As I said in a previous post there’s a numerological formula you can use to work out which Tarot card represents the type of experiences you can expect to have during each year. I’ve been using it for so long I can’t remember anymore where I learnt this trick but as I said I find it quite reliable.
The formula will give you a number that correlates with one of the Life Lesson (Major Arcana) cards. Because of the way it works each following year you will shift into the subsequent Life Lesson card e.g. If your Tarot Year Card in 2012 is The Empress, in 2013 it will be The Emperor. But the turn of each decade signals a re-set button. Thus in 2009 my Tarot Year Card was Judgement but in 2010 it flipped back to The Hanged Man.
I find it quite interesting that through this formula Tarot insists that each decade has its own particular flavour. Because the western media also classifies time in this way i.e. Each decade is seen as a distinct social period. The 90s was the grunge epoch whereas the 00’s was all about de bling where people got into debt to fund their dream lifestyles. I don’t think anyone’s worked out what the ’10s are yet but I’m wondering if it’ll have something to do with the rise of the internet, with the spread of information through blogs like this. With the end of the gatekeepers such as media owners and merchandise importers. I quite like that idea.
The formula is this: You add up your birth day + your birth month + the current calendar year. Then you work out which Life Lesson card matches the number you got. If the number is greater than 21, you add the digits together.
The Life Lessons cards are numbered as follows:
1 The Magician
2 The High Priestess
3 The Empress
4 The Emperor
5 The Hierophant
6 The Lovers
7 The Chariot
8 Strength
9 The Hermit
10 The Wheel of Fortune
11 Justice
12 The Hanged Man
13 Death
14 Temperance
15 The Devil
16 The Tower
17 The Star
18 The Moon
19 The Sun
20 Judgement
21 The World
My birthday is the 22nd May. The formula for me this year is: 2+2+5+2+0+1+2 = 14 which is the number of Temperance, the card of finding a new balance. Thus as a writer I expected to be doing a lot of editing and so I have been. But there has also been a shift in my relationship with my teenage children which I wasn’t expecting. A re-balancing. As is appropriate when your children become adults. (Not that it isn’t still shocking and scary as a mum.)
It’s important to point out once again that you should use this formula with a grain of salt (I throw a lot of salt over my shoulder while using Tarot, lol). You should never let the cards chain you to a particular outcome. That would be using Tarot Devil style. I use my Tarot Year Card mostly to teach myself about the cards. I note the experiences I have and see how that could fit into the meaning of the Tarot Year Card.
Have a go and let me know what you think. And if your Tarot Year Card is one I haven’t focused on yet and you’d like to know more about it let me know in the comments section below. Cheers!
The Tarot Teaclub 