These Tarot Spreads Are Perfect For Dealing With Change

The finish of the calendar year always feels like a time of endings, beginnings, and shifts waiting to be made. To tap into the energy of this December, I reached out to three tarot readers and experts for their favorite spreads for embracing change. Here are the ones that they shared with me, plus one very special reading that speaks to the collective changes we're all facing as we head into 2020.

After you do this, you'll be left with five piles of cards: 1 Major, 1 Page, 1 Knight, 1 Queen, 1 King. Pull a card from each pile and read on for Matassa's explanation of how to interpret each:

Think of this as your soul's biosphere in this moment and the macro meaning of this transition you're experiencing. It describes the "season" of your life you're traveling through and its energetic weather. (Feel free to queue up Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" for lyrical support.) For me, the Majors are big, soul blueprint backdrops that ask us to relax into their texture and simply dress for the weather. For example, we might find ourselves in the "Death" card and rather than freaking out and racing around to yank roots out of the ground and radically release something fueled by our own frantic willpower, we can say to ourselves, "Hmm...feels like this is a season of emotional exfoliation. How can I settle into this energy and open my palms a little wider to let the butterflies depart?" 

King: The fire element. This card is your structural support during this threshold crossing. It describes the area of mastery you already possess that you can call upon, kind of like your personal life-earned Ph.D.; the self-sufficient throne you can sit upon as you let yourself get carried. Maybe it's your capacity to create a wide berth for complex emotions (King of Cups), or the power of your emboldened consciousness to clear the way and adopt a fresh perspective (King of Swords). 

Lindsay Mack, intuitive tarot teacher and the founder of Soul Tarot School, shared this simple 3-card spread for coming back to yourself during times of external chaos. You can use any deck you like for this one: Simply shuffle and pull three cards from the stack. Each card will represent an answer to these questions. Feel free to journal on what they could mean for your life right now afterwards.

As we wrap up 2019, Aarona Lea Pichinson pulled these three cards from her deck, The Moon Deck, to represent the collective changes we're feeling as a society and how to cope with them. Here's her interpretation of the cards that came up:

This makes total sense: In the heat of change, getting into nature is key. Being in nature is grounding and calming for our mind and nervous system, which affects everything. Get barefoot on the earth, touch the trees, take several full body breaths deep in the woods or a park.

When change and transition show up in life, sometimes we may feel disconnected from our beauty or sensual nature. So this card asks that even in the thick of change and all of the to-do's or decision making that may need to come up, that you stay in tune with your feminine nature. This is the part of you that keeps beauty and sensuality alive. Soften into yourself and whatever change is unfolding. Beautify your home with flowers, drink fragrant teas, wear essential oils, take a salt and herbal bath with candles, dress in a way that awakens your sensual beauty, and perhaps give or receive a massage.

How perfect to end with this card—which is all about rebirth and renewal—during a time of change and transition. It's time to let go of the thoughts, stories, beliefs, patterns, habits, relationships, and anything else that no longer feels in alignment with the person you're becoming. These old ways may have once worked, but now they are expired and are polluting the present. Trust that you can change and have a fresh start. Your past has made you stronger and served its purpose, yet now it can serve you on a more aligned pathway. This is the time to release and renew.