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Reading tarot cards is one of those simple rituals that can provide major insight, guidance, and wisdom. Many tarot readers view their decks as a roadmap to life! Whether you’re an avid reader, a baby wizard, or even a skeptic, there’s something to be gained from pondering the cards. And what better time to do it than around the New Year? Here I share my Tarot Spread at a Glance of 2022 – and the best advice the cards have to offer on how to thrive in the year ahead.
Tarot Advice: Reading the Spread
Read maps yourself? You can try this at home! While this article gives you a glimpse of tarot around the world over the coming year, you can repeat the spread with your own cards for advice more specific to your personal situation. (Don’t own a deck yet? Check out our recommended tarot cards for each zodiac sign.)
The central card of this broadcast is the general theme of the year. Then, starting at nine o’clock and counterclockwise, each of the remaining twelve cards represents one of the twelve months. When reading your cards, before rushing to your reference booklet, see what patterns you can identify for yourself: Does one suit appear more than the others? Are any of the costumes missing? Make the numbers on the cards to augment Where to diminish as the year unfolds? Are certain images repeated?
All these elements can be clues to help you decode the cards and the year to come.
Courtesy of Jess Waters.
Place your cards in the order shown in this image. Cards 1 through 12 are the 12 months. Card 13 is your year’s theme.
Courtesy of Jess Waters.
Tendencies
Our central card, the theme of our year, is the Four of Pentacles. On it, a figure sits alone, clinging to his four pentacles (sometimes called coins, and often representing material wealth and money) ignoring the beautiful landscape and ripe fruit that surrounds him.
Like him, this will be a year in which many of us will still feel isolated. In all but one of our maps, there is only one character on the map, alone. The main concerns of the year are practical and personal: they are related to work, money, housework, effort and the consolidation of your own life to be resilient to challenges.
When it comes to love, there’s a golden opportunity for a summer adventure (with our Two of Chalices in June), but in general this year it’s about working on ourselves, rather than our partners (or lack thereof!).
But the Four of Pentacles also shows us our golden opportunity: if we can be creative, flexible, and open to the untraditional, we can create wealth this year instead of feeling pinched or anxious, as it does. The central council? Look carefully around you. See where your opportunities really lie. Sometimes knowing when the time is not the right is just as valuable as knowing when this is the case.
Courtesy of Jess Waters.
The bumpy start
The beginning of the year is the trickiest, with three of our first four months represented by sword cards. Sharp swords represent difficulties and challenges. Card advice? Keep your head down for now, like the figure of our eight of swords. Now is not the time to embark on something new or unravel big problems.
Trying to do so will likely end up with you waving your sword (metaphorically) in the dark, like our King of Swords, or being tied up, like our Knight of Wands. That’s OK: nothing blooms in all four seasons, and this period of winter hibernation will prepare you for opportunities later in the year.
Turning
The turning point comes with the Knight of Swords, in April, where our character East able to effectively pick up his sword and face a daunting challenge. In May we see our only major arcana card in the entire series, The Magician. The major arcana cards are very important and signify great events. On a global level, it can mean something is happening with an authority figure or a shift in power.
On a personal level, it may signal a claim to personal power. While this rework might be scary, it ultimately changes the spread – and year – from the more difficult Swordsuit to the softer Pentacles and Chalices.
Courtesy of Jess Waters.
A promising summer
June-October is the most promising time of the year, with doors opening (As of Pentacles) to opportunities to build something new (Three of Pentacles), to connect with a romantic partner (Two of Chalices) and finally to turn inward and work on oneself as a person (Nine of Wands and Six of Chalices).
Turn inward
This time of introspection in September and October (one of the most magical times of the year) is equal parts relaxation – watch our Six of Chalices figure relax in the river! – and working authentically, with our Nine of Wands figure questing through the woods. Try to strike the same balance for yourself: Set a manageable personal goal or plan to cross something off your to-do list, but balance that effort with good sleep and self-care.
Finally, we come back to a few challenges in November and December, with the Two of Swords and the Ten of Wands, where a character carries a heavy load on his back. However, these challenges are not as great as those encountered at the beginning of the year (two swords is much less than eight!) and, after a period of inner work, we can feel better prepared to meet them.
