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Tarot Birth Card Calculator

Your tarot birth cards are two cards of the Major Arcana that follow from your date of birth: the personality card and the soul card. The calculator uses Mary K. Greer's method, as the UmbraLux app does, and shows every step.

Date of birth

The calculation runs in your browser. Your birth data is neither sent nor stored; only this device remembers your last entry.

How the birth cards are calculated

The calculator follows Mary K. Greer, in four steps:

  1. 1

    Add the date

    Day, month and year are added as numbers: 23 + 7 + 1988 = 2018.

  2. 2

    Take the digit sum

    The digits of the sum are added, and again while the result is above 22. 22 is The Fool, the card numbered 0. The result is the personality card.

  3. 3

    Read the soul card

    The digit sum of the personality card, down to one digit, is the soul card. Below 10 both are the same card.

  4. 4

    The year card

    For the year card the calendar year takes the place of the birth year; the calculator and the UmbraLux app count it by the calendar year.

Example: 23 July 1988

23 + 7 + 1988 = 2018 → 2 + 0 + 1 + 8 = 11: the personality card is Justice (XI). Its digit sum, 1 + 1 = 2, gives the soul card, The High Priestess (II).

The year card of 2026: 23 + 7 + 2026 = 2056 → 2 + 0 + 5 + 6 = 13, Death (XIII).

What the birth cards describe

In Greer's reading the personality card shows how you express yourself in life, the soul card the theme beneath it that stays with you. The year card describes the theme of one year.

The calculation is plain arithmetic; what the cards mean is the teaching of the tarot.

In the library

Questions about the tarot birth cards

Why does another calculator show a different card?

Because there are several ways to add. Some calculators add every digit of the date on its own (2 + 3 + 0 + 7 + 1 + 9 + 8 + 8 = 38 → 11). For the birthdays from 1940 to 2024 that gives the same personality card as Greer's way for 58 percent, and always the same soul card.

Which cards can be soul cards?

Only the cards 1 to 9, from The Magician to The Hermit. The Fool is never a soul card; as a personality card it counts as 22 and leads to 4, The Emperor.

What does it mean when both cards are the same?

When the personality card lies below 10, it is the soul card as well: one card then stands for both.

What is the year card?

The card of a calendar year: your birth day and month added to the year, then reduced like the birth cards. It changes every year; the calculator shows this year's and next year's.

Is my data stored?

No. The calculation runs in your browser; your date is neither sent nor stored. Only your device remembers your last entry, and you can delete it below the form.

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