ON SELECTING A "YEAR THEME" CARD

   
​ Happy VERY Belated New Year . . . and, as such, I offer an intriguing idea for Readers, which originally posted in “The Tarot Celebrations Newsletter” (Publication of The American Tarot Association; 2005 (if memory serves me) -- Selecting a YEAR THEME Card. I meant to post this in early January, since that would start the psychic fair season, but it was thwarted by a myriad of interruptions, including the major one that I got for Christmas; the Scottish Terrier puppy, Skye. Thus, it becomes the JAN-FEB blog; presenting highlights of the statistics I collected during the first year of placing a “Year Theme” card alongside 90-95% of the readings for that entire year (2007); BUT, the numerological example for selecting it, has been updated as a “How-To” applicable for 2019, which in all likelihood for many readers, is already in progress as I post this blog.

     Most Tarot Readers are familiar with the use of a “Significator” card, which most select using the birthdate of the client to represent their personal attributes as it relates to the current reading. The importance of this card, however, is in the unlikelihood it would ever change over the life of the client—unless the reader were using an alternate method, but the widespread use of the “significator” remains basically the same even then. Using numerology, it would be chosen by adding the client’s birthdate:  Month + Day + Year; then, add that total across = a single or double-digit number, which would be indicative of the appropriate Major Arcana (this chosen from a separate tarot deck from that of the reading).

     I mention this because the selection of a “YEAR THEME” card mimics the basic math, but with a major difference—its relationship is ONLY to that year and befitting the reading, accordingly. So, if I were to choose a “Year Theme” for a reading today, I would use my birthdate, but replace my birth-year with the current year; thus, the equation would be as follows:

     My Birthdate is June 5, 19… (sorry, not applicable) – and the equation would be:
     6 + 5 + 2019 = 2030; THEN add:  2 + 0 + 3 + 0 = 5 . . . which equates to the Major Arcana card:  V. Hierophant –       and that would be my card to represent the THEME of the current year, 2019. It would change,       
     accordingly, for next year and so, too, would the general theme of my year in 2020. Get the idea?

     There would be times that the total above would equal a Power Number – 11 or 22 – and that leaves a choice. You might choose to stop at the double digit if the Major Arcana better fits the sense of the theme, but I found that keeping the 11 or 22 AND taking it down to a single digit as 2 or 4 presented an enigmatic duplication for the individual’s year theme. The resulting complexity was amazingly appropriate for almost every case when I chose to keep and interpret both cards for a client (of course, there were occasions when I did not, the choice depended simply on my senses or time allowed for their reading). While the choice would be left to the preference of the reader, I would encourage them to test the results of using dual themes or reducing to a single theme for themselves.

     Note the once this selection is complete, there should be no worries that it will match up with the reading even a bit and always relates to some aspect of the client’s year-long experiences, plans or development in a variety of areas. It will not matter whether you choose to interpret the “year theme” at the beginning of the reading or end, but I found it most effective to point out the generalities of it at the beginning, so the idea will be in mind for the client, and then go into greater detail, interpreting it inclusive with what was said during the reading, as well as taking the theme even further expanding on whatever it suggested for them. It will take only a few trials before all this will fall into place, befitting any reader’s preference and style—of that, I am confident. The basics of the “Year Theme” are ambiguous as I try to explain them, but I think that leaves interpretation and application open to variation like an ever-flowing river of creative ideas.
      
     Rather than bore you with dry percentages from the original article, I will only present one that was quite unexpected—there were high percentages in which the chosen “Year Theme” card appeared somewhere in the layout, chosen by the client from an independently shuffled tarot deck (and, usually one of a totally unrelated artist/theme, as well). That occurrence averaged between 90-98%; highest in the early part of the year, dropping off in the last few months and at fairs with fewer readings done. The instances of mirroring of themes between their Major Arcana theme and their reading, in general, amazingly averaged from 88-95%, consistently during the entire season. Rarely was the “theme” denied or seemed utterly implausible in every sense of it by a client. Instead, nearly everyone either understood the context immediately or after explanation of their theme, they would express amazement to be “where they were unaware of being” on their life path or along the way of their goals. The only exception to this were the 25% of readings that were directed toward the discovery of a client’s past lives or one that was strictly aimed at spirit communication/mediumship, which should be obvious that a theme card might be easily considered as invalid. The lowest percentage kept related to the clients who just refused to acknowledge their “year theme” made sense in anyway and adamantly stated there was no connection, at all—the percentage was 1-5%.
In truth, I believe the percentages (and there were many more categories, ranges and details in the original assessment of that first year using it) prove that using the “Year Theme” card is an enhancement to reading.

     Of course, all types of Divination can utilize the “Year Theme” card or something similar, just as much as the Tarot—AND, all forms can stand totally on their own, essentially dependent on the skill of the reader and trust they ensue in the client – but, using this additional tool can just be done for FUN, either way. It’s up to readers who are like me and enjoy trying such creative things to further intuition in themselves as well as the interest and curiosity of their clients or students. Naturally, I cannot claim to have used proper scientific methodology to set the parameters when collecting the data during this “experiment”, but I found the results impressive, anyway. I will let you be the judge and decide if you wish to have a little FUN on the side (tongue in cheek!). Nevertheless, it is a chance to step out of the rigidity of old methodologies and become inspired to try innovative ideas—or at least, give it a try….