The end of the calendar year seamlessly turns into another. As the year changes, people often want to make resolutions, and many fail. Excited feelings in January may not be as easy to find in July.
This spread is here to help you plan ahead! It looks at each of the four seasons, helping you get your bearings without becoming overwhelmed.
How to Perform a New Year’s Tarot Spread
Make sure you have a candle, cinnamon incense, an incense holder, lighter, and journal and pen before starting the reading. Find a comfortable place and light the candle. Set it at the top of your workspace. Light the cinnamon incense with the candle’s flame and waft it around your space.
Don’t forget to wave smoke over your deck to cleanse it! Cinnamon represents love and abundance, and is wonderful energy to bring with you in the new year. Once you feel like your space is ready to begin, place your incense in its holder.
Grab your journal and write a little about the previous year. You don’t need to write a lot. You don’t even need to write full sentences. An objective list of some things that happened is enough, or you can write about the different emotions you felt.
Anything that can help connect you to the last year is worth writing down. During this time, remember to be thankful for all you’ve received. And be excited for the year to come! It’s a blank space that you can take control of. Sometimes we just need a little guidance to take full advantage of a new beginning.
Shuffle your cards any way you like. While shuffling, think of what you wish to accomplish in the new year. Don’t self edit or tell yourself something isn’t possible– put all of that energy into the cards.
Once you feel you’ve shuffled enough, pick four cards. You might want to split the deck into 4 equal parts and then choose the top card, or spread the deck all over your reading space and pick what feels right. After you’ve chosen all four, lay them in a straight line from left to right.
Card 1 is the furthest card to the left. It represents spring. Spring is the season of renewal, and it’s the first season to come in the new year. It’s our bridge from the darkness of winter into the sunshine of summer. It’s when the frost thaws and we break ground on gardens to feed us for seasons to come.
This card wants to lead you to something new. It also wants you to think of realistic goal setting. You can manifest and do all the tarot readings you want, but part of meeting goals is working towards them. Spring wants to ease you into that work.
Something like Knight of Swords here may mean taking charge of your intellectual life. It could be going back to school, or being trained in something new at work. This Knight is asking if you want to go further. Think about what you’ve always wanted to do, and make a plan.
The second card represents summer. Summer is the season of sweetness, of ripe fruit sticky on your fingers, and of heat. This card wants you to find joy! If spring was the season of goal setting, summer is the season of trying something new. Be wary of overdoing it though– summer’s heat means you need to rest too.
Pulling The Hanged Man here might mean that you tend to overbook yourself this time of year. What would happen if you took time to just hang out? It wants you to look for fun in the mundane. Go to events but remember to take time for yourself.
Our third card is for autumn. This season is for harvest, celebration, and preparation for the freezes to come. It’s a great time to think back to the first half of the year. Reevaluate any goals you set and see if they still serve you. See what you want to bring with you into the second half.
A card like Five of Cups here might mean you need to look at the bigger picture. There may have been some failures in the year so far, but you’ve also got reason to celebrate! Any goals have speed bumps along the way. Allow yourself to be excited for what’s to come, and let go of the past.
The final card is winter. Winter is when we build blanket forts. When soup bubbles on the stove, hot and ready for dinner. It’s a time for rest. Nature is mostly dormant during this time, and we often wish we could be too. This card asks how you’ll rest during the cold months.
Resting doesn’t mean you can’t be working. It just means you recognize taking time for yourself is rejuvenating, and often the best cure for burnout and indecision. There’s no better time to remember that you need to relax.
Seeing The Chariot here could mean you’re ready to celebrate a win and move on to the next challenge. It’s about taking a moment of respite. Bask in your wins! Know that preparing for the next step will come soon, but you have time to breathe. You’ve earned it.
Can you do Tarot Spreads for Yourself?
Tarot is meant to be a tool for self discovery and reflection. It is perfectly fine to do this new year reading for yourself! Journaling the reading can help you look back throughout the year and check in. It also helps you find familiarity with the cards, which makes each reading you do better and better.
This is also a spread that you can do for someone else. If you’re new to reading for others, the four card length is an easy way to get started. Remember that you should be impartial. Be truthful about what you see in the cards, but be kind. Working on yourself can be difficult, and you want to set the person you’re reading for up for success.
What is the Easiest Tarot Spread?
This new year tarot spread can be used by all levels of tarot readers, but beginners may find it easier to start with because of its small size.
It only uses 4 cards, and asks you to tap into the energy of the seasons. We have all lived through seasons! That means we can all think about how they work with tarot cards.
If you need to look up card meanings, that’s okay! Just remember to think about how that card meshes with your life. Anytime a card’s meaning feels like it doesn’t work, try to look at yourself impartially. Working with the tarot takes practice, so keep trying!