You personality or soul card

[sweetsunray]

Mary Greer's workbook shows you how to determine your lifelong Major Arcana personality and soul card. The lessons of these cards will be a life long with you.

And it's determined via numerology... all you have to do is add your day of birth + month of birth + year of birth. As long as the number is higher than 22 you need to add the resulting numbers again until you have a number lower than 22.

For example, I was born 4th of March 1974.

4 + 3 + 1974 = 1981 -> 1 + 9 + 8 + 1 = 19

This would make the Sun my personality card.

To determine my soul card I add 1 + 9 = 10

This would make the Wheel of Fortune my soul card

However, I could still add 1 + 0 = 1

So, I also have the Magician as my soul card.

Actually, I'm one of those exceptions who has 3 cards (only those having a number 19 will have 3 cards) and they are all at once personality and soul cards for me. People like me with these 3 cards have as a lesson to learn to communicate their individual creative expressions. Their identity, sense of self is inextricably combined with their life and soul purpose.

Some people will have a soul card that is the same as the personality card:

For example someone born on 31st of July in 1983 ...

31 +7 + 1983 = 2021 -> 2 + 0 + 2 + 1 = 5

That person can't add the 5 to anything anymore so their personality and soul card is the Hierophant.

Next you have your specific year card. My year card since my last birthday in 2009 is

4 + 3 + 2009 = 2016 -> 2 + 0 + 1 + 6 = 9

So, from 4th of March 2009 till New Year I'm under the full influence of the Hermit lessons. From New Year the Wheel of Fortune (my soul and personality card) will probably start to confront me with my past years' evolution (have I done what I'm supposed to do for my soul and life) and turn everything upside down, while I'm still tieing up the loose ends of the Hermit year, until my next birthday. You could make a whole graph from your birthyear to say 81 years old. The most special years are those where your year card coincides with either your personality or soul card, because that's when you get the check-up on how you did and rewards.

I once made such a graph once... I only have had 2 Sun years, when I was born and when I was 9 years old. I had the Magician and Wheel of Fortune when I graduated at 18 and started my master studies in Industrial Design. And ever since then I'm going through a 9 year cycle where the Wheel of Fortune challenges me to get on my soul's path.

So, now to look deeper into it...

The Sun is indeed one of my favourite cards. When I see it I instantly feel happy. I'm a jubilant personality, enthusiastic, need to feel life intensely. I'm active and often overflow with energy. And I want to share my happiness with everyone who welcomes it. Enthusiasm is one of my biggest strengths, especially when it comes to first impressions. I even look sunny: dark freckles, a nose curling into the air with glee, and a goofy smile where it seems I don't have my eyes open.

The Wheel of Fortune... I get the consequences of my actions immediately represented, in often the weirdest ways. I'm certainly not someone who fits the house-garden-dog-baby type of life. After my last Wheel of Fortune year I set up my life so that everyday allows for surprise. It is structured, and yet it allows for a lot of chance events. As a teacher my weekday schedule differs from day to day: other school, other kids, other hourse. And then I have long summers to go backpacking somewhere in the world where I meet the most marvelous and unusual people as well as experience the craziest adentures (it's become a saying in my tourleading company that with each trip I end up in the news somehow... hurricane, robbery, tourist interview... I think that for many people my general life looks to them like their Wheel of Fortune year... except it's like that all the time for me. Good thing I have all that Sun energy.

The Magician...To create is one of the first things people picked up as one of my drives: painting, writing, brainstorming, developing products, travels, ideas... I function optimally when working on projects. I have to set up my teaching classes in that way too... I "manipulate" circumstances and people and myself to get a desired outcome. I usually try to get my way and often manage to get my way... Not because of forcing people, but through my Sun's enthusiasm, inspiring others, and if I tune into it knowing how it's supposed to be (Wheel of Fortune)... hence using the energy that was given to me to steer situations in how they ought to be. I did need to learn the past decade to fine tune. If I willpower something that is wrong I immediately get the cheque presented in front of my nose for that.

