Tarot Birth Card Calculator
Enter your date of birth to find your tarot birth cards: the Major Arcana cards your birthday adds up to. Every step of the math is shown, with the result from both popular methods.
What are tarot birth cards?
Tarot birth cards are one, two or occasionally three cards from the Major Arcana that you find by adding up the numbers in your date of birth. It works much like a life path number in numerology, except the result lands on one of the 22 trump cards of the tarot instead of a single digit.
The method was developed by Angeles Arrien and first published by tarot author Mary K. Greer in Tarot for Your Self (1984). Greer named the two cards:
- Personality card: the higher number. It describes how you tend to meet the world: your style, your gifts and the lessons you keep running into.
- Soul card: the single-digit card underneath. It describes a deeper theme that keeps returning throughout your life.
Your birth cards never change, because your birthday doesn't. If you'd like a card for a single year instead, try the tarot year card calculator. The year 2026 itself has one card for everyone: 2 + 0 + 2 + 6 = 10, Wheel of Fortune.
How to calculate your tarot birth cards by hand
You only need addition. Here is the method step by step, using a birthday of November 28, 1990:
- Add the month, the day and the full year as ordinary numbers: 11 + 28 + 1990 = 2029.
- Add the digits of the total: 2 + 0 + 2 + 9 = 13. If the answer is still higher than 22, add its digits again.
- That number is your personality card. 13 is Death.
- If it has two digits, add them to get your soul card: 1 + 3 = 4, The Emperor.
So someone born on November 28, 1990 has Death as their personality card and The Emperor as their soul card.
Special cases
- One card: if your total reduces straight to a single digit (for example 2 + 0 + 2 + 3 = 7), that one card is both your personality and soul card.
- Three cards: a total of 19 reduces twice: 19 The Sun, 1 + 9 = 10 Wheel of Fortune, 1 + 0 = 1 The Magician. Someone born on January 1, 1979 (1 + 1 + 1979 = 1981, and 1 + 9 + 8 + 1 = 19) has all three.
- 22 is The Fool. The Fool is numbered 0 but sits at the end of the sequence too, so a total of 22 means The Fool, with The Emperor (2 + 2 = 4) as the soul card.
Why do calculators give different birth cards?
Two methods are in common use, and they often disagree about the personality card:
| Method | How the date is added | November 28, 1990 | January 2, 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mary K. Greer | Month + day + full year | 11 + 28 + 1990 = 2029 → 13 → 4 Death & The Emperor | 1 + 2 + 1990 = 1993 → 22 → 4 The Fool & The Emperor |
| The Tarot School | Month + day + first two digits of the year + last two digits | 11 + 28 + 19 + 90 = 148 → 14 + 8 = 22 → 4 → 13 Death & The Emperor | 1 + 2 + 19 + 90 = 112 → 11 + 2 = 13 → 4 Death & The Emperor |
The Tarot School method always shows two cards: when a total reduces to a single digit, it is paired with a fixed higher card (for example 4 is always shown with 13, Death). The Greer method keeps a single-digit result as one card and can give The Fool.
The good news: both methods always land on the same soul card. We checked every date from 1900 to 2030. Only the personality card can differ.
This is also why some pairs look common online but rare here. With the Tarot School method, about 1 in 9 people born between 1950 and 2009 gets Temperance & The Hierophant, and the same goes for The Devil & The Lovers and for Death & The Emperor. With the Greer method those pairs are rare: 0.5%, under 0.1% and 1.6% of birthdays respectively.
Our calculator shows the Greer result first, because it is the original and most widely used method, and the Tarot School result underneath.
The nine birth card families
Greer groups the 22 Major Arcana into nine families, or constellations, by their single-digit root. Everyone in a family shares the same soul card.
| Soul card | Cards in the family | Possible birth card results |
|---|---|---|
| 1 The Magician | Magician (1), Wheel of Fortune (10), The Sun (19) | 10 · 1 or 19 · 10 · 1 |
| 2 The High Priestess | High Priestess (2), Justice (11), Judgement (20) | 2 or 11 · 2 or 20 · 2 |
| 3 The Empress | Empress (3), The Hanged Man (12), The World (21) | 3 or 12 · 3 or 21 · 3 |
| 4 The Emperor | Emperor (4), Death (13), The Fool (22) | 4 or 13 · 4 or 22 · 4 |
| 5 The Hierophant | Hierophant (5), Temperance (14) | 5 or 14 · 5 |
| 6 The Lovers | Lovers (6), The Devil (15) | 6 or 15 · 6 |
| 7 The Chariot | Chariot (7), The Tower (16) | 7 or 16 · 7 |
| 8 Strength | Strength (8), The Star (17) | 8 or 17 · 8 |
| 9 The Hermit | Hermit (9), The Moon (18) | 9 or 18 · 9 |
- Temperance & The HierophantBirth cards 14 · 5
- The Devil & The LoversBirth cards 15 · 6
- The Emperor, Death & The FoolBirth cards 13 · 4 and 22 · 4
- The Tower & The ChariotBirth cards 16 · 7
- The Star & StrengthBirth cards 17 · 8
- The Moon & The HermitBirth cards 18 · 9
- The Sun, Wheel of Fortune & The MagicianBirth cards 10 · 1 and 19 · 10 · 1
- Judgement, Justice & The High PriestessBirth cards 11 · 2 and 20 · 2
- The World, The Hanged Man & The EmpressBirth cards 12 · 3 and 21 · 3
See every card and all nine families at a glance →
Frequently asked questions
What is my tarot birth card?
It is the Major Arcana card your birthday adds up to. Use the calculator above, or add your birth month, day and year together, then add the digits of the total until you reach 22 or less.
What is the difference between a personality card and a soul card?
The personality card is the higher number you reach first and describes how you express yourself. The soul card is the single digit underneath it and describes a deeper, lifelong theme. If your total reduces straight to one digit, a single card plays both roles.
Can my birth cards change?
No. They come from your date of birth, so they stay the same for life. What changes is how you relate to them over time. For a card that changes every year, see your tarot year card.
I use a Marseille deck. Does that change anything?
Yes, slightly. This calculator uses the Rider–Waite–Smith numbering, where Strength is 8 and Justice is 11. Marseille decks swap them, so read 8 as Justice and 11 as Strength.
Do birth cards predict the future?
No. They are a way of reflecting on recurring themes in your life, not a forecast. Treat them as questions to explore rather than answers.