Tarot reading is something I am somewhat interested in, and have been for quite some time, but it was only recently that I decided to take up the hobby myself and really get invested in the cards and their meanings. I was with a friend yesterday and she showed me that she does a yearly card reading for herself. Each of the months has one, or sometimes two, cards that represent that month as a whole. My friend told me that with certain cards, she would assume she knew what they were talking about but then something from the left field would actually happen but still relate with the meaning of the cards and she’d wish she knew that’s what they meant. Since this is a very general reading and the time spans for each of the cards are quite long it’s difficult to pinpoint exact events unless they are extremely powerful and change things greatly, which isn’t often. Because of my friend, I’ve been inspired to do my own for myself! Something I love about tarot is that the cards have a basic general meaning, but it is tweaked somehow by how the reader feels about the cards and how the art is interpreted. Without any more hold up, here are the cards that were pulled that are meant to determine the year 2022 for me!
January: Seven of Pentacles. Rewards, planning, growth, progress, patience.
This card is all about putting effort into something and knowing that you aren’t going to get gratification from it right away. Typically, pentacles deal with some kind of wealth, but whatever you’re putting effort and hard work into doesn’t have to be wealth exclusively. I come to find that the pentacles represent anything that you put a worth into, anything that holds a lot of weight in your life. These things could be something related to your career, but I tend to lean more toward the idea that it is anything in your life that you are passionate about. The art from my deck has seven pentacles growing into plants below the soil with an animal looking attentively at one plant that has sprouted. There is some sort of energy coming out of the spouted plant and engulfing the face of the animal, while there are a few other plants that have sprouted buds or are about to breach the surface of the earth. This suggests to me that whatever you are putting effort into, you understand that it takes a constant conscious effort to keep up with. Whatever you’re working towards is not something that will supply you with instant gratification, but rather as you continue to put effort and work towards whatever you’re striving for, you will see it continue to bear more fruit.
February: The Djinn. Addiction, temptation, obsession, dependency, limitations.
The Djinn, more commonly known as The Devil, tends to suggest that you feel powerless against your own temptations. The Djinn is also one of the major arcana, which leads me to believe that this temptation is not a passing thought, but rather either it is something that you feel is more important than most things are or is it impacting most aspects of your life currently. You might be turning away from a life of fulfillment for quick materialistic fixes that do nothing for you in the long run. Typically, one is aware of this as the art suggests that if the birds (which are symbolic of The Lovers, the 6th card in the major arcana) that are “trapped” in the cage that the Djinn is holding can simply escape if they wanted to, but for whatever reason refuse. Whatever the exact reason is that they are refusing to rid themselves of this lifestyle is unknown to everyone else, but you could assume it had to do with the fact that usually, it requires left effort to get out of a place where you are stuck, or simply you have grown comfortable and are scared of the unknown that exists outside of the grasp of the Djinn.
March: Nine of Pentacles in reverse. Reckless spending, living superficially, material instability, living beyond means, greed.
You might be at a point in your life where you are putting too much importance on the material things in your life, which might in turn make you lose sight of your financial bearings. When we as humans change our line of sight from what really matters, things such as our passions and those in our lives that mean something to us, we tend to make reckless decisions to try and get a quick fix with something material that might help us fill that void. There can be many reasons why one might begin to think and act this way, and one of the reasons that I believe might relate to me is mental exhaustion. While upright, this card typically signifies being confident with what you have worked for and gained from said work, which means that while reversed you might be feeling like you have anything but that. Feeling as though you can’t be confident in what you have might cause you to hoard what you do have, or only use it on yourself as this might be a “reasonable” use to you at the moment. The art for this card on my deck has the pentacles around a woman’s head with lines signifying enlightenment, and I believe that in the reversed position the previously confident feeling the woman had has turned into something more self-centered. The easiest way to describe what I feel when I see this art is it has “gotten to her head” and is clouding her decision-making.
April: Four of Wands in reverse. Lack of support, instability, feeling unwelcome, separation from home.