2009 was a Hermit year, and looking back on it, it sure was. While I usually am someone who likes to get out of the house, go on weekends or nightlife and socialise, I've been staying at home a real lot. I hardly even met my friends. I didn't even celebrated my birthday initially (which usually is an excuse to throw a party for 100 friends and acquaintances). At first I was just fussing around the house, just retreating without even wondering why. After a while though I realized I felt social life was just not my thing this year, I wasn't up to it, didn't have the energy, and quite frankly was bordering on the blues. It wasn't that social life was bad, but I had a change of heart about it, and felt dissatisfied with it.
I've not only been severely invisible to my friends, but also to my tourleading company: not on the weekends or just for bare necessities, haven't done a tourleading trip at all, not been on production meetings at all, no coaching new tourleaders... often because I didn't have the time, and when I did, I wanted to rest at home.
In a way, I think I was going across check list of life contentment and happiness to prepare myself to the roller coaster 2010 Wheel of Fortune, figuring out what I want to change in my life.
Incidentally, and not so incidentally, I started reading Tarot 9 years ago in my previous Hermit year. My interest and exploration in it has taken new leaps into it this year. I started to use it as a guide 9 years ago, and I'm very busy with it (in comparison to the past years) this year too. I've had strong guiding dreams this years as well. I also feel a need to contact my personal guide, whereas I was shood out on my own for a couple of years before this one. 

Oh dear, knowing a Wheel of Fortune year is coming up, I think I'm gonna be a good girl, ever feeling life's vibrations, and going with the flow, and do whatever that's demanded of me... Some things will disappear out of my life, some things will enter my life and have deep impact on me...

[pirbid]

Wow! I really liked this post. It reminded me of the 9 year cycles of 9 Star Ki -posters on the Feng Shui forum surely know a lot more about it, but it's sort of similar-, it never occurred to me one can do this with Tarot, too.

Let's get to it, then, I want to know my cards straight away:

25+11+1968= 2004 = 6

Oh, well, only one card for personality and soul, then -maybe I am either soulless, or without a personality  :smt003 -. But, hey, at least it's the Lovers! Nothing to complain about, then.



Now for this year's Major: 25+11+2009= 2045= 11

Mmm... does that mean I have two cards for this year, then, both the High Priestess and Justice? My reading skills must be specially honed, then. I'll have to try and make the most of what's left. 2010 I'll have The Hanged Man -mmm... willing sacrifice?- and the Empress -jeez, let's hope I don't get pregnant-.

Please, tell me if I'm doing it right. I feel a little lost among so many Majors and, by the way, I guess the suits count for nothing in this?

Thanks for this revealing bit of news  :)

[sweetsunray]

glad you like this

In your case your personality and soul card are one and the same... they are in tune with each other  

For the year card you pick the highest number that is lower than 23 (22 = fool for year cards). So it's your Justice year, and next year is your Hanged Man year. The prior Justice year I had was the year when I realized what my professional purpose in life was, and started applicating and training for these changes in career. It was a year of self-discovery and relief of finding what I really needed to do and be.

The only years where you have double influence is for example ...

In 2012 my year card will be the hanged man (n°12), but 2013 will be the Emperor (n°4) as the numbers of the date don't add up to n°13. So, there's a jump from Major 12 to 4. This could only work if 2012 is aside from Hanged Man year also an Empress (n° 3) year.

You could make a graph out of the year cards, from age 0 to 81, and calculate for each year. For sure you'll remember some important life events with a certain year. You could write them next to the Major card number.

That's how I know I started to learn Tarot in a Hermit year (2000).
Last Wheel of Fortune year (2001) had extreme highs and lows... meeting the prior man of my life, onset and ending of existential crisis (because of the break up and burnout during my previous career), presuicidal depression, first kundalini, meeting my guide, start of path on enlightenment after kundalini, starting to translate dreams. All that happened in that year had its impact until this Hermit year. I shaped my life after it. And only in this Hermit year did I start to consider what things I want to see changed, what I might drop what I used to think was so important... But the Wheel of Fortune year before that (1992) was the year I graduated from HS and started my studies, which I never regretted. So, maybe 2010 may be less extreme and painful than 2001, for the simple reason that I started 2001 feeling like everything was wrong in my life, except one thing, but he broke up with me. I feel quite the opposite for years. I've lived on the right track for the past 8 years, it's just that I recognize it's the appropriate time for some change... Some of the 2001 impact has been waning, so change and new impact is welcome.

