Your Personal Year: Combining tarot and numerology to get the most out of the energy

What is a personal year number?

Before we look at how to work with your personal year number let’s first look at what it is. Your personal year number suggests the energy for the upcoming year is. Dr Kay Lagerquist and Lisa Lenard write that, “your personal year number is one of the most easily recognized numbers at work in your life.” Put simply, the personal year number represents the theme for the year. You can observe its influence.

How do I calculate it?

There are a few different ways to do this. How you do it is up to you. Don’t stress though because in the end you will always come back to the same single digit number. Since that’s the case you may be wondering why people take different approaches. I’ll show you by way of an example.

To keep things simple I will use my own personal year calculation. So I was born on the 1st May. My actual year of birth is not used. You use the current year. So the date I need to use is 1st May 2024. Make sure when you write out the date to use the full four digit year.

Method 1

Add all the individual digits together, then reduce them to a single digit.

1 + 5 + 2 + 0 + 2 + 4 = 14

then 14 breaks down to 1 + 4 = 5

Therefore my personal year number is 5. However, I would write that as 14/5 since the number is below 21 because there is another Major Arcana card that, to me, has a secondary influence on the energy. I look at the potential shadow aspect of that energy.

Method 2

Add the whole numbers together and then reduce them to a single digit.

1 + 5 + 2024 = 2030

2 + 0 + 3 + 0 = 5

Method 3

Reduce the day, month and year to single digits first, add them together, and then reduce them to a single digit.

1 + 5 + 8 (2024) = 14

1 + 4 = 5

As you can see they are all 5. Because I look at the energies of the day, month and year when looking at the date of birth, to keep my methodology consistent, I use Method 3.

So, while you get to decide how you add the number together, the formula obviously stays the same:

Personal year = Day + Month + Current calendar year

What the numbers mean numerologically

1	Beginning New projects, new ideas, new plans, active, making decisions. Not a year for endings.
2	Co-operation Working with others, new friendships, harmony or discord, passivity, slow year. Not a year for going it alone.
3	Social Renew or make new friends, self expression, put new ideas into practice, time to deal with inner emotional self, entertainment, create, active. Things that should have been settled in the previous 9 year can resurface.
4	Work Emphasis on business and work, keep things in order, watch your health, attend to what needs attention, hard work, discipline, practicality If you focus on the work that needs to be done some of the potential hard times that come with this number could be avoided.
5	Change Personal freedom, seek personal change, a move, new partner, new job, travel, unpredictability, getting unstuck, active. Implementing new methods into existing ways of being and doing,
6	Adjustments Financial adjustments, collect or settle debts, marriage/divorce, adjustments at home, responsibility, family, service, counselling others.
7	Rest Study, self improvement, give thought to you purpose and what you want to accomplish, self analysis, spend time alone. Not a year for new investments
8	Money Invest, power, responsibility, respect, recognition, achievement. Take advantage of opportunities in business.
9	Finish Don’t start anything new, study, writing, ending connections that don’t serve you, give to others. Take care of anything unfinished so you don’t carry anything you want over from this cycle into the next.

Now to bring in the tarot

Once you have your number, or two, find the cards that reflect that number. In my case, my current personal year is 14/5 so I select XIV Temperance for the 14 and V The Hierophant, and each of the fives from the Minor Arcana, 5 of Cups, 5 of Wands, 5 of Swords, 5 of Pentacles.

The Major Arcana card/s and your personal year

Now take a look at the Major Arcana cards. These show the overall theme for the year. My suggestion is to come up with, (trust what comes to mind here), or look up, a keyword or phrase linked to the card/s. This is your theme.

For me, the key phrase for V The Hierophant is “Core Values” and XIV Temperance is “alchemy, balance and moderation”. So a 5 personal year is about revisiting and establishing my core values. Temperance suggests that I shouldn’t make too many radical changes. Instead it is about taking a balanced approach to everything. This is something people with a 5 personal year need to bear in mind. Freedom isn’t about being able to do whatever you want whenever you want.

As you will see in the chart below, the keyword for the number five numerologically is “Change”. Therefore, the theme for this year for me is to initiate the changes necessary to align my life with my core values.

Note:
I have used The Origianl Rider Waite Tarot Deck to show all my cards, however, especially in the case of the Major Arcana cards, I would select the cards that reflect what you would like to focus on. Below, you will see that I have chosen V Divine Child from Chrysalis Tarot for my personal focus.

The Major Arcana card that represents the theme for the year is like the title of the book, the heading of an article. It is not the thing itself. It provides the overarching idea. It suggests what your going to discover but not the actual discovery. That is where the Minor Arcana comes in.

Just like in any tarot reading, the Minor Arcana speaks to the everyday aspects, to our general lived experience. This is where we act and interact and for me these are the cards that guide the way. The Major Arcana provides the destination that helps to keep you on track.

The Minor Arcana cards and your personal year

I used to find it difficult to reconcile that the tarot seems to cast such a negative light on the fives when numerology, (my initial area of study), tells us that the fives are positive, they’re energetic, they’re alive, a period ripe with change and networking. So to be honest, once I made tarot my focus, to a certain extent, I left numerology behind for a while. As you can see from this post, it’s back.

Why? Because I saw it in a different way. The fives worked together perfectly when I thought about the Minor Arcana fives and the idea of change. If I was feeling really content and life was perfect, why would I want to look to change. We don’t tend to look too deeply at things when they are wonderful. We should, but we don’t. But that’s another thing. In showing you how to use the Minor Arcana cards I believe you will see why the fives work perfectly.

