teacher or a mentor.
The inevitable love match
Once you’ve figured out your own card, naturally it’s time to decide if your relationships are worth pursuing or if you should just break the hell up right now. Got a partner or three? Work out their birth cards and see how they fit with yours! Or do the same with your bestie. So much fun.
I tried this out with my boat-dwelling neighbours Kelly and Claire. Well actually I just told them I was gonna make them famous on Autostraddle and didn’t mention that I would be providing an in-depth and highly accurate analysis of their relationship.
Kelly’s card is The Magician and Claire’s is The Hierophant. I’ve concluded that this means Claire is totally frustrated by the way that Kelly just wants to DO FUN STUFF all the time, when she’d rather be discussing social history over a goblet of holy wine. But Claire helps Kelly to always be true to herself, whilst Kelly keeps Claire’s feet on the ground when she’s getting all theoretical. Sex-wise, I’m guessing it’s a hot hot mix of the good old, with plenty experimental stuff too.
So, dear reader, it’s selfie time! What’s your birth card? And what does it say about you? Let us know in the comments, or post a photo of you with your card!
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Hmmm…I’m the Emperor…not sure how accurate that is :p I sort of need structure, but I’m also quite a floaty, ungrounded person. I actually have an Arthurian tarot set, so I’ve no idea which one this would correspond to.
Me too. I’m no natural leader, and I’m not structured although I might benefit from some I think.
Mine is the empress and I loved the description! thanks for the post, Beth (:
I’m the hierophant and it’s pretty spot-on for me. Thanks! I love these articles.
I am 2. The High Priestess: a deeply intuitive and creative person, someone with psychic tendencies. Secretive and mysterious.
I like this. *she says, mysteriously*
Laughing my ass off because my card is The Empress, which makes me “someone who likes the finer thi…” YES SOMEONE WHO LIKES LADIES DAMN RIGHT!
Look at that card:
The joke is on you and your grossly heteronormative deck design, Pamela Colman Smith :D
PERFECT. I feel like The Empress is the number one lady-lovin’ lady in the tarot, even when they’re not a lady at all.
Haha! It’s really fun seeing which card everyone is!
Here’s another website where you can quickly look up your card. The interpretations here are really standard (much better to come up with your own from looking at/working with the card in your hand!) but they offer a little more detailed starting point than the bulletpoints I included…
http://www.micheleknight.co.uk/articles/tarot/your-tarot-birth-card/
I’m The Chariot as well, which is awesome because seven has been my favorite number for as long as I can remember!
Yay for a combination of two of my favorite things!
For a quickie numerology calculator, I usually pop over here:
(Birthday) http://www.paulsadowski.com/Birthday.asp
(Name) http://www.paulsadowski.com/Numbers.asp
For my birthday, I am a 4…so, the Emperor!
Ehh, I can see it. Most of my life has been about figuring out what I stand for, building my own foundation for life from scratch. Very Emperor/4 stuff.
Nice pic! I love the idea of The Emperor building on what they stand for – that their foundation is one of firmly-held principles. That’s about as solid as it gets, right?
And wow that website. Just wow. This is how the internet used to look!!! I had completely forgotten!!
Right? I have no idea how long that website has been hanging out, but it is perfectly minimal. I love it, though. Used it endlessly when I named my kids. ;)
Numerology: The easiest way for a normally-reasonable person to find themself considering kooky alternate name spellings.
Umm… I recognise that marina!! My girlfriend is totally moored around the corner from you guys! I’m a little bit starstruck… This series of articles and your blog was what inspired me to finally pick up the tarot deck I’d been given years before. When I first admitted to my super-logical girlfriend that I was doing tarot, she thought I’d lost my mind. I explained that I just found contemplating the symbols to be a new way of thinking about life, that it helped me see things from new angles and consider them more deeply. Now tarot readings have become a real ritual with us, a lovely way of checking in with each other and seeing how we’ve been, often uncovering things that might not easily come up in conversation. Now when we see the swan family floating around the marina, we can’t help thinking of the Mother and Son of Cups from the Wild Unknown deck. Anyway, um, if you’re up near the road and see a kinda rusty blue boat with no name and lots of blue tarp covering up leaky bits, you should totally knock on and say hi :)
I have lately been interested in mathematics’ presence in nature. I remember numerology stuff from being a teenager and taking quizzes online. But there is something interesting about how numbers play a role in our lives. For instance the fact that the Fibonacci spiral exists on so many levels in nature is pretty mind blowing.
