Personal arcanum: your Major Arcana by birth date

Add the digits of your date of birth and find your personal Major Arcana, with its meaning. Free, no account, with all 22 arcana explained.

Your personal arcanum is the card of the Major Arcana that numerology links to your date of birth. Enter the date and the calculator adds its digits and shows the card, with its meaning.

It is a symbolic tradition, offered for entertainment and self-reflection. Read the card as a mirror for your traits and questions, not as a rule about who you are.

Find my arcanum

This calculator needs JavaScript. The method is explained below, and the 22 arcana are listed with their meanings.

How the personal arcanum is calculated

The method is the classic one. Write the date of birth as day, month and year and add every digit. For 17/05/1990: 1 + 7 + 0 + 5 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 0 = 32.

The Major Arcana go from 1 to 22. If the sum is 22 or less, that is your arcanum. If it is higher, subtract 22 until the result is 22 or less: 32 becomes 32 − 22 = 10, the Wheel of Fortune card.

The Fool is numbered 0 in the deck and 22 in this count, so a sum of 22 gives the Fool.

The numbering is the one of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck used on this site, where Strength is 8 and Justice is 11. Marseille decks swap those two, so a source that follows Marseille may give another name for 8 or 11.

Questions

What is the personal arcanum?

It is the Major Arcana card linked to your date of birth by the classic numerology method: you add the digits of the date until you reach a number from 1 to 22. It is read as a symbolic portrait of your temperament and your lessons, for entertainment and self-reflection.

How do I calculate my personal arcanum?

Add all the digits of your day, month and year. If the sum is above 22, subtract 22 until it is 22 or less. For 17/05/1990 the sum is 32, and 32 − 22 = 10, so the arcanum is 10, the Wheel of Fortune. Or enter your date in the calculator above.

What happens when the sum is 22?

A sum of exactly 22 is the Fool, which is numbered 0 in the deck and 22 in this count.

Can my personal arcanum be the Magician or the High Priestess?

Yes. Subtracting 22 can lead to any of the 22 arcana: a sum of 23 gives the Magician and a sum of 24 gives the High Priestess. The result depends only on the sum of the digits of the date.

Is my personal arcanum the same as my zodiac sign?

No. The sign comes from the position of the Sun on your birthday, while the personal arcanum is a numerology result that comes from the digits of your date. The two can be read side by side.