The Minor Arcana cards direct us on how to use the energy of the year to our best advantage. In my case, as the earlier table shows, the main energy of the five is change. The tarot is telling me to look for change based on my Core Values. I want to just address something quickly here. In many ways, numerology can be seen as a predictive methodology. 2024 is going to be one of change and I shouldn’t try to remain the same. However, just like with tarot, I don’t see that its power is as a predictor. I see it as a guide that suggests a way forward.

So, how does that work with the personal year. Take your first Minor Arcana card and think about what it represents. The very first question to ask for each card is, “How does this card make me feel?” Then based on the card begin to draft a list of questions inspired by the card. I suggest journaling the answers. Journaling has so many benefits which you can read about here. Also, it gives you something you can return to and add to. Plus you can use it to remind you of things you may have forgotten or of how far you have come.

Examples for a 5 personal year

My first card is the Five of Wands which I’m looking at through the lens of change and core values. This is where the questions, and I would strongly suggest the journaling, come in.

Where am I competing with others when I don’t need to?
Am I being unnecessarily competitive and thus combative?
How is my fear of competition impacting me?
Do I have people around me that support and encourage me?
Am I working effectively with others?
What impact are the people I associate with having on my life?
Who are my role models and do I have people around me that I can learn from?
What can I take from the idea of team sports and healthy competition?
What battles around my own worth am I raging with internally?

All of a sudden hopefully, you can see how addressing these questions could lead to changes on many levels. If the environment changes and the internal dialogues begin to change, imagine what others changes could/would occur naturally as a result.

I’ll give another example based on the Five of Pentacles. Some of the questions I need to address include:

Who can help me achieve ……………?
Where am I lacking?
- For example: Skills, confidence, resources
Where do my notions of lack come from?
Am I blocking my own abundance? How? Why?
Am I drawing attention to my own weaknesses or am I letting limitations that others have placed on me hold me back?
Where do I feel excluded? And, do I really want to feel included?
Where am I excluding myself?
What resources do you have that you aren’t considering?

These are just two of the four cards and as you can see there is plenty to consider. Addressing these questions could lead to many positive changes. These cards, that I once didn’t want to identify with, can actually bring about amazing changes when we dare to look at aspects of ourselves and our lives that we may prefer to ignore or have been conditioned to ignore. Yes there is an element of shadow work involved here too if you choose to go down that path.

Some tips

If you’re struggling to come up with the questions and you have a few tarot decks, maybe look at the different ways your personal year cards have been portrayed. Consider what’s missing or what has been included, the colours, the way the people are facing, their actions or inactions and so on.

Another thing you can try if you feel really stuck is to draw some additional cards to help you. Simply ask the cards to help you gain more understanding. I don’t suggest drawing more than an additional three cards for each though. It could become a bit to overwhelming. Besides, in this case I believe less is more. You don’t have to come up with all your questions in one sitting. This is year long energy.

Also you may choose to break down the process. You might start by looking at the cards in regards to your personal relationships. Next time you return to the exercise you might choose to focus on work, or your lifestyle, or maybe your environment. This isn’t something to rush through.

Want some help?

If you’re finding it hard to formulate your questions, you can always get in touch with me. If you just have a quick question, send me an email and I’ll get back to you within a couple of days. I’m happy to help. I also offer a fully personalised package that includes an email tarot reading based on your personal numbers and a minimum of twenty-five journal prompts to get you started.

To learn more about the Personal Year Package or to ask me a question about anything you’ve read send me an email by clicking the link below.

Email me

Wrapping it all up

This exercise was born from an intention I set for myself this year. The intention is to work in with the energy of the year. I didn’t just want to make random changes that I thought might work or make me happy. I wanted to understand what it was I needed to change and why. Since I am already experiencing some benefits I really wanted to share this with others interested in self discovery and self improvement. It’s been challenging but I feel it has been invaluable.

Final note

Before I go I just want to mention something else quickly. Some people consider a personal year runs from birthday to birthday rather than a calendar year. I spent time looking at that a few years ago and personally I find the energy seems to align for me calendar year to calendar year. However, if your tendency is to make plans from your birthday and you would rather run your personal year from birthday to birthday, the formula is:

Personal year = day you were born + the month you were born + the year of your last birthday

So for me, since I am writing this on 8th February 2024, the calculation for my personal year running birthday to birthday would be 1 + 5 + 7 (2+0+2+3=7) = 13/4

Featured decks

The Original Rider Waite Tarot Deck created by A E Waite and Pamela Colman Smith (artist) and published by Random House 1999.
Chrysalis Tarot created by Toney Brooks and Holly Sierra and published by US Games Inc, 2016.
Anna K Tarot created by Anna Klaffinger and published by Llewellyn Publications, (First Llewellyn Edition, 3rd Printing), 2019.
Cook’s Tarot created by Judith Mackay Stirt and published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2014.
Gregory Scott Tarot created by Gregory Scott and published by Lo Scarabeo, 2020.
Light Seers Tarot created by Chris-Anne and published by Hay House, 2019.
Forest of Enchantment Tarot created by Lunaea Weatherstone and Meraylah Allwood (artist) and published by Llewellyn Publications, First Edition, Second Printing, 2019.
The Wild Unknown Tarot created by Kim Krans and published by Harper One, 2016.
The Sufi Tarot created by Ayeda Husain with artwork by Hassaan Aftab and Momina Khan and published by Hay House, 2022.

References:

Numerology and the Divine Triangle, written by Faith Javane and Dusty Bunker, published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
The Numbers of Life: The Hidden Power in Numerology, written by Kevin Quinn Avery, published by Girard & Stewart.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Numerology (Second Edition), written by Kay Lagerquist, PhD and Lisa Lenard, published by Alpha.

Resource:

If you’re after a great, simple-to-use app you might like Numerology. Please note I have no affiliation with them.