Numerology

Numerology is the belief that numbers carry meanings of their own. In tarot it usually works two ways. First, readers group the numbered cards by number, so all four Fives share a theme, and link them with the Major Arcana card of the same number, so the Fives echo The Hierophant (V). Second, they add up the digits of a date and reduce the total to 22 or less to find a birth card or year card. Neither system is in the old card games; both come from 19th- and 20th-century occult and modern reading practice, and readers disagree on details such as whether 22 counts as The Fool. See numbers in tarot.