Soul/Personality cards

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 May 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Niomi	02 May 2004
I've seen so much about soul/personality cards! Many people like the High Priestess and the Empress... I've seen some who are the Heirophant, the Hermit, and the Chariot... What are soul/personality cards exactly, and why do you feel as if it is important to have one? What is your soul card and why, and how did you pick yours? Can you have more than one? I've also heard of year and shadow cards, what are they? Three cards come to mind as my 'soul' card, the Star, the Fool, and the Empress. I'm defiantly most partial to the Star, but I know my every day behavior resembles that of a Fool or maybe an Empress. What do you think?

sirona86	02 May 2004
your soul and personality cards are calculated using your birthdate. Using my birthdate as an example : 11th April 1986 break down your birthdate into its digits and add them up 1+1+4+1+9+8+6=30=3(3+0) since there are only 21 majors, both my soul are personality cards are the empress. however, if your bday adds up to a double digit number less than 21 eg 14, your personality card would be 14 in the major arcana ie Temperance. Your soul card would be 14 reduced to one digit ie 1+4=5 Hierophant

eastarot	02 May 2004
I've always understood Year Cards to be the wisdom for the year, a sort of condensed insight/advice/focus into the year you are in or any other year. year cards are calculated by a similar technique explained by Niomi but instead of using your birth year you replace it with the year you want to find out about. My birthday being 5 June If I want to know my year card for 2004 then it is 5 + 6 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 4 = 17 Since its less than 21, I read it as The Star. Some interpretations also speak of combining it to a single digit ie 1+7 = 8 There Strength may also be my card for 2004. (Strength is also my Soul/Personality Card) You can do this for any year, just substitute 2004 for any other year. Blessings

hedgecub	02 May 2004
Your personality card indicates your purpose in this lifetime. Add up all the numbers in your birthdate to get an answer. If the answer is less than or equal to 21, keep it. If the answer is greater than 21, add up the digits in your answer to get a new answer. Once you end up with an answer that is less than or equal to 21, that is your personality card. Your soul card indicates your purpose across all your lifetimes. If your personality card consists of a one digit number, then that is your soul card as well. If it consists of a two digit number, add the digits together (repeating if necessary) to get a single digit. That is your soul card. Your shadow card is dependent in your personality card, and is calculated in a relatively simple but awkward manner. It's given in the table of pg 32 of Tarot for Your Self by Mary K. Greer. I can't reproduce the table without breaking copyright laws, but if you post your personality and soul card numbers, I can find the corresponding shadow card.

Shy Priestess	02 May 2004
Thanks Hedgecub! You have just answered a question I was just about to ask! I wasn't sure how to get personality & soul cards - but now I know - and I'd also be interested in knowing my shadow card. My birth date adds up to 38 and so from this I get 11 as my personality (Justice) and 2 as my soul card (High Priestess! now there's a thing). From this can you tell me my shadow card? Many thanks, SP :) PS: Niomi - did yours turn out as you expected?

Niomi	02 May 2004
Defiantly didn't turn out as expected-- the hierophant? Not necessarily a bad card, I just never felt like a teacher or mentor. Quote: Originally posted by hedgecub Your soul card indicates your purpose across all your lifetimes. But isn't it possible to get completely different birthdays in different lifetimes, and get two conflicting soul cards?

Shy Priestess	03 May 2004
Quote: But isn't it possible to get completely different birthdays in different lifetimes, and get two conflicting soul cards? It's an interesting point you have made there Niomi - and I would say it was possible, but does it happen? This reminds me of the recent discovery that my sister has exactly the same personality and soul cards as me - Justice and High Priestess - and yet she is ten years younger and born a Sagittarius, where as I am a Virgo. I feel we are very different people and so this puzzles me somewhat. I would have expected her card(s) to be totally different to mine, just on the basis of our different personalities. Perhaps the cards would say there are more similarities between us than we realise? We certainly do have a close bond. The main point I'm trying to make is that there are possibly many different numbers (birth dates) that can add up to the same personality card and soul card - and maybe the cards DO stay the same however many lives and different birthdays we have. Mathematically there may be a finite number of birthdays that can add up to the same cards (I'd hate to be the one to work THAT one out!). But perhaps in our different lifetimes, we CAN have different birthdays (and different astrological attributes) and yet still have the same personality and soul cards? I'm still surprised to find that my sister and I have the same cards - we are just so different! What does this tell us about the meaning of those cards? I don't know much about it - can anyone enlighten me? SP

Niomi	12 May 2004
I'm disinclined to believe in the calculating of soul cards based on your birthday. I find my 'soul' (or whatever it is in there, never can be sure) is attracted to the star card, I do believe that is my soul/personality card, even though not 'officially'. I was lead to this decision because of my thoughts on reincarnation: (I say thoughts, not beliefs, because I'm never quite sure what I believe. And I only thought of this a few weeks ago, and I'm not going to go trusting everything I thought up, at least not this quickly) I was thinking about reincarnation. It made some sense to me: in nature, nothing that dies simply ceases to exist. Doesn't it make sense to believe that our souls act the same way? But when a plant dies, it doesn't come back from the dead, or necessarily reincarnate. It becomes food for something else. The matter and essence of it still exists, but in a completely different form, a form that serves another new life form. Am I making sense? I guess I think our memories and experiences and selves become brain food for new people. That is why, I think, some people remember past lives. The point of that tangent, is, that I don't think soul cards apply that way because whoever uses your food (i like the food metaphor, even if it sounds silly!) could have a completely different purpose. Please tell me if this is making any sense to you! *sweatdrop*

MeeWah	12 May 2004
Niomi: If I understand ye correctly, ye consider the possibility that the human experiences become part of a racial ("racial" referring to the human race, *not* racism) or group memory, which is shared or drawn against by those incarnating. I have seen mention of this theory somewhere, but I forget where. My belief in reincarnation may be biased; based on a knowing at pre-school age of having lived before & reincarnation a part of the cultural beliefs; however, the latter was not known or discussed until I was older. After beginning school, the more detailed "memories". As a theory, reincarnation makes sense simply because one lifetime is inadequate to learn life lessons (whose purpose is to return to the One Source). I do not think one need have the same birthdate in each lifetime--the birthdate or astrological influences to pertain to the lesson/purpose chosen for the particular lifetime. Entirely possible to have different birthdates that reflect the same to different energy patterns depending on the earth cycle. Both Tarot & Astrology pertain to energy patterns. Like a natal horoscope may not seem to fit a person in the youth because the life is moreorless in its early stages & has not accumulated the defining experiences & knowledge to impact the character or personality, so, too, would the Personality/Soul Cards similarly not seem to be very expressive of same.

The Soul/Personality cards thread was originally posted on 02 May 2004 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.