Alternatives to Year Ahead Tarot Spreads

Whenever the new year lands for you whether in January or one of the many seasonal and celestial celebrations of the year, it’s a popular time to cast a big ol’ annual spread of cards. I did this myself for many a year and then I stopped. Not because I don’t think the tradition of a year ahead spread is not a completely magickal way to begin your year, but because it no longer was useful for me and my practice. I began to notice that by the time I hit months seven through twelve of my reading in real time (i.e. seven to twelve months after casting my spread), the cards energies felt water down if not completely out of alignment with what was occurring in my life. Were the cards wrong? Or was I reading them wrong? No. In truth my life in recent years has seem to go through these seismic shake-ups and changes that the lines of my wyrd, to use the Old English word denoting a combination of personal unfixed destiny and the power of becoming, have been reweaving at a rapid pace. 

Experiencing a weird and wild wyrd? I think that’s true for a lot of folks right now. And I think at different parts in our lives different styles of an annual spread make sense. I imagine that in a decade or two I’ll probably try a traditional twelve month spread for my new year, but in the meantime, I’ve come up with a few alternatives. These spreads developed from my own seeking to find something that felt more flexible and co-creative with my cards and my magick. Here are my three alternatives to annual tarot spreads that are a little less fated, more wyrd, and a way to keep engaged with the turning wheel of the year.

The Elemental Tarot by Caroline Smith + John Astrop

The Yearly Guide

The simplest alternative is to choose to work with one card as a guide and ally through the year. Since I work with the wheel of the year, I like to call this card the Guardian of the Wheel. The Yearly Guide(s) act like a teacher, helping you to meet anything that may come your way during a year. They also embody qualities for you to examine within yourself including qualities that we might need to release and others that need developing. I recommend pulling from the Major Arcana of your deck to find a Yearly Guide card, but feel free to that which you are called to do.

There are a few ways to figure out which card is your Yearly Guide. You can pull out your deck and shuffle through, pulling a card at random to be the card of the year for you. You can look through your deck face up and purposefully choose a card to work with (this is especially powerful if you’re trying to gain a sense of will and personal power about yourself). Finally, you can use a bit of sacred numerology to discover your year card from the Major Arcana. To do this, add together the number of your birth month and birth date with the number of the year. Here are a few examples:

Someone born July 17 and seeking their annual card for 2019 would add their numbers as so: 7 + 1 + 7 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 9 = 27. Since 27 is larger than 21 (the highest number of the Major Arcana) they would then add 2 + 7 to get 9. Their card for 2019 would be The Hermit.

If you were born on November 9 your numbers would add up as so : 1 + 1 + 9 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 9 = 23. Then adding together 2 + 3 you would get 5 representing The Hierophant.

Sometimes you get two numbers. For example, someone born on January 17 has an annual number of 21. You could further add together 2 + 1 to get 3. So they would have two Yearly Guide cards - the World and the Empress. Alternatively, they could choose to work with one card over the other or work with one card for half of the year and the other card for the second half of the year. 

Once you’ve discovered your Yearly Guide card, you can incorporate it into your magickal work, add it to your altars, keep a copy in your wallet, paste it to a seven day candle. Keep it in your sight both physically and magickally.

The Luna Sol Tarot by Mike Medaglia

Six Months Ahead Spread

As the title suggests, the six months spread is half the length of an annual spread recognizing that energies often change halfway through the year. The six month ahead spread is a great choice for those who like the familiarity of the annual spread but are feeling, like me, that the cards for the last six months of the spread aren’t always as resonant as the first six. It’s also establishes a great mid-year magickal practice where you cast another six cards for the final half of the year.

The Numinous Tarot by Noel Arthur Heimpel (left) and Thea’s Tarot by Rhea West

The Solar - Lunar Spread

Here’s my most complex proposal for a year ahead alternative spread. It combines the tradition of the twelve card annual spread with a bit of Moon magick. Begin by casting your twelve monthly cards which we’ll card the Solar Cards from here on out. Alternatively, if you want to really tie it to solar energies, cast twelve cards for each of the twelve signs of the zodiac. So your first card would be for Aries corresponding roughly to the period of March 20 to April 20 (this changes year to year, so be sure to check your astrological calendar).

