Embracing Year Cards

By Allan Ritchie


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The New Year brings a new start for each of us. In Tarot For Yourself by Mary K. Greer teaches us how to find our Year Card. A Year Card is a Major Trump, whose meaning is a mirror for the energy expressed in our lives for the year.  When I first learned about Year Cards, I was highly skeptical. I examined the idea by looking back a few years and compare what I remembered about the year with the matching Year Card.  It was enlightening to see the patterns in my life that resembled my Year Cards. This convinced me there was something to the idea.  I watched it over the next couple of years and now use Year Cards to set annual personal goals.  While every year has a wide range of experiences that can not be limited to a single Tarot idea, I have found that choosing resolutions that are in line with my Year Card are the ones most easily accomplished.   


To find your Year Card, you take your birth month, the day of the month you were born, and add it together with the year to get a total sum.  Then reduce the sum using numerology to a number between 1 and 21. With that number, you find the corresponding Tarot Major Trumps. As an example, I will use Pamela Colman Smith, whose birthday is February 16th. If she were still alive, what would her 2021 Year Card be?   2 + 16 + 2021 = 2039.  Then 2 + 0 + 3 + 9 = 14.  Her Year Card for 2021 would be Temperance. 


2020 was a Hermit year for me.  (It was a “Hermit” year for many of us regardless of what our specific year cards might have been.)  Last year, I set goals that connected me to the Hermit.  I spent time alone in purposeful reflection. I directed my reading to books that pushed me in contemplative ways. This is why in 2020, I worked through 365 Tarot Spreads as it was a focus on a more solitary practice.   


As 2021 opens up, I look forward to experiencing some great changes as I move into aWheel of Fortune” Year.  Now it is time to rouse myself into action, to leave passivity behind, and make some moves. Last year’s self-reflection left me desiring some personal changes, and this is the year to do it. The resolutions and goals I set this year must be dynamic and action-oriented. The Wheel of Fortune speaks of the cycles of life, and fate but also has a sense of bounty and good fortune. A “Wheel of Fortune” Year that there isn’t a blank check of good luck, but it encourages chance-taking and being bold. Last year as a Hermit is was about stepping back, this year, I am stepping forward.


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I have found that creating goals based on a Tarot card works for me and helps me fulfill my personal goals. Using a Year Card, I set clear intentions, specific goals. This may be what helps me be successful. Also, I use a Year Card as permission to experience what I enjoy but also as a catalyst to strengthen my resolve to tackle challenges. Embracing my personal Year Card is a chance to embrace each year as part of my life’s journey.  Moving with intention and connecting what I do to my purpose and goals, as well as my tarot craft, makes it all the more meaningful. 


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