birth cards are the basic foundational energy that defines your life. of course we as human beings are all different; different astrological charts and all, but I feel like our birth cards are where we start. so you might have the same birth cards with someone but where it takes you would obviously be very different from where it takes someone else. if you don’t know your birth card, find it out here.
everyone has at least 2 or even, 3 birth cards. there are 12 possible birth card pairs:
wheel of fortune/magician
justice/high priestess
hanged man/empress
death/emperor
temperance/hierophant
devil/lovers
tower/chariot
star/strength
moon/hermit
sun/wheel/magician
judgement/high priestess
world/empress
each pair(or trio) has a unique position that gives you a ‘start.’ two cards balance each other’s energy and give each other qualities that the other lacks, striking a balance.
moon/hermit pair gives you a very intense inner emotion. both cards are focused on inner feelings and introverted way of thinking; you find your answers in yourself. you have this mysterious vibe to yourself. consequently, yours is a life of shadows, exploring depths of your emotions and making your own journey by learning through your own trials and errors. but such intense emotions can subject you to depression or make you especially prone to being terrorized by your deep fears. your mind can be your own worst enemy. this is my birth card pair, and the number 9 is very much associated with my life. I am a numerology number 9, and the hermit, one of my birth cards, is 9. obviously the other pair, moon, number 18, reduces to number 9(1+8). I’ve heard that numerology number nines are finishing their karmic cycle or are very old souls. I think our starting point in life, with these birth cards, makes it crucial for us to face our deepest fears and let them help us grow. they might be triggered by something from our past lives or influences that we hadn’t realized when it first hit us, thus buried deep inside us, waiting to be recognized.
if you have star/strength pair as birth cards, you begin with this serenity and optimism that shine within you. you life is about harmony, balance, and making peace above all things. you are born with this grace that others can’t imitate. you can see the sense of that in both star and strength cards. you get this warm glow just by looking at both of the cards, radiated by the inner strength of both women figures in them. your life is teaching you to “let it be.” this inherent water quality in your birth cards can make you very moody or cranky, though, so that is one thing to watch out for.
tower/chariot pair gives you a more outwardly focused, extroverted streak. It’s actually a very sudden energy streaming upward compared to such an internally focused pair like moon/hermit. tower/chariot pair makes you go out there in the world and express yourself outwardly to find answers. there is a certain aggressiveness you are born with. you really shine in challenging situations and meet up to your opponents and better yourself through it.
devil/lovers pair has a keyword of “passion” and “desire.” it’s very ironic and fitting that such a pair exists, considering that devil is a direct corruption of lovers card in the major arcana of tarot. they are designed extremely similarly, only the mood and the details changed from each other. it’s almost as if they are two images looking into each other in the mirror. if you’re born with this pair, it gives you a very human, realistic quality. you are very in touch of your human desires, sensuality, and pleasures of life. people fascinate you, and you learn through your relationships with others, by relating yourself to another and perhaps the one you love. watch out for shallowness or being materialistic, which happens when you’re way too caught up in yourself, and being vain.
temperance/hierophant birth card people are passionate and outspoken about what they truly believe in. so it gives you sort of an adviser role in life from early on. you are good at giving others advices and being sort of a moral or mental guide for people, because you have very firm standards set for yourself. you know what you are okay with and what you’re not okay with. you are born with leadership and charisma. you search for the real truth above all other things. one pitfall is that you can often sound or be very preachy or holier-than-thou.
with death/emperor pair as your birth cards, you make yourself very clear. sometimes you are too stubborn on your judgements because to you, it’s either A or B, there’s no middle. you can often be very black and white about things. watch out for manipulative or dogmatic behavior of your own. you love orders and you are naturally good at making decisions. the quality of change and transformation death card gives to your other birth card, emperor, keeps you moving forward without stagnation. you know things change, so you are prepared for pretty much anything, you have this strong willpower that doesn’t bend down or get watered by other people.
with birth cards like hanged man/empress, you are destined with patience and high tolerance for stress. you know you will get where you are meant to get someday, and you are not afraid to wait for it, or to work for it. for you, you know slow and steady wins the race. you gracefully accept delay. to the hanged man’s detached demeanor, the empress adds its caring and devoted nature and balances it out. together they are truly loving, caring and very aware of the life’s cycles. just watch out for passiveness, and the fact that you are prone to being ‘stuck’ in unnecessary situations if you don’t push yourself to actively move away from them.
justice/high priestess pair gives you a very self-reflective, analytical nature. some people might perceive you as a little cold or hard at times, but you are aware of the universe’s law and that everything in your life is already taken care of. you are born naturally aware of the karmic cycle and the saying that “what goes around, comes around.” this pair, as well as the temperance/hierophant pair, can be subject to being arrogant and haughty at times. together, though, they are drawn to intricate and intellectual studies and often this pair gives you a serious pursuit for higher education.
wheel of fortune/magician is a truly fascinating pair. you are aware that you are provided from the universe and that there is no limit in your own power. you are born ready, as they say. you are interesting, ever-changing, full of surprises, making things happen constantly as others watch in awe. the universe is backing you up and you know you can go on and on and on. this pair makes you one of those people who actively make the world go round. however, you are still very much subjective to being self-centered and melodramatic, and sometimes, overconfident. learn to take a little break time to time, and give your untiring energy some time to rest.
the sun added to the previous pair of wheel of fortune and magician, people with these birth cards are truly bright. the sun card gives a touch of revelation, radiance and true warmth to the magician/wheel of fortune pair. you are constantly stretching boundaries and revealing truths with your power, and there is a sense of doing all that for the ‘greater good.’ you are more forgiving and accepting than the previous magician/wheel of fortune pair. you are subject to being as self-centered and demanding attention frequently as much as the previous pair as well, and the sun added, you just want to be the brightest thing in the room. know that you have your power, and you are a natural light, you don’t have to show it off, people already see your light. just let it shine.
the judgement card takes the high priestess card to an even more transcendent level. sometimes you can be very caught up in daydreams, almost as if you are not in this world anymore. your creativity and imagination runs high. this birth card pair is about awakening, slowly realizing your true potential and power, tapping into yourself and learning who you really are. people with this birth card pair go to great depths to explore themselves and they are not afraid to face themselves. they are willing to dive into the unknown to get to a higher place. the judgement’s energy of a wake-up call takes the passive energy of high priestess, and together they are open to experiments and taking things far so they can see just how far they can go. this birth card pair is associated with bravery and maturity that belies their physical age.
a sense of completion comes from the birth card pair of the world/empress. if you are born with this birth card pair, you are born with generosity, grace and acceptance of whatever comes. you are very focused on the present moment and what you have in hand now. there is a very beautiful, abundant nature within these people. they attract things they need and want easily because they are so tapped into the energy of the universe. I personally often get a feeling from people with these birth cards that they are very old souls, completing their karmic cycles or even, in their current lifetime to learn a very, very crucial lesson for themselves that will make up for what they’ve experienced in their previous lives. they often have an awakening effect for others as well, and they are happy to share their abundant energy with others.
interestingly enough, the start of the major arcana, the fool, is represented by the number 0 and therefore do not make part in any of the birth card pairs(or trio). the tarot school website had explained, “we do consider the fool to be the universal birthright of us all,” and I can’t agree more. we all get that cosmic push from the universe with our birth. we are all put here to make something out of ourselves. it’s a truly beautiful interpretation. let your birth cards help you be more aware of your own nature and how you started out, and let them guide you to where you are supposed to be.
all image sources from tarot school