The Court cards don't come into play in this, but they do if you combine Astrology with Tarot.

We can deduct the Minor Arcana cards though... These are called opportunity cards, and they have the same number as your Soul Card.

In my case the aces and 10s of the minor arcana are my opportunity cards. For you that would be the 6s.

[pirbid]

Mmm... this is getting more and more interesting. I will certainly make a graphic and see what cards have been my year cards so I know what to expect when they next come around. I am not aware anything special has happened during my Justice year: it was more or less more of the same.

Funnily enough, the Lovers is one of those cards with several different meanings and one never knows which really applies until you see it in a spread among others: will it mean a relationship or a difficult decision or both? -hey, you must have got this card several times with your present boyfriend -. So, how should I interpret the card in the light of my Soul or Personality? Am I given to compulsive relationships? I certainly never lack one for longer than a year and they are quite long, so they must be a central part of my life. As for decision making, I would never think that was a problem for me. In fact, I can decide for myself and even for those around me, if they let me, and all in a flash, once I have all the information I feel I need.

So, should I be watchful if this card comes up in my readings? specially if it turns upside down on me? And I guess I should pay special attention to any 6 that comes up in a reading for myself. I associate sixes in general -in the suits- with harmony, finding your own rhythm in the life cycle, calm after the storm -my Tower's  :smt003 -. Then of course each 6 has its own meaning and they are quite special, like the nostalgic 6 of Cups, the triumphant 6 of Wands, the calm voyage of the 6 of Swords, and the uneasy balance in the 6 of Pentacles.

Mmm... I begin to see in my mind how I could make a beautiful yearly graphic including the best looking Majors from my different decks, or maybe from my favorite deck. Then it would be so graphic it should be easy to remember special incidents related to the card of that year. Yes, yes, I will even post it if I can find the way.

Thank you once more: I'll keep an eye out for future lessons  :)

[sweetsunray]

Oh yes, turned up thrice in 4 readings

I think the Lovers makes you someone who's about "relating", and about "bringing and joining things together" And I expect someone with a Lovers' soul would have the least trouble at decision making  (it's one of those things that takes time with me... always need to check all the alternate views or possibilities in my mind and heart)

A year card that is the same as a personality or soul card means a year where you are brought closer to who you are. Wouldn't be a lesson for you as much as a year where you get more in tune with yourself than usual. More like an are-you-on-course year.

If I see my cards appear in a reading it always peeks my extra interest. To be honest they hardly ever appear in a position that says I need to learn that... they usually appear as something that I'm bringing in the situation myself, or can use as a resource.

[pirbid]

This gets weirder and weirder... Let's see if I can somehow post the Chart I got and you tell me if it looks rightish.



You see, I was born in 1968, so a Lovers year for me. I have had 5 such years at 9, 18, 27 and 36 and will have no more. Now, at 9 -please don't laugh- I had my first boyfriend -a practice one, hee, hee-, but 18 is always momentous for most of us -I left my country to spend 2 years in good ol' England-, and at 27 I passed the major examination that led me to my highly esteemed present job. Can't think of anything extreme I decided at 36, though.

From 1974 starts a 9 year cycle in which I gain a new Major every cycle while losing another for good. For example, I have never had a Devil year: for me, that will be 2013 -hee, very à propos-, but 2014 will be my last Chariot year ever. It looks like I need to learn more lessons from Justice and the Hanged Man than the others, since I have 10 years of each.

I will never learn any World lessons unless I live to be 105 -unlikely, wouldn't you say?-, nor Judgment till I get to 95, if ever, and I never get any Fool, Magician or High Priestess years. Does that mean those are too fundamental and maybe I learned them in the womb? Or do you and others get them and it's just my luck with numbers?

