Tarot is a rich and profound tool that helps you attune to your own subconscious through the use of colours, imagery and symbolism. It is a deck of 78 cards which depict the entirety of the human experience. From the overarching complex themes of our lives to the day to day situations, such as emotions, thoughts and words, finances and motivations and beliefs – all of these are portrayed in the tarot cards. The most amazing thing about tarot is that it can offer you a glimpse into the future. But remember, nothing is written in stone. You have the free will to direct your own fate. Do not worry about the technical terms used, rather pay attention to the themes that are highlighted.
A new year somehow always feels like a fresh slate. A do-over. I believe that we are transient beings, ever evolving and changing. We have the power to rewrite our stories, make up for our mistakes and turn our failures into successes. Some years may feel like there was not as much progress made. But if we take the time to look back and reflect, we will be able to see that there has been much to be proud of. The times we were brave and put ourselves out there. The times when we experienced joy and contentment. The times we kept going when things felt hard. The times we felt truly loved and appreciated. This reflection is an important step in setting our resolutions for the coming year.
For the last two years, I have been making it a point to set my resolutions with tarot. Full disclosure – not all of them have come true, but many of them have. As for the ones that have not, I am trying to see whether they are truly aligned with me right now. I recognize that I still have some obstacles that I am working through. Reflecting through tarot enables us to see where we create our own blocks. It enables us to see the mistakes we made but also the times we proved our skills and strengths to ourselves.
Often when we set New Year’s resolutions, it feels like something rather arbitrary and impersonal. We tend to think about what looks good on paper, rather than what is aligned and in our highest good. Think of tarot as an objective way of viewing your own life as an outsider. When we see the stories of our lives written through the cards, it can show us what we often hide to ourselves as a result of emotional bias.
For example, you may set a goal regarding your finances that you will earn a certain amount per month. You could pull three cards for this goal – 1) what you need to focus on. 2) what action you need to take and 3) what next year will bring in this area of your life. Hypothetically, if you pulled the three of swords for what you need to focus on, we could interpret that as your emotions playing a big part in your spending habits and thus the advice would be to be kinder to yourself and perhaps talk yourself through a situation when you are triggered into spending money impulsively. Next, if you pulled the eight of cups reversed for what action you need to take, the advice would be that you need to walk away from old emotional patterns that lead to procrastination or overspending. Lastly, for what to expect if we pulled The World – we would surmise that this year will enable us to change our spending habits and achieve closure in this area of our life.
From the example above, we can see exactly where we stand in relation to our goal. If we want to earn a certain amount over the next year, we need to stop allowing our emotions to affect how we spend our money and the way we work. Knowing that doing so will enable us to evolve and move on to the next level, can motivate us to keep going.
The Year Ahead tarot spread which I typically use has twelve cards. It helps you reflect on your lessons from the past year, evaluate where you are in terms of your goals for this year and gives specific guidance on different areas of your life such as your relationship, career, health and well-being and your spiritual fulfillment. The last three cards tell you your focus for the year, your most important lesson and where you are headed.
This exercise takes about a good hour to hour and a half but at the end it feels truly motivating to clearly see your successes and accomplishments clearly laid out. Even reflecting on moments of your failures helps you accept it as just another facet of life. It is truly in your hands to move forward and stay persistent. Reflecting through tarot reminds you that you are the master of your own fate. You already had all the answers and the tarot is just a tool for bringing it to your conscious awareness.
When you look to the cards as a mirror for the story of your life, you can see that both you and your life are always unfolding. It is always a work in progress. We may fall off the wagon, we may waver. But the practice of making time for self reflection, through mediums such as meditation, yoga, astrology and tarot teaches us that we can always come back. The planets will keep moving. Fate will keep dealing us new hands. And we will ride the waves and keep co-creating our realities with the Universe. Things and people will die. They will be reborn. So will you. Happy new year. First published on IceToday