Your Lunar Cards are cast each month on the New Moon. If your Solar Cards are just for each calendar month, on the New Moon in January you would cast a Lunar Card to go alongside your Solar card. If you’ve chosen the astrological method, you would cast your Lunar Card on the New Moon corresponding to the solar sign. To cast a Lunar Card for your Solar Card of Aries you would cast it on the New Moon in Aries. 

The Solar Cards act much in the same way as a the twelve cards in a traditional annual spread. They give an overview of energies for a month-long period in their life. The Lunar Cards, which are cast month-to-month, take into consideration the fluctuating energies and changes happening for you at the moment in time that you’re casting them. The Lunar Cards can reveal what had been hidden but come to light or speak to the ways that you have changed since you cast the original twelve Solar Cards. They’re really helpful at nuancing the message of Solar Cards cast for the latter half of the year. It can be very revealing to read the twelve Solar Cards at the beginning of the year and then notice how your interpretation shifts or deepens when you pair each Solar Card with their Lunar Card partner.

What will I be doing this year? A combination of all three! I’ll be working with my annual guide along with pulling a six month Solar - Lunar spread.

So there are my three alternatives to year ahead tarot spreads! You can check out all of my divinatory spreads or my spreads for each one of the Sabbats if you’re feeling inspired. And if you’re thinking it’s time to discover the intersections of herbal healing and tarot, come this way.

Expanding Balance : Meeting The Luna Sol Tarot

When I was contacted by the kind folks at Liminal 11 to see if I was interested in reviewing their new deck, The Luna Sol Tarot by Mike Medaglia, I took a look at their other publications and a few sample images of the deck and happily accepted the offer.

Now look, I don’t do many reviews, though I’ve there’s been an increase in publishers reaching out to me to share their latest publications with my readers. I don’t say yes often because if I’m going to spend time writing a review and sharing a publication with my rad community I want it to be something that feels purposeful and enriching. The Luna Sol Tarot got one of my rare review “yeses” and I’m genuinely excited to share with this charming deck with some real depth.

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But first a purposeful detour…

Asali Earthwork has already written a review for this deck and said so much of what I wanted to write about. So please read her words and get lost in the honey of her work as well as her gorgeous ongoing list of tarot that celebrates and includes QTPOC in its images. Something that Asali addresses and one of the things I wanted to write about, too, in this post was about how we do inclusivity around race, color, and ethnicity in indie tarot and oracle decks. The Strength card, the suit of Pentacles but often the Nine of Pentacles at minimum, and, of course, the Empress are increasingly becoming the standard place for folks of color and especially Black folk. Go ahead, rummage through some of your decks and you’ll start to notice a discomforting pattern. 

On examining this trend, Asali asks a powerful question: “Who gets to be soft and reflective and who has to be strong and resilient?” This isn’t just a question for tarot but one for life and definitely one to be asking in our social justice movements.

So why is this trend of enforced strength fo folks of color and especially Black folks so persistent not just in tarot but in other inclusive art? Here are some (but certainly not all) of the reasons that I think tarot and oracle creators trying to be inclusive fall into the trap of painful stereotypes and restrictions. None of what I’ve listed are excuses for lack of inclusivity or not well considered attempts at inclusive imagery - but a way for us to excavate beliefs that are no longer useful and cultivate new ones that are truly inclusive.

Traditional Court Card Correspondences: There is a tradition of tarot cards, especially the court cards, having physical characteristic correspondences. The Pentacles, for example, were supposed to correspond to folks with black and dark brown hair as well as dark eyes. And then there is the idea that different court cards correspond to, if not to the different races of the world, then at least the amount of melanin someone possessed. The suit of Swords, for example, corresponded to the fairest skinned (i.e. the suit of intelligence and quick thinking going to the whitest folks) and the Pentacles to folks with the darkest skin. I mean… sigh, right? This is not a useful system and quickly degrades revealing racist roots.  