The meaning of this card in its reversed position is almost a perfect 180 from what you would take from it if it were in the upright position, for the most part. This card typically suggests that you might be experiencing some type of tension between you and those in your life that you hold close to your heart. The art on my card shows two deer, one older and one younger, which suggests that the tension might be with family members, but doesn’t necessarily have to be. The art makes me think that whoever the two parties are that are suffering due to this conflict have some sort of power dynamic, such as teacher/student, parent/child, employer/employee, and so forth. This tension might show itself as a lack of connection with those that come to mind when looking at this card, rather than an actual conflict between the two parties. The support that was there previously with these people that you trusted, might not be there anymore and you might find yourself at a loss for what to do. This might lead to feeling uncertain about your own relationships as well as who or what you can or should, depend on. You might be growing too dependent on others, which means that if you don’t have others guiding you and praising you along the way, you might doubt your own thoughts eventually.
May: Eight of Cups in reverse. Avoidance, fear of change, staying in a bad situation, accepting less than you deserve.
Sometimes, staying in a situation that you are used to is easier than taking the first step to leave that situation and move towards an unknown future on your own. Just as it happens with most things though, the easiest situation might not be the best thing for yourself. You might be in a position where you feel more comfortable letting someone take your life by the reins and make your decisions for you. This could cause you to stay in a place, whether that place is physical or mental, for longer than you should. Typically, this is a conscious decision that one makes, so it wouldn’t be too odd to assume that the person that this card is pulled for is self-aware about the part that they play in making themselves stay stuck. The art on this card shows a woman floating away from the sea on a boat in the sky as fish try to follow her. There are also eight cups that all have something bright and yellow coming out of them slowly becoming more string-like flowing towards the woman on the boat, who is holding the now string material. To me, this suggests that while in the upright she is moving onto a new situation while taking what has happened to her previously and understanding that it is in the past and using it to move on to this new chapter of her life. Refusing to let go of the past and continuing to keep it as your present will simply block off any chance there is of starting anew in any aspect.
June: Six of Pentacles. Generosity, charity, support, giving and receiving, sharing, and being thankful.
You have possibly reached a point in your life where you feel some sort of stability financially, which in turn has allowed you to confidently share this wealth with others. Giving what you have to the less fortunate is something that many people, especially those who grew up having nothing themselves, understand the importance of but it is more difficult than most things to reach a point where you can do so comfortably. If the person this card is pulled for is someone that has grown up like that, it is even more of an accomplishment that they have reached a point where they do feel comfortable extending help to others in need. While this card could be about being the person giving, there is a chance that the person this card is pulled for relates more to the person that is receiving the help that I previously mentioned was being given to those in need. There is nothing embarrassing about reaching out for help, and those that are receiving that help in the card have come to understand that. Everyone needs help at least once in their lives, and more realistically, everyone will need help more often than they’d like to admit in just a year of their life. If someone is extending their arm to you with good intentions, don’t turn it away, instead, accept the help and use this to get to a place where you can possibly be the charitable one helping others. My card has art depicting about 4 trees with etched pentacles on the wood with six bats flying upwards. From the art, I believe that whatever help is being given out and received is not of ill intentions, but rather out of selfless love and without thought. The trees give a place to the bats to sleep without thinking of if they will receive anything in return and that is what I believe this kind of charitability is similar to.
July: The Fool in reverse. Reckless, careless, distracted, naive, foolish, gullible, vulnerable.
Just like the Djinn I previously explained, the Fool is also one of the major arcana, and because of that, its meaning is more straightforward than the minor arcana. Since this is reading about myself and my year, I can almost certainly say that the Fool’s negative characteristics are being displayed through my own actions during this time. By the Fool’s negative characteristics, I mean his impulsivity now takes a turn for the worse as he becomes oblivious to the world around him and the possible consequences of decisions he’s making while not considering anything other than his present moment “wants”. The Fool is naturally a very lighthearted personality that is optimistic about the future, as the art on the card shows that he is starting on the beginning of a new journey. The Fool believes that anything is possible in his reality and that even though he is unsure of what is to come, he starts his journey with optimism and does not worry about the unknown that resides ahead of him. This very optimistic nature that normally would be seen as a positive attribute to have becomes something that will only danger the Fool when the card appears in the reversed position. There is a very fine line between moving forward with determination, regardless of the unknown, not thinking twice about any decision to be made, and strictly living in the moment without a plan for the future.
