I first learned about Year Cards while reading Mary K. Greer’s Tarot for Your Self. A Year Card represents “the tests, lessons, and exeperiences youwill go thorugh this year” (p. 35). Greer’s method for calculating a Year Card is to add birth month, birth day, and current year as follows:
Birth Month 01
Birth Day 12
Current Year 2022
Total 2035
That total is then added across like so: 2+0+3+5=10. You always keep the highest number if it is 22 or less (22 is the Fool). So in this example, which uses my birthday, the Major Arcana card that corresponds to 10 is The Wheel.
Once you’ve done the caclulation, there are two schools of thought on what constitutes your year. The first is the calendar year. The second is the year from your birthday to your next birthday. For me, it really doesn’t make much of a difference, since my birthday is in January. That might even make sense if your birthday falls in the first quarter of the year. However, at a certain point, birthday to birthday makes more sense than the calendar year. Greer, on the other hand, uses both: the Calendar year for events and external forces and the Birthday-to-Birthday year for internal learnings and integration (p. 35).
Greer gives an iterpretation for each Year Card in Chapter 15 of Who are You in The Tarot? I’m not going to go into depth with her interpretation. I will just note that I seem to have started experiencing my Wheel Year duing the last half of my Hermit Year. Go figure!
As in previous years, I will do a daily Instagram post of a Wheel card from one of my decks until I’ve gone through all of the decks I own.
There is also a generic Year Card for the year itself, which is the total of the numbers of the year. 2022 adds up to 6, the Lovers. This card is for everyone, but I’m not sure if I’m ready for a year of “Gemini moments!”
Tarot with Jeff 