Still, it's really fascinating. For example, looking at my Death Years... at 25 I decided I was not happy with the jobs I was getting after finishing my degree, so I decided to look for different jobs altogether... till I landed this one on a Strength year after nearly two years of further academy studies. I can't remember what ended at 34, though. Will be on the lookout for any major changes in a couple of years.

Very interesting for a personal biography. I will keep the Chart with my 9 Star Ki ones to see what the future brings  :smt002

[sweetsunray]

That looks right, yeah  :smt003 I do add the jump years into brackets in my graph though.

My Lovers years so far showed relating problems: I moved to our new house in a new suburb on my 5th birthday (1979) and ended up being physically pestered by the boys from the street. Some of what they did was traumatic at that age. In 1988 I had my first crush but it never happened, though I carried a torch for him until 1991. 1988 is also the year that I was again physically pestered by the teen girls in my class: vandalism and vicious words. In 1997 my then boyfriend and I both fell in love with someone else, and I was ready to move on almost at that point (we patched things up but broke up anyway a year later). In 2006 I had a boyfriend who turned out to be betting on 2 horses and he said he couldn't choose... I chose the door for him.

The weird thing is that any man that had a long term influence on me so far appeared shortly before or during a Wheel of Fortune year. My current boyfriend showed up in this Hermit year, just like the one before, but any major impact will start with the Wheel again.


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[pirbid]

Hey, you manage to get a wider range than I! How come? Should I be counting the jump years as two different cards at the same time?

I find the Charts really curious: it seems like we hardly have enough time in one life to really learn all 22 lessons, so we skip a little through the first ones as if we already knew them from past lives and hardly get to the more advanced ones, at least in my own case. And I can easily see why this must be.

I always learned the 22 Majors in order were a reflection of life, the Fool being the unborn fetus, the Magician the baby full of potential, the High Priestess the always observant and learning child, Empress and Emperor all we imbibe from our parent figures, just as the Hierophant are the first rules learned usually in school...
Then Lovers and Chariot would be around our teens, falling in love for the first time and pitting our will power against those in authority...till we learn that true Strength lies more in persuasion and self management than brute force, we learn we need to spend time alone and listen to our inner Hermit, we get rolled around by the Wheel of things we cannot control...
Now we are in full adulthood and face rules once again, this time those of our government and laws, we learn to make short term sacrifices for a higher goal or for others in the Hanged Man.
Then the crisis of the 40's comes along and we sometimes throw away our jobs and careers to make a sudden turnabout in life pushed along by Death. Temperance comes in handy in order to deal with these sudden changes. Then we start having to look inside ourselves and see shameful weaknesses we want to keep hidden from the world -the Devil- and try to break free of everything, or the Tower will do it if we cannot free ourselves quick enough. The Star is the calm after the storm, the way to healing our wounded souls.
Once we are retired and have more time in our hands, The Moon keeps pushing us to look further inside ourselves and see that which we are still scared to look at closely, the Sun reminds us happiness lies within and the clouds are always passing before it.
Finally, at the end of our days, we might be faced with Judgment of what we have done with our lives and we can maybe end a cycle in peace and understanding through the World.

I got very little of the Empress and Emperor and nothing of those before them. Just as in a reading I tend to look for missing cards -for example, a lack of Wands may mean little energy or poor health-, I wonder if having little lessons from some Majors can influence our personality. For example, I am not very concerned -hardly at all, in fact- about femininity or masculinity and I care hardly at all about other's sexual preferences. It's none of my business, but then I see some people clearly moved one way or another. I always saw relationships as something between two human beings. It's hard enough to find the ideal partner without having to reject half the population before hand. And I couldn't care less if my own inclinations change a few times during my life. So far they haven't, but it would feel quite natural, I think. That means I am more for integrating male and female energies through the Lovers than looking at their differences through the Empress and Emperor, which are exaggerated caricatures of woman and man. I never identified with either.

