How to calculate your arcana number by hand

To calculate your arcana number, add every digit of your birth date, then add the digits of the total until you reach 22 or less. That number is your Major Arcana card, and a total of 22 is the Fool. If you want to compare your working with ours, the arcana calculator shows every step.

The rule that ends every calculation: stop at 22

Every method on this page finishes with the same rule:

While the number is greater than 22, replace it with the sum of its digits.

Two details trip people up:

1. Stop at 22, not at 9. Numerology usually reduces to one digit. Tarot numerology stops as soon as the number fits one of the 22 Major Arcana, so 17 stays 17 (the Star).
2. 22 is the Fool. The Fool is printed as 0, but an addition can’t produce 0, so a total of 22 points to the Fool. The Fool: 0 or 22? explains the history.

Totals you are likely to meet, and where they land:

How to calculate your arcana number step by step

Most “what is my arcana” tools use this single-card method, and it gives our headline result.

Step 1: Write your birth date as eight digits

Use two digits for the month, two for the day and all four for the year. March 15, 1990 becomes 03 15 1990. It doesn’t matter whether you write the month or the day first, because addition gives the same total either way.

Step 2: Add the eight digits

0 + 3 + 1 + 5 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 0 = 28

Step 3: Reduce if the total is over 22

28 is above 22, so 2 + 8 = 10. Your arcana is the Wheel of Fortune.

More worked examples

For any birth date from 1900 to 2099, the eight digits add up to somewhere between 4 and 48. So you never need more than one reduction step.

Which arcana numbers are most common?

That 4 to 48 range has a side effect: no total in it reduces to 1 or 2. With this method, nobody gets the Magician or the High Priestess as their arcana number. Those two cards turn up mainly as Soul cards in the birth card method below.

We ran every date from 1940 through 2010 through the calculation. The single-digit cards dominate, because totals from 23 to 31 all reduce to one digit:

If you got Death, the Star or the Moon, you have one of the less common cards.

How to calculate your tarot birth cards (Greer method)

Mary K. Greer’s birth card method adds month + day + year as whole numbers (4 + 13 + 1975 = 1992), then reduces the digits to 22 or less for a Personality card and to one digit for a Soul card. Under this method the Magician is never a Personality card, and the High Priestess is one only when the total is exactly 2000. Personality Card vs Soul Card walks through the steps and every possible pair, or the tarot birth card calculator does the sum for you.

How to use the four-part method (MM + DD + 19 + 90)

Some popular tarot sites split the year into two halves.

1. Write the month and day as numbers.
2. Split the year into its first two and last two digits.
3. Add all four numbers, then reduce while above 22.

December 29, 1999: 12 + 29 + 19 + 99 = 159, then 1 + 5 + 9 = 15, the Devil.

For the same date, Greer’s method gives 12 + 29 + 1999 = 2040, then 2 + 0 + 4 + 0 = 6, the Lovers. The Devil (15) and the Lovers (6) share the root 6.

With a three-digit total like 159, add all three digits. Some sites split it as 15 + 9 instead, which can give a different card. That variant, and the “subtract 22” rule, are covered in Why Arcana Calculators Give Different Results.

How to calculate your year card and month card

Your year card swaps your birth year for the year you’re asking about: born April 15, looking at 2026, 4 + 15 + 2026 = 2045, then 2 + 0 + 4 + 5 = 11, Justice. Month cards build on the year card. Tarot Year Card Explained covers both, and the tarot year card calculator works out any year.

How to check your answer

Adding digits never changes a number’s remainder when you divide by 9. It’s the old “casting out nines” check, and it gives you a quick test.

1. Reduce your birth date’s digits all the way to one digit. For March 15, 1990: 28, then 10, then 1.
2. Reduce your card number to one digit too. Wheel of Fortune is 10, and 1 + 0 = 1.
3. If the two match, your sum is right. If they don’t, you’ve dropped or added a digit somewhere.

The same test works across methods. Your all-digits card, your Personality card and your four-part card should all reduce to the same single digit:

Cards that share a root form a group called a constellation. Tarot Constellations and Hidden Factor Cards shows how readers use the other cards in yours.

Common mistakes when calculating by hand

• Using a two-digit year. 1990 is not 90. Use all four digits, or 19 + 90 for the four-part method.
• Reducing past 22. 17 is the Star. Only reduce it to 8 when you want a Soul card.
• Reducing 22 too early. 22 is a valid card, the Fool. Reduce it to 4 only for the Soul card.
• Mixing deck numbering. In the Rider-Waite-Smith order used here, 8 is Strength and 11 is Justice. Marseille decks and the Destiny Matrix swap them, as Strength 8 or Justice 11? explains.
• Carry errors in big sums. Keep the four-digit total on paper before you reduce it. Being off by one moves you to the next card.

Once you have your number, read what it means in the Major Arcana library, or run your date through the arcana calculator to confirm your working.