Two cards
Your birth arcana and your year arcana: how the two work together
Your birth arcana is the card you were born under, and it never changes. Your year arcana is the card one year hands you. Put the two together and you see how your nature meets that year's task: where the cards help each other, where they rub, and what to do about it.
How the two cards are read
Your birth card adds every digit of your full birth date. Your card for a year keeps your birth day and month and swaps in the chosen year. The two numbers are checked in a fixed order, and the first link that fits names one of fourteen kinds: the same card, one number double the other, the same root digit, consecutive numbers, cards that draw each other, then elements. The birth date 14 July 1990 gives The Emperor (4) at birth and The Hierophant (5) in 2027: consecutive cards.
Questions about the year arcana
What is the difference between a birth arcana and a year arcana?
The birth arcana is fixed for life, because the year it adds is your birth year. Your year arcana swaps in the year you pick, so it changes every year and covers 1 January to 31 December.
What does it mean if both cards are the same?
It means your year repeats your birth card, the most concentrated of the fourteen kinds. Your nature and the year's task point the same way, so your gifts are easy to use and your usual excesses are easy to fall into.
Is it bad if my two cards have clashing elements?
No. Elements that do not mix easily, such as fire and water or air and earth, mean you are holding two ways of acting at the same time this year. That friction is where the year's growth comes from, and no pair of cards predicts a bad year.
Why does my pair get only one kind when several links fit?
Because only the first link on the list counts. Number links come before partner cards, and partner cards before elements, so a rare link such as a shared root is never hidden behind a common one like a shared element.
Is this love compatibility with a partner?
No. Both cards here are yours: your birth card and the card the chosen year gives you. To compare yourself with another person, use the birth arcana compatibility, which pairs your birth card with theirs.
Does the pairing change from year to year?
Usually, yes. Your birth card stays the same while your card for the year moves every year, so the kind of pairing tends to change with it. Pick another year to see how your birth card meets it.