Forecasting the Year Ahead

I don’t use spreads super frequently, but I do have a handful I turn to. One is the Year Ahead spread:

This isn’t the only format for a Year Ahead spread. You might’ve seen 12-card spreads that lay out the months like a clock. Just google “year ahead tarot spread” and you’ll find a bunch of different layouts.

The reason why I like this particular Year Ahead spread is because it gives each month additional context. You don’t just see what, say, January 2026 has in store for you; you see what January 2026 has in store within the context of what winter 2026 has in store. It’s a layered spread that can answer a lot of the questions that arise as you’re interpreting it.

I can’t take credit for this spread. I’m not sure if she created it, but the amazing Rhonda Alin introduced me to this spread years ago. If you aren’t following her yet, do that now✨

With this spread, I lay out the four quarters first, followed by the 12 months, then the cards for the current year and the years before and after it. In the graphic, that’s Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 first, then cards 1-12, then last, the outer four cards. The order doesn’t really matter, though—if you’d prefer to choose the outer cards or the months first, go for it.

Each Q card is a season. These line up with business quarters. The numbered cards directly beneath each Q card are the three cards that compose that quarter. Q1, for example, is January, February, and March. Q2 is April, May, and June. Q3 is July, August, and September, and Q4 is October, November, and December.

Take a look at the cards you pull for these. I read the month cards as nested within the quarter cards. Right now, it’s January 2026, and the card I pulled for this month is the 5 of Wands. So this month, specifically, I’m dealing with a lot of clashing egos happening around me, a lot of motivated energy that isn’t necessarily being directed productively (in fact, it’s just straight-up not being directed productively), and a general sense that I’m an ambitious bumper car ramming into every other ambitious bumper car in the rink, and all that ramming is keeping us from getting anything done. But there’s another card at play here: the Queen of Pentacles, my card for Q1 of 2026. So, while I’m doing that whole 5 of Wands bumper car thing, I’m doing it within the context of spending these months resting on my self-made throne, enjoying the bounty around me.

It’s a little contradictory, right? Maybe. Maybe the message here is to keep in mind that I’m on solid enough ground to ride out the ego storm that January is shaping up to be. Or maybe the message is that this is a whole period to rest, so you might not get as much done this January as you wanted to—but still recognize that that wands inertia has to go somewhere, so even though you feel like you’re swimming against a current of other people’s personal inertiae, it’s still moving you forward. In any case, this season has me relying on the assets I’ve accrued through perseverance and hard work, so I can’t possibly go so off-course that I totally screw myself up.

Then my card for February is the 7 of Swords. We’ve got a sense of shrinking into the background with some info I’m keeping close to my chest, after (strategically?) leaving certain other information out in the open. Those two swords the figure isn’t clutching are stuck pretty solidly in the ground, perhaps pointing toward some kind of official narrative that contrasts the info I’m holding close?

That’s the vibe of the month, but remember, February is part of Q1. This situation with walking off with certain facts held close, looking over my shoulder as I do, is happening against the larger backdrop of the Queen of Pentacles. Again, I’m on solid enough ground to get away with it. I’m rooted, I’m secure, so as I sneak away from those two swords in the ground—distancing myself from some official narrative, maybe?—I’m doing okay enough to absorb the blow.

Damn, is 2026 gearing up to be my villain era? Maybe. It is my first house year, after all (which is birthday to birthday, not the calendar year, but when your birthday is in January, it kinda feels like the same thing). And my first house year is a Scorpio year, which means it’s powered by Mars and Pluto, the planets of aggressive power and radical transformation, respectively. Pluto is also associated with hidden truths and the death that needs to occur to make way for rebirth, so…watch out, everybody 🦂

I’m not going to bore you with my entire Year Ahead spread, but that’s the gist of how you’d read it. Each Q card is a season’s energy, and each numbered card is a month’s energy that fits into its season.

Then you’ve got the outer cards:

• Current year -1

• Current year

• Current year +1

• Current year +2

I read these as the era you’re currently in. The upper-right card, current year, is the overall energy of 2026. Current year -1 is 2025, but as it relates to 2026. In other words, the upper-left card is energy that went into motion in 2025 and is impacting you in 2026. Current year +1 and +2 are this same idea, but for 2027 and 2028. They show how the energies you experience and the actions you take this year will affect you in the years to come.

If you do this spread every year like I do, you’ll most likely get different cards for these. Don’t fret. Just think of them relationally. The card you pulled last year for 2025, i.e. the overall energy of the year, was reflecting its current moment. The card you pull for 2025 this year is reflecting past energy that’s affecting the current year, i.e. 2026.

Spend some time with this one! It’s a big spread, so expect it to take a while to get through. I always take a photo and write about it in my tarot journal. I break the spread down, quarter by quarter, then month by month, and write a paragraph or so forecasting what I think each card means. Then at the end of each month, and certain months, the end of each quarter, I go back and write down what actually happened. It’s pretty interesting to compare my predictions with how things actually played out! Probably my favorite, most on-the-nose example of this is the card I pulled for March 2024, Justice. When I interpreted it, I thought I might be entering a contract that month, maybe buying a house or being involved in some kind of legal proceeding? Nope. I got jury duty ⚖️

And that stint in jury duty motivated me to finally start the Omg Tarot! podcast.

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