Earthy Origin Story: I remember hearing one person defend having Black folks and folks of color in the Pentacles suit or as the Empress because it was a nod to our origins as a humxn species from Africa. But that too often slides into “noble primitive” thinking and this constant, problematic association of folks of color and especially Black folk with earthiness. Please pause and rethink this dynamic, whether it’s something you’ve imposed or internalized or a bit of both.

Trying to Celebrate Strength + Fierceness: There’s a terrible twist that happens when folks begin to unpack oppressive and prejudiced behavior - what was once avoided and denigrated can suddenly become worshiped and overly idolized. Both perspectives lack letting someone be humxn and flawed and needy and tender. In the US, Black women have increasingly become the fill-in image for strength and resilience whether in our politics or in our tarot decks. And while celebrating strength is one thing, it can create a damaging, isolating, and unreasonable expectation on the same people we’re trying to uphold. The point of social justice is not to move our opinions of “the other” from that of the lowest to the highest, but to meet everyone in the beautiful and messy middle. 

Basically, I would encourage all of us to think more critically and, more importantly, more creatively about inclusive imagery. So, how does The Luna Sol Tarot hold up to all this examining? Pretty darn well.

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When I saw the sample card for Temperance and the Star I knew that this deck had at least moved beyond Diversity in Tarot Decks 101. Folks of color show up throughout all four suits of the deck and in a broad range of emotional experiences. I actually said “thank the Goddess” when I saw an image of Temperance. It’s rare to get a masculine-presenting Black person for this card. And, damn, do we need more imagery like this. Also, since the Star is one of my favorite cards in the deck I was thrilled to find a hairy, curvy, South Asian person represented.

Can I take a moment to put out my personal request to the tarot and oracle card universe? More Asian representation, please. The Luna Sol Tarot has both.

The Luna Sol Tarot has a welcoming and trendy color palette but still uses color purposefully and is full of inviting imagery that would be easy enough for most beginners to connect with, with some real lovely innovations for experienced tarot readers to enjoy. The Major Arcana in this deck is familiar to most PCS / RWS readers with some great innovative twists. I love the inclusion of animals in each Major Arcana card that reveal an extra layer of meaning that’s incredibly useful for old and new readers. The Hierophant gave me chills and the Lovers… Well, the description in the accompanying little white book is a gift.

And speaking of the LWB - it’s great! I commend folks who are able to pull off a useful LWB - it’s a hard task and Mike Medaglia’s experience with writing short insights and descriptions from his comic writing is a definite boon. 

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The Minor Arcana is detailed without becoming distracting and the innovations found in the Major Arcana continue through the four suits. The Ten of Swords shines, the Four of Disks is such a clever and useful way of understanding the energy of that tricky card, and the Ten of Cup is adorable. The Court Cards don’t deviate from the classic titles, but many of the court feel queer and nonconforming to me and the art feels fresh and inviting.

I really like this deck. It’s one I’ll be reading with it in my own personal practice and that I’m happy to recommend to folks who are looking for an inclusive deck that both honors and innovates on tarot tradition. I like that The Luna Sol Tarot is gentle without being stripped of power and that it speaks to the Medaglia’s commitment to balance without getting lost in the arbitrariness of binaries. Because balance is less an act of trying to find equality through opposites and more about expanding access to experience - where we’re not asked because of the color of our skin, our country of origin, our disabilities, class, queerness, gender and so on to exist more on one emotional frequency more than any other. This deck feels like an act of service and love to the reader. Also, Asali pointed out something I hadn’t considered before reading her review - The Luna Sol Tarot is positioned in a more accessible price point than many other inclusive decks - heck yeah! 

And, please, please check out the other publications happening at Liminal 11 - there seems to be a lot of tarot-inspired content including a beautiful webcomic exploring the Major Arcana. Along with The Luna Sola Tarot and calendar, they kind folks at Liminal 11 sent me Women + Pattern + Plants by Sarina Mantle. I’ve never wanted to use one of these adult coloring books before until this gem arrived on my doorstep. Oh, and the Modern Witch Tarot looks like an utter delight (hot tip: be sure to look at the 10 of Swords).

Would you like to see more reviews on this blog or general recommendations for things tarot and magickal? Let me know in the comments. Also, be sure to share your favorite inclusive decks in the comments, too, letting us know why you love them.