What Is a Tarot Birth Card?

The Short Answer

A tarot birth card is a card of the Major Arcana that is associated with a person by reducing the digits of their birth date to a number between 1 and 22. Each number corresponds to a card, from The Magician (1) to The Fool (22, read as 0).

Where the Idea Comes From

Linking tarot cards to numbers is old: the Major Arcana is numbered, and numerology has been used alongside tarot since the early modern occult revival. Birth cards in their present form are a more recent development, popularized in the late twentieth century by writers such as Mary K. Greer (Tarot Constellations, 1987, and Who Are You in the Tarot?, 1995). They are a modern interpretive tradition, not an ancient rule.

How Birth Cards Are Used

Readers use birth cards as archetypes: recurring patterns of character that can be explored through journaling, meditation and tarot practice. Many people have two cards, a personality card and a soul card.

What a Birth Card Is Not

A birth card does not predict events, fix your character or decide your path. It is a lens, and the value comes from how honestly you look through it.

Find Yours

Use the tarot birth card calculator, or learn the method in How to Calculate Your Tarot Birth Card.