Then there is the Hierophant, surely one of my less favorite cards because I find dogma -any kind, not just religious-, rules, morality and authority so constricting. Why can't we each have our own and why can't they all be equally valid? -as long as no one is hurt, of course-. I believe my will power is very nearly honed to its maximum ability -only one year left to perfect it-, while I could use a little more of the Strength's skillfulness. As time passes, I tend to appreciate more and more the Hermit's solitude -in fact, I tend to overdo it at times. And I guess I begin to cheerfully accept that life is full of surprise and things we cannot control, every time I am faced with the Wheel -commonly known as Murphy's law, hee, hee-.

But I am right in the middle of the lessons for Justice and the Hanged Man, two cards I am not very clear of all their meanings yet. I will have to study them hard and analyze them this year and the next or I will have to wait another 9 years to understand them! Justice is more about understanding, really, seeing the truth and accepting it, finding balance, stability and harmony -apart from specific legal matters in readings-, so it would be a little like Temperance -another card I am unclear about-.
Then the Hanged Man is a stage I can sincerely say I have never been through: I like being independent and being myself. I even like helping others if I can and getting a kick out of it. But discipline, resignation, sacrifice for ideals, changing material comforts for spiritual development... I know people like that: they are usually called volunteers and have abandoned all safety and financial security in order to give their lives to and for those in need, wherever they are. So, for me, this card is about being Mother Teresa or as close as you can get -Joanne of Arc would be another good example-.

I am looking forward to the deep changes Death brings: I have honestly learned to appreciate the freedom of beginning with a clean slate. Temperance I hope to learn at least a little before I die: I sorely need it. The Devil I have already sniffed and am not too keen to play cards with him. The Tower is a favorite of mine, like Death, and one of my most constant companions in my own readings. The Star is the best though it will be a long time before I experience its full effects. And I hardly dare hope to learn anything from the last 4 cards.

[Kaperuzita]

My personality card is The Empress and, for this year I got Justice.

Any one care to elaborate on the meaning of this? I think it might be more interesting if others say what  they think it means to have a Justice  year.


Warm regards!

[sweetsunray]

I've only had one Justice year so far, but it was a year where I both realized what my career calling, putting a plan in motion and started on the courses to alter that career. It was also the year I started to work on my chakras in group meditation and learned many truths about myself, about my reactions to circumstances in the past and how to live with the consequences, about the reason why certain things happened as they happened, and how I ought to relate with my environment. I finally recognized some of the talents I have that I never really had suspected or associated with myself before that. And lastly the year ended with realizing how strong my feelings were for my then ex long distance boyfriend, that I could not expect to "get over" my feelings for him, as well as realizing and acceptance it was over for him nonetheless in a way (at least in a physical reality sense). He was still attracted to me (and that has always remained), he has always liked me and he has always loved me. And vice versa. And yet one of the last truths I recognized that year was that we would never be a couple anymore. Instead we became platonic loved ones who've always been intuitively and emotionally close to each other (including both being able to say the right thing at the right time from the other side of the world without consciously knowing what was going on in each other's lives).

So for me a Justice year, so far, has been about truth, about learning the truth about yourself (talents, consequences of actions), understanding you are where you are because that is how it's supposed to be, and gaining the insight where you need to be going for a while to come.

[pirbid]

The way you put it, sounds great. I am now glad I'm getting a Justice year on 2011.

[sweetsunray]

The way you put it, sounds great. I am now glad I'm getting a Justice year on 2011.

I think you may have been looking at my year-card chart instead of yours  :smt002  Yours says 2009 is a Justice year, mine is in 2011  :smt003

[pirbid]

Ooops... You are right, my Justice is this year, like Kaperuzita's. And, dear me, I found out a big truth about some hidden motivations of mine only this week.

[Kaperuzita]

Well, so far, my justice year has totally been about discovering myself, what works and what doesn't. I'm getting rid of old habits and starting new things. It's very weird to notice the coincidences with pirbird's justice year.

[Kaperuzita]

Ok, BIG DOUBT

In the Marseilles deck, the one I used and the most used outside English speaking countries, the Major Arcana numer 8 is JUSTICE, however, in RD deck, this is STRENGHT. So, what do we make of this? A person with a number personality (or 11 for that matter) is it justice or strenght?

Just wondering....