August: Queen of Wands. Confident, charismatic, optimistic, ambitious, determined, and social.
The face cards of the suits (The Page, the Knight, the Queen, and the King) are some of the most difficult cards to come to understand the meaning of for me. These cards are not meant to be immediately seen as a person, but rather a personality of a situation/place/person/etc. which is quite difficult for me to wrap my head around, as I continuously see them specifically as people. Now, regardless of that, the Queen of Wands is the most powerful feminine card, other than the High Priestess and the Magician, in my opinion. The suit of Wands is all about intuition, personal power, and determination, and the feminine energy of the Queen cards paired with that gives the reasoning as to why I consider it one of the most powerful feminine cards. The personality that shows itself in this card is that of something/someone that is extremely powerful and determined. The Queen of Wands is individualistic and does not need someone else to tell her what to do, as she knows what is best for her and knows what to do to get to the goal that she has set up in front of her. If something that is not in the Queen of Wands’s best interest is introduced, she will not hesitate to stand up for herself. That same confidence is carried over to how she treats those in her life, as she will stand up for them if they are disrespected just as if she was the one disrespected. This amount of confidence and powerful energy might come off to some people as self-centered, but instead of being a selfish person, the Queen of Wands simply knows what she wants for herself and won’t let others step on her. If this card relates to a specific person that is in your life, this person (male or female) might play a major role in getting you to where you need to go. This type of energy can be overbearing, which is why it is important to understand that you might need a break from this type of personality, regardless of whether or not it is a person or a situation/place. Since this card is one of the most powerful feminine cards, it must be noted that whatever/whoever this might be in your life you might be impacted by it. This type of overwhelming determined energy impacting you might cause you to get carried away with certain aspects of your life, so it makes it important to keep everything in check while dealing with this very powerful personality while it is part of your life.
September: Two of Cups in reverse. Separation, rejection, imbalance, bad communication, loss of emotional connection, withdrawal.
Balance is something that is a key component of this card, and when shown in the reversed position that is exactly what the two birds depicted on the card are missing. While in the upright, the two birds that are holding each other’s hand and with the other hand appear on the card holding a cup each that both have energy flowing out of both of them and over the heads of the birds, creating two intertwined hearts in the middle of the card. There are also flowers sprouting out from the ground around both of their feet. This previously comforting emotional connection with each other that the birds had, now has been broken. The energy that had previously been integral in keeping the pair together now repels them. Since the suit of Cups typically deals with emotions, this connection was one on the emotional level where the two birds previously found themselves on par with each other and as equals. With the now possibly growing imbalance exists between the two, what made it able for them to previously communicate with each other about what problems they had, they find themselves unable to even start that conversation. You might be in a disagreement with someone and keeping these things to yourself, causing the other to feel as if you have some hidden resentment for them, or you might be the one feeling as if they have resentment for you that they aren’t communicating. This break in the connection between the two parties that are impacted is not the end-all-be-all, simply an obstacle in the path that you two are each walking together. Whether you are the one impacted or the one who is keeping things from the other, opening a line of communication to get these thoughts across regardless of your stance will begin to solve the issue before it becomes something bigger. While balance is integral in the stability of this relationship, romantic or platonic, the realization that you and the other party are separate beings with separate wants and needs is something that is not only helpful for you both to understand each other but necessary to continue the relationship.
October: The Mentor. Tradition, conformity, beliefs, conventionality, knowledge, going back to your roots.
