Arcanomatics is an original method developed by Alexander Chadaev. It is based on the Thoth Tarot, the Tree of Life, and ordinary arithmetic.
But arithmetic here is not about arriving at a single master number and stopping there. One number is not enough. A person rarely fits into one digit, one Arcanum, or one neatly phrased description.
We need to see where a person starts, where the central problem arises, how it manifests, and where it may lead. To do this, the date is broken down into several parts. The cards are not drawn at random. They are calculated.
Let us test this with someone almost everyone knows: Freddie Mercury, born on 5 September 1946.
We begin with the overall point. Add the entire date:
5 + 9 + 1946 = 1960
Now add the digits of the result:
1 + 9 + 6 + 0 = 16
1 + 6 = 7
We obtain the seventh Sephirah — Netzach.
Netzach is associated with feelings, desire, attraction, art, and the ability to draw other people into one’s own emotional field. For Freddie Mercury, this is a rather telling beginning.
But it is only the beginning.
Now add the day and month:
5 + 9 = 14
We obtain Major Arcanum XIV — Art.
In the Thoth Tarot, this is not merely creativity in the everyday sense. It is the union of opposites, the creation of a new state from things that previously seemed incompatible.
Rock and theatre. Strength and vulnerability. Masculine and feminine. Personal drama and a vast stage performance.
The correspondence is too direct to overlook.
But in Arcanomatics, one fitting card proves nothing on its own. What matters is how it connects with the rest of the calculation.
Now we look for the number of the problem. Add the month and year:
9 + 1946 = 1955
1 + 9 + 5 + 5 = 20
2 + 0 = 2
We obtain Two.
This is not yet a complete card: a Two can belong to any of the four suits. The suit is determined by a Court card.
Add the day and year:
5 + 1946 = 1951
There are sixteen Court cards in the deck. Divide 1951 by 16 and look at the remainder.
The remainder is 15. The fifteenth position is the Prince of Disks.
Therefore, the suit of the problem is Disks. Combine the number and suit:
Two of Disks — Change.
This is a card of continual movement, shifting states, and the attempt to maintain balance while everything keeps turning.
Once again, this is a striking match for someone who repeatedly changed his image, musical form, and manner of being on stage.
One thing remains: the spiritual task.
Here, instead of adding the parts of the date, we multiply them:
5 × 9 × 1946 = 87570
Add the digits:
8 + 7 + 5 + 7 + 0 = 27
There are twenty-two positions in the cycle of the Major Arcana.
27 − 22 = 5
We obtain Arcanum V — The Hierophant.
The Hierophant is associated with transmitting knowledge, voice, meaning, and power through a particular form.
And this is where the calculation begins to come together.
Netzach provides attraction and artistic sensitivity. Art unites opposites and creates a new whole from them. The Two of Disks carries a person through constant change. The Prince of Disks compels the inner vision to take a form that can be seen, heard, and remembered. The Hierophant transforms voice and image into a means of influencing many people.
The result is not a single characteristic, but an entire system:
feeling and attraction; the union of opposites; continual change; the creation of form; the transmission of power through voice and image.
And this is only the basic calculation.
Arcanomatics also includes a karmic unfolding consisting of twenty-two positions. There, a single date becomes a sequence of Major and Minor Arcana distributed along the paths of the Tree of Life.
We will come to that later. First, we need to understand why each element of the basic calculation occupies its particular place, and why the problem card is not a verdict, but an indication of possible change. That will be the subject of the next publication.