Every New Year we shut the door on the past and welcome the future, all the while standing on the threshold between the two. Everyone is eager to be done with 2020 of course and move on to 2021. But in my experience the New Year unfolds gradually, beginning with Hallows and moving on until the earth is reborn at Spring Equinox. Still, there is a potent energy during this liminal “time-out-of-time”* between Solstice and New Year’s, or Christmas and 12th Night, that has us seers reaching for our divination tools.
I created a new spread this year, with the transition from 2020 to 2021 in mind.
- What do I want to leave behind in 2020? (Go through your tarot deck face up, and pull out 3 cards that express the things you want to leave behind. Write down some notes on what the images on those cards mean to you.)
- What do I want to keep from 2020 and take with me into 2021? (Do the same. Go through your deck face up, and pull out 3 cards that express the things you want to keep. Write down some notes on what the images on those cards mean to you.)
- How can I best take care of myself in 2021? (Shuffle your deck and pull one card at random.)
- How can I serve my community in 2021? (Shuffle your deck and pull one card at random.)
- What ancestor, guide, or Holy Helper will be my companion in 2021? (Shuffle your deck and pull a card at random, but keep turning cards over until you turn up a Major Arcana card or a Court / People card. Alternately, you could choose to use your Tarot Year Card as your Companion card for 2021.)
Here’s my own reading. I used the Future Ancestor Tarot by Alexa Villanueva. I bought this deck for myself for Solstice on the recommendation of Jennifer Lucero-Earle (Chief Tarot Deck Enabler!) and I am loving its simplicity and its depth.
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What do I want to leave behind in 2020?8 of Needles – physical isolationHermit – too much solitude9 of Needles – fear and despair
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What do I want to keep from 2020 and take with me into 2021?2 of Seeds – slow paceAlchemist (Magician) – sparkling creative workListener of Cups – (virtual) circles of depth and heart
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How can I best take care of myself in 2021?6 of Needles – “Time to move forward and leave your past baggage behind.” So true on so many levels!
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How can I serve my community in 2021?The Star – Shine a guiding light for others. Offer authentic hope and inspiration.
- What ancestor, guide, or Holy Helper will be my companion in 2021?
I chose the Death card to be my companion, which is my 2021 Year Card. I contemplated death & dying quite a bit in 2020 as the pandemic raged and I considered my own aging process. As tarotists know, the Death card always means death-and-renewal, or the cycle of life/death/life. It is more likely to indicate a metaphorical death than a physical death. Yet with 1.7+ million people dead (at this writing) of Covid-19 this past year, there is no denying it can also mean physical death. The Wise Ones know that walking with Death as your companion means appreciating the sweetness of life all the more. It means aligning your priorities in a whole new way.
I recommend creating a simple ritual to say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new. Burning bundles of herbs in a hearth fire or scraps of paper in a little cauldron is an excellent way to be symbolically rid of all you want to leave behind. Creating a little altar with the cards that symbolize what you want to bring with you into 2021 is a grand idea. I recommend doing some in-depth journaling on the cards that turned up for taking care of yourself and serving your community. Finally, I’d make a little altar for the Companion card that you can keep up all year. You can rotate the same card from different decks to hear different voices and nuances. Light a candle and bring offerings to keep it alive. Ask for guidance and direction from your companion card as 2021 unfolds.
May 2021 be a year of kindness, of recovery, of revolution. Blessed be.
*Thank you to Waverly Fitzgerald, now a beloved ancestor, for teaching me about this sacred, liminal time so many years ago.
(Beautiful reading cloth by Sara Galactica.)
Thank you for this wonderful spread and for sharing your reading. It inspired me to work on the spread this week. Your choice of the Future Ancestor deck was perfect and I will purchase it for the New Year.
The ritual Recommendations are so welcome-just what I need to plan a new altar with my santos and a cauldron. I greatly appreciate your creativity . Many blessings to you for the new year.
Thank you Joan, and the same to you!
Thanks so much for this… I’m going to do it on New Year’s Day. I always wait until Jan. 2nd to put up my new calendars, having taken down the old ones on New Year’s Eve. This underlines for me that the 1st is a liminal time, between-the-years, between-the-worlds. Perfect for a liminal reading like this one.
Been Looking for a spread like this, Thank you so very much can’t wait to do it !
Thanks so much Kris and Colleen!
Thank you for this beautiful ritual. How does in calculate one’s Tarot Year Card? Is the result supposed to be a Major Arcana card? Many thanks and blessings.
Hello Melissa. Yes, here’s my short explanation of the Year Card. If you google “tarot year card” you’ll find more information than you probably want!
I learned about Tarot Year Cards from Mary K. Greer’s book “Tarot for Your Self” back in the 1980s. (Mary has updated this material in her newer book, “Who Are You in the Tarot?”) Tarot Year Cards are Major Arcana cards that represent the tests and lessons you may experience in any given year.
How to Calculate your Tarot Year Card:
Add together your month, day and year — either the current year or the year to come.
I’m using mine as an example: January 7 = 1 (month) + 7 (day) + 2021 (year) = 2029.
Add each digit of the resulting four-digit number as follows: 2029 = 2 + 0 + 2 + 9 = 13.
Keep the highest number under 23. (22 = the Fool.) This number is your Year Card, which in my case corresponds to the Major Arcana card Death (13).
You can either think of the year beginning on January 1 of the current year, or on your birthday of the current year. There are two different cycles that overlap, depending on how late in the year your birthday is. So you may want to look at both cards. You can also figure out the Year Cards for your entire lifetime and track the patterns of significant events.
Thank you so much, Joanna! I have the Death card as well (10+16)+2021. This feels exactly right to me. I have been doing so much ‘letting go’ work and can feel the rebirth about to happen! Many blessings to you. ?
Joanna, I am so looking forward to doing this reading! Your spreads always look simple and obvious when I first read them but that’s not what happens when I begin to lay out the cards. There’s some wisdom magic you invoke when you create them and they are always a doorway to deeper truths and insights. Your Solstice spread this month was wonderful and I can’t wait to see what these doorway cards will offer. Thank you, thank you, for being you and sharing with us.
Thank you Liz, I really love hearing this about your experience … I love simple and deep. My favorite things!