When things get extremely chaotic, sometimes it is best to return to what is traditionally established for us to fall back on. The Mentor, more often named the Hierophant, is the major arcana card that when pulled suggests that perhaps it is time to embrace the conventional values set up by society when life has gotten out of our hands in a way that overpowers us. Reaching out to try new things or connect with new people is not always the best path to take if you end up feeling somewhat powerless compared to the pull of fate. The Mentor reminds us that it is fine for us to take a breather and simply do what comes naturally to us, what has been ingrained in us and move forward with those ideas in mind. The art on my deck’s The Mentor depicts an elephant growing a plant out of his hand and the top of his head while his third eye is shown to be open. A door that has been left half-open on the center of his chest and an overall sense of oneness with the universe. The message that I get from the art is that there are opportunities that can sometimes come from understanding that going down the route that is traditionally set forth for you is not something to disregard for your own wants. Allowing yourself to prioritize wisdom and logic over your own wants and needs can bring you to a future that is more aligned with what you personally want than you’d like to believe.
King of Wands in reverse. Forceful, domineering, vicious, powerless, ineffective, pushing.
Now the King of Wands in reverse specifically is a very overbearing card, and with my previous explanation about the Queen of Wands, we can easily come to an understanding as to why. The personality exhibited in the King of Wands in reverse is one of domineering arrogance, whether or not the personality showing these characteristics is conscious of it or not. The King of Wands will not show any hesitance when trying to move forward towards the goals he personally set up for himself, pushing over whoever he needs to in the way to get towards his suitable future. The King of Wands is extremely impulsive and prone to making rash, typically selfish, decisions while not taking a moment to think about anyone that may be in the line of fire. While this personality might not be conscious that they are acting like this as I’ve stated before, that does not take away from the possible impact that this might have on people or the responsibility that he should take from his actions. The King of Wands can at times be manipulative, using those around him as pawns to serve him, and moving on to the next person as soon as their abilities have been exhausted. Even simply looking at the art on this card, I see an extremely arrogant man with a smirk on his face as he strikes a pose and plants seeds into the ground below him. The art on this card specifically, shows me the main difference between the Kings and the Queens of all the suits, in my own interpretation. The King has an idea of where he wants to go but not the will to get there without the use of others, while the Queen can bring the future that she wants into reality with her own personal power and determination, regardless of whether or not either of them is extremely overbearing with how they execute reaching their goals.
November: Nine of Swords. Fear, anxiety, negativity, breaking point, despair, isolation, nightmares.
One of the most depressing and sometimes terrifying minor arcana cards to pull during a reading, the Nine of Swords brings forth a message about personal trauma and isolation. The suit of Swords deals with logic, communication, and intelligence, but as you make your way towards the Ten of Swords, we see the destructive mind of the individual affected turn in on themselves, causing more pain than they began with. The art on this card shows us an androgynous individual hiding all identifying features but their face by a cloak, as roots from the ground crawl up the cloak, perhaps trapping the person. It looks as though they are inside of a hole in the ground, as we can see the sun coming through and a butterfly flying outside of the hole towards the sky above. Nine swords are stabbed into the ground in groups of three, with one group having a clock attached to the top of a stick stabbed into the ground next to it. I wanted to describe the art on this card in more detail than most of the cards previously described because the art is genuinely self-explanatory, which makes sense for the extremely “to the point” suit of Swords. You have been through things in your life that have caused you to feel trapped as if there is no way out, which might be true for the time being. While the sky is shown to be right outside of the hole that the person has their back turned to, we cannot disregard the roots trapping the individual to their position, or the clock frozen in time. That specific detail of the art suggests to me that what has hurt the person this card could be pulled for might not be something that just sprung out of the unknown, but rather something that has troubled them in the past might have come up again. Going through these things alone is what causes us to hurt ourselves further. When we try to get through life on our own without others to support us, we become overwhelmed by the anxiety of fear of the unknown. We become trapped, metaphorically or literally, and questions about what is to come and the possibilities of the future overcome our minds and refuse to allow any other line of thought even begin to form. Even just speaking to others to get a second opinion about something that might be plaguing your thoughts, or simply sharing your suffocating struggles with those in your life, can help get you out of this rut. If these wounds run as deep as I presume they do because of the deep roots shown in the art, perhaps the help that you should reach out for should be professional, as friends who are not trained to deal with these kinds of issues in a way that will profit you in the end.