My birthday card is 5, the Hierophant. I work part time as an educator, and I’m very passionate about education and children’s needs. I’ve been researching lately revolutionary education, for instance I am reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere. My past was spent trying to follow the rules, avoiding conflict, etc. I think lately I’ve been growing into myself and examining whether these rules were there to serve me or someone else.
This card always seemed slightly boring to me. I pretty much never draw it in readings. So I haven’t spent much time studying it or it’s relationships to other cards. I got to say it seems pretty spot on for me, haha.
Y’know, I always found The Hierophant a little bit boring. Until I paid more attention to the Shadowscapes version, check it: http://www.shadowscapes.com/Tarot/cards.php?suit=0&card=5
I fell in love with that wise old tree. I think being a teacher is one thing, and your passion for education, children, pedagogy, challenging the norms is what makes a hierophant. It’s easy to see this card as being caught up in tradition. I don’t think it’s that simple. It’s about understanding what has come before, keeping what is needed, challenging what is not. it sounds perfect for you!
OMG! @ratscantknit!
I will knock on your girlfriend’s boat tomorrow! I’m in the little red one with no name (she’s called Swallow) on the branchy-off bit. My 92% accurate gaydar tells me I have totes bumped into your girlfriend going for a shower (I don’t have one either!)
And the swans, yes! I love how every single day there’s like one who gets stuck on the other side of the bridge. All day. As if they can’t get out and walk around.
I am so glad you are into tarot. Now you can show this to your GF and she will have to get on down with it all because us being neighbours is *a sign*
Hello, I am super-logical girlfriend who has just been advised that she has been outed on Autostraddle. If you have seen a short lesbian with dyed red with shaved bits alternative lifestyle hair grumping round the marina it is indeed me. My boat does have a shower but the temperature can be a bit…temperamental so i use the boathouse when i can. Definitely stop by and say hi! I’m working til late the next couple of days but now we know where each other live, soo…hurrah for the internet!
also, my card here is the lovers, which seems a somewhat charitable interpretation of my character.
Hello neighbour!! I am totally coming round for tea!
And a shower!
Hurrah for the internet!
Wherever you guys are, you are living the dream.
I have plans to buy a small sailboat to live on once I’m out of school, and I haven’t met anyone else yet who is serious about this sort of thing who isn’t a retired older person.
but you exist! this makes me happy to know that there is a community of boat-dwelling queers out there :)
You should 100% do that @tasha!! Wow, a *sailboat* …that is so cool.
We’re in Manchester, north UK. There’s a big ol’ canal network covering large parts of the UK so living on a boat is sorta unusual but not that uncommon here.
As for ‘living the dream’ – ha ha!
I am The Magician. Someone resourceful who gets shit done!
…yeah, right…
Not that I don’t have an abundance of creativity and resourcefulness, it just ends up stagnating. :p Though I do like the thought of that: I have all of this untapped potential, just under the surface. Like Aladdin. Only white and female.
That kind of IS the Magician, though. As no. 1, the Magician is the first person/idea that the Fool encounters. The Magician opens up the Fool’s mind with exciting possibilities and potential, giving motivation and energy to continue on, seeking more…..but the Magician doesn’t necessarily tell you what you are supposed to DO with that potential. I’ve always thought of it as sort of the “slacker genius best friend” card. Definitely not a bad one, though!
This is a really neat article, thanks for sharing it with us!
I did the calculations and my card ended up being The Emperor.
My girlfriend’s ended up being The Chariot.
My sister did this for everyone in my family and it’s pretty hilariously accurate:
My dad, eldest brother and I are all hermits- we are pretty introspective and curious about the world, but we really hate to take the advice of other people
The older of my two sisters is a high priestess- she is full of pronouncements and advice, even when I really don’t want to hear it. But she has a spiritual bent of the kind I can get behind- very Zen.
