What would you consider Yuletide Tarot to be? Personally, I think of this time of year as being a time to reflect on what has gone and a time to start thinking about what I would like the new year to bring, and I find that Tarot can help with this. It can help me to understand why things have happened during the past year, and help me with manifesting what I want to enter into my life in the future, as well as giving me warning of issues that I may want to avoid.
As we approach the darkest time of the year, with Yule or Winter Solstice being the shortest day, this feels a good time of year to be assessing our lives in this way, before the days start to get longer again. By re-evaluating the past year it can help us to move on from difficult situations, learn from our mistakes, and help us to see what direction to head into next. During the winter, with the light waning, we can reflect on what we want to let go of, what's been holding us back or wearing us down during the last year. What do we want to leave in the past and what do we want to carry forward into the future? Here is where Tarot can help, by pointing these things out to us as we may be too close to the situation to see it clearly or objectively for ourselves. We can prepare ourselves for the new year, with the lengthening days and the new spark of hope and energy it brings with it.
Here is an example of a simple spread that you could use with Tarot or Oracle cards for this:
Card 1- What did I do well in this past year?
Card 2- What do I need to leave behind from this past year?
Card 3- What should I take forward from this year into next year?
As well as looking at the past, it is useful to understand what is going on in our lives in the present, and how this can influence what we do next. The cards may show we are not heading in the direction we were hoping to be going, and with this knowledge we can alter things in our lives to help us to get back on track.
This spread can be useful for this:
Card 1- How you see yourself.
Card 2- What you want most.
Card 3- What your fears are.
Card 4- What your hopes are.
Card 5- What is going against you.
Card 6- Outcome, the direction you are heading in at the moment.
When we use Tarot cards and other divination methods, it's common to want to know what's going to happen next to us, what the future possibly has in store for us. Around Yule is typically when I draw cards for the year ahead to advise me of issues that may be coming. A bit of a "heads up" so that I can act if things aren't looking to be headed the way I would like.
Here's a spread I use for this:
Card 1- What I need to leave behind from this past year.
Card 2- What I need to open up to in the new year.
Card 3- Key opportunity of the new year.
Card 4- Key challenge of the new year.
Card 5- Hidden concerns I have.
Card 6- Advice for the coming year.
Card 7- Key theme of the new year.
There are many spreads you can use, and you can make up your own too. You can draw cards for each month of the year, or different areas of your life, such as work, romance, family, finances, and so on. The choice is yours. Once you have drawn and read your cards, it is then also your choice whether to act on their advice or not. Remember, you have power over your own life, use it wisely.