You know how it is. You’re endlessly scrolling through your feed, trying to find some half-decent nonsense to keep your brain busy, and suddenly you land on some weird corner of the internet talking about numbers and destiny. That’s exactly how this whole thing started for me. My buddy, Mike—you guys know Mike, the one who buys way too much weird equipment—he kept going on and on about these “birth tarot cards” and how they lock in your whole life’s mission. I told him he sounded like a total nutcase, but honestly, I got curious enough to actually pull out my phone and try it myself.
The Messy Process of Finding Card Number 1
I figured the whole thing was some complicated ritual, but it was just ugly math. I quickly read the instructions on the first site I found. The core idea is simple: you take your whole birthday—Month, Day, and Year—and you smash all the numbers together. You keep adding until you get down to a number between 1 and 21. That’s your Major Arcana card.
I immediately grabbed a pen and wrote down my own date. I won’t bore you with the exact digits, but when I did the first run of addition, the total was something big, way over 21. I ran the second round of numbers, and I landed right on 19. That’s The Sun. Now, The Sun is pretty cool, all about joy and success, but Mike specifically mentioned The Magician, which is Card number 1. I wasn’t getting the card I wanted, so I went back and double-checked the rules.
Turns out, there are two ways to get a 1. You either land on 1 directly, or you land on 10 (Wheel of Fortune) or 19 (The Sun), and then you take the final step and reduce those to a single digit: 1+0=1 or 1+9=10, then 1+0=1. Since my total was 19, I realized I could reduce it that final step. So I pushed the math one last time. 1+9 equals 10, and 1+0 equals 1. Bingo.
There it was: The Magician. Card Number 1.
What I Learned When I Read the Description
I spent the next twenty minutes reading what this Magician card was supposed to mean for my life. Forget the smoke and mirrors stuff you see in movies. It’s not about pulling rabbits out of a hat. The descriptions all said the same thing: it’s about having the tools you need and having the will to use them. It’s about being a creator, a communicator, and basically, a self-starter. The picture shows a guy with all the suits of the minor arcana—the sword, the cup, the coin, the wand—right there on the table. He has the resources, and he’s ready to build something.
I sat there and thought about it for a minute. Magician, huh? All those times I had to figure out how to wire something complicated, or when I sat down and taught myself a new software program just to get a project done. Every time I pulled apart an old engine and put it back together just by looking at a diagram. That felt like the Magician’s energy talking. It’s about taking the basic building blocks and making something real happen.
How The Magician Validated My Struggle
This is where it gets personal, and honestly, why I decided to share this practice. You guys know I didn’t start this blog because everything in my life was perfect. It was the complete opposite. A couple of years ago, I was working a high-stress job, really thinking I was crushing it. One day, the company decided to do a “restructuring,” which is just corporate nonsense for, “We’re firing a bunch of people.”
I walked in that morning, and by lunch, they had packed up my entire desk and walked me out the door. No warning, no severance—nothing. I tried calling my supervisor, I tried emailing HR, but every number was dead, and every email bounced back. I felt totally wiped out. I had zero income, bills were stacking up, and I felt like I had no tools left.
I had to do something. I had to become the Magician. I couldn’t rely on a job or a boss anymore. I looked at what I actually had: a lot of experience, a lot of weird, hard-won knowledge from past projects, and an old laptop. The only way forward was to create my own damn income stream. I started this whole practice blog by just sitting down and literally writing out every skill I possessed, no matter how small. I forced myself to create content, to communicate, to build this place from a blank screen. It was tough, grueling work.
Seeing that “1” today, it wasn’t some cosmic prediction. It felt like a mirror. It validated the struggle I went through—that when the world takes everything away, you still have the power to create. You have your skills and your will. The Magician card is just a reminder that the tools are already right there on your table. You just need the guts to pick them up and start making something.
So, if you get Card 1, just remember my story. Stop waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect boss. Get off your butt, grab your tools, and make your own damn destiny happen.
