BIRTH TAROT
What is Birth Tarot?
Birth tarot reduces a person’s date of birth to a number and reads the corresponding Major Arcana card as that person’s “birth card” — a relatively recent fate-reading practice devised in modern times. It combines the numerological approach of reducing a birth date with the symbolic system of tarot, and is used to read personality and life themes.
Overview
- System
- Fate Reading (reduces the date of birth to a number and maps it to a Major Arcana card)
- Origin
- Modern West
- What You Need
- Date of birth
- Best For
- Life, love, career
- Time Frame
- Whole lifetime
Origins & History
Birth tarot is a method that adds together each digit of a person’s date of birth, reducing it to a single digit or to a number within the range of the Major Arcana (1 to 22), and treats the corresponding card as that person’s unique “birth card.” It applies the numerological idea of reducing a birth date to a number to the symbolic system of the tarot’s 22 Major Arcana cards, and its lineage differs from that of traditional tarot divination itself.
This method spread only in modern times. Separate from the history of traditional tarot (originating as a card game in the 15th century) and its systematization as a form of divination (in 18th-century France), it is thought to be a relatively recent practice that emerged as numerological birthday assessments became popular. Definitive sources on its exact originator or date of establishment remain limited.
How It Works
- 01Prepare your date of birth.
- 02Add together all the digits of the date of birth.
- 03Keep reducing the digits of the sum until it falls within the range of the Major Arcana (1 to 22).
- 04Read the Major Arcana card corresponding to the reduced number as that person’s “birth card.”
What It Reveals
This is well suited to casually reading innate personality tendencies and themes running through one’s life via tarot symbolism. However, unlike ordinary tarot readings, it involves no element of chance such as shuffling, being instead a mechanical numerical reduction — so it should be treated not as a reading of the moment’s circumstances but as a rough, lifelong indicator of character.
Related Methods
References
- Wikipedia: Major Arcana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Arcana)