Your Major Arcana Card By Your Birth Date

Last week we looked at working out which major arcana card you are based on your birth date.

To calculate this, add each of the individual digits from your birth date. For example, if you were born on the 21st of January 1937 (which I wasn't, just in case you were wondering), you would add 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 9 + 3 + 7, which would give you 24. You then keep adding the individual digits of the results until you get a number between 1 and 21 (to represent one of the 22 major arcana cards, excluding the Fool, which is zero). In the previous example, you would add 2 + 4, which would give you 6 and therefore would mean that your major arcana card is the Lovers.

As it happens, when I performed the same calculation with my real birth date, I also came up with a 6 and therefore the Lovers card.

I usually work with the beautiful Tarot of Dreams deck by Ciro Marchetti. For more information on this deck click here. This is an image of the Lovers card from this deck:


The key word for the Lovers card is relationships. While the card depicts an intimate relationship, this card can represent relationships on any level, with friends, family - even the relationship with yourself. One explanation for the symbolism of the lovers to represent all relationships is that in love all emotions are present.

In some decks, the Lovers card can represent choices. Sometimes these choices are between that which superficial or materialistic and that which is spiritual or intellectual.

In the Tarot of Dreams deck, the lovers appear behind a thin veil. This may represent the secrets we keep or the parts of us that we sometimes hide. It can also refer to a relationship with someone with whom we are completely honest and who is in our inner circle of trust - or conversely may be with someone who is the opposite of this.

The eyes of these lovers are closed and they are not facing one other, which may indicate that their minds are somewhere other than where their physical bodies are. Perhaps they are worried about what is going on in the parts of their lives that are separate from this time, that what is happening at that moment will fade with the dawn and they will have to face up to the cold realities of their day to day lives.

Even though there is an allusion to secrets, these lovers are naked and thus have bared their whole selves to one another. They have opened themselves and have revealed their vulnerabilities and while they are comfortable with their choices, they do realise there are repercussions of all of their actions.

As a card that represents me, I felt this was fairly accurate. I think that it is true that most of us can see aspects of ourselves in each of the tarot cards (hence the relevance of the tarot to people of many cultures throughout the ages and the crux of the beauty and mystery of how they work), I was quite comfortable with this card being a major player in my personality.

While I have a great need for solitude and internal reflection as does the central figure in the Hermit card (hey, if you don't like your own company then who will, right?), I have a greater need for people in my life. I tend to think that human beings are hard wired this way, although there are some exceptions to every rule and it is also true that too much of a good thing can be detrimental, such as is the case where human beings exist too closely together, although I feel that I am starting to digress here a little.

I am also hugely loving and maternal; however, my love is best expressed and nurtured in a two way interaction, as opposed to the dominant matriarchal qualities of the Empress.

I'll leave you with a poem I wrote in July 2007 about this card:

As Lovers lie with limbs entwined
Joined in flesh but not in mind
Creation of relation new
Protection through connection true

As Lovers whisper secrets shared
Their souls and bodies both are bared
Expression of obsession found
Ascension of convention bound

As Lovers know the choice they face
To rise with pride or fall from grace
Realisation of sensation kind
Vision of decision blind