The younger one is justice/strength- she is really one of the kindest people I know and always looks out for her friends
My other brother is a magician- not sure about your reading of the card, but he is really good at disappearing :/
And my mom is the emperor- she is totally the leader of the pack, but now that the kids are grown, no one likes to listen to her. This drives her totally wild
Gotta love family.
This is awesome.
Thanks. I’m really enjoying these columns!
I’m 8! So I’m Justice or Strength! I just take this to mean that I’m generally very confused about what to do with my life and it winds up being pretty accurate.
Let’s see… I got 5, so the Hierophant? A Hierophant with a severe social anxiety disorder.
This gives me the Chariot, which is a card that can be inspirational at times, but I don’t really connect with it on a regular basis or deep personal level. My chariot would be more like a little horse-and-buggy situation, just plodding along nice and steady, and where were we going again? Who cares!
This system puts my partner as the Emperor, though, which works on some level – she definitely likes structure in a way that I don’t. ^_^
The Lovers is so exhaustingly accurate.
How am I the Lovers? (shouts my instinct). Although I do strive to make the right decisions and see both sides…(says my logical brain)I will pick one where necessary…or if I’m feeling particularly opinionated/angry/have PMT. So I guess actually it’s reasonably accurate….See?!?
Missus is 8, so Justice / strength Yup. Completely, she is both of those.
That freaky moment when your card matches one of your 5 core values! Cheesy, I know haha… But, seriously, one of my 5 is Justice!
I am 3. The Empress too and short decription in article actually fits quite well. The card in my deck looks like this:
I am going to read what accompanying book says about it. This articles really refreshed my interest in tarot.
Wasn’t gunna post, but then I saw these cards:
Street Fighter tarot deck xD
I’m too Gemini for anything to fit anything however I’ll accept Chung Li.
YES!!!! OMG that’s a new one on me. Awesome. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome and the Chariot is Ryu. OuO
High priestess. Hm… I can see that. I’d consider myself to be pretty quiet and introspective most of the time. I wonder how these correspond with Briggs-Meyer types (I’m INTJ).
That’s super interesting! I am INFP and have the same card.
The I and the N definitely make sense to me.
I didn’t expect to get something that made sense out of this, because I don’t really identify with very many of the first nine Major Arcana… but I got the only one I *do* really strongly identify with, and that’s the Magician.
And I mean really strongly. So that’s cool.
The conscious control/power aspect of the card really speaks to me, in a way that the more introspection-focused cards don’t. I am very introspective, but I’m always trying to find ways to take whatever insights gained in that introspection and apply them outwardly. And perhaps ‘trying’ isn’t a strong enough word; I feel like I’m failing in some universally objective sense if I *don’t* do that.
My girlfriend’s card is Strength, and that one really fits her, too.
Basically I’m jealous of all Magicians, cus if I could choose, THAT’s the card I’d be :)
Mine is the High Priestess! Which is traditionally like this:
But I find way more true to life like this:
Ha!!
9: The Hermit. Sounds about right! I like my time alone and I guess I’m fairly introspective in general. And people do ask my advice a lot. I’m good with it!
High Priestess checking in!
Ok so i am The Empress. So i guess that means I’m the slow grown spicy morrocan humous that you dip your grab and go carrot into. Sounds good to me. Also babe! – your bendy arm in that pic is brilliant! Shows direct focus with a penchant for veering off in craazy directions.
Haha! Hi babe! Fancy seeing you here.
I would love to dip my grab and go carrot into your spicy Moroccan humous but sadly you are nowhere to be found.
Also – crazy directions? As if! ;)
xxxxx
I’m the lovers. I’m a little embarrassingly happy about my card. :3 This was a fun exercise! I wonder what happens if you use your birthday with the CURRENT year…what would that say about a person. Hmm….
It’s called the fools journey but you don’t even mention the fool card 🤔 I can barely find anything on having the fool card as your birth tarot
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