December: Eight of Wands. Movement, speed, progress, quick decisions, sudden changes, excitement.
It’s somewhat comforting to get a more uplifting card to finish out the year that seems to be littered with a majority of stressful cards, but naturally, this card doesn’t come with its own minor feelings of heartbreak. The Eight of Wands is a very melancholy song, dealing with moving on from the past. It makes sense for a card like this to be pulled near the end of the year, as this card to me is just as much about looking at what you have been through as it is about moving on from just that. There is a woman that is shown in the art on the card who has a crown and is holding her hand to her heart like some sort of energy comes out of her chest and spins in front of her. She seems to be looking up to the energy with an expression that can be interpreted as either positive or negative, depending on what you’re personally feeling when you view the card. This tells me that whoever this card is pulled for that a chapter of their life, whether positive or negative, has ended and a new one has appeared in front of them. I use the word “appeared” very loosely, as this is a card in the suit of Wands so I do believe that whatever opportunity is in front of them has not simply materialized into being, but rather the determination of the individual has begun to pay off. You might have reached a point in your life where you have been striving for a certain outcome for some time now, and now the fruits of your effort are finally showing themselves. You have gotten to where you are, and you will move on to this new chapter of your life because of what you have done for yourself and your own determination, but that does not mean that you are moving on without harboring any regrets or second thoughts. Perhaps you’re comfortable where you are right now and moving on means facing the unknown, or you’re not sure if the track you have laid out for yourself is the one you should be following or something else of that nature. I personally believe that it is more than normal to have these thoughts when moving from one state of living to another, as change is something that always comes with a sense of doubt to everyone, even if they would not like to admit it. Since this card is shown in the upright position though, I do believe that while these doubts and feelings might exist, however minuscule they might be, they are not something that will hold you in place. Moving forward is inevitable and the path that you have set out for yourself thanks to your own determination is the truest path that you could take for yourself.
I’ve finally come around to finishing this post! I’ve been putting this off for a little over a month now since I wanted to go in-depth about each of the cards that I had pulled for myself for this reading, and I’m happy that it’s finally been completed. I am a bit nervous about this reading, as I’m sure you can tell it is very stressful overall, but the only thing that I can do is continue my way through this year with my head high and not let myself succumb to my own anxieties. It is a bit interesting doing this reading after the year has already begun since now I can see what has happened the previous few months and see how that relates to the cards that I have pulled. Honestly, it relates so much to the point where it makes me nervous about the cards that come later this year! Tarot cards are something that I am so happy I got accustomed to and learned to understand, as there is so much knowledge that you can get from each of the cards and in the art of each of them. There are details that I am still noticing every single day I look at the cards again, which is something that makes me so happy because I love to continue learning about this very interesting subject. I haven’t talked about it a lot on this blog, or at all, I don’t think, but I have done readings often for multiple friends of mine and they tend to tell me that I am very accurate with my readings and when I hear things like that I can’t help but smile! I plan to continue learning about these cards so that I can be more knowledgeable about them and am more able to use them on more people than just my close friends, at least that is a very far goal in the future that I have set for myself. Something interesting about tarot is that my dad a couple months ago told me that he used to read tarot and had gotten so good that he once told a random girl at a bar that she had cancer! To be quite honest, I’m not sure how you reach that point of knowledge with the cards, as I’m not sure what card would even mention cancer. Regardless though, I’m very impressed by my dad for that, even though he regards it as a more depressing point of his life, as he considers anything other than Christianity “evil” somehow. I’m proud of him regardless for something like that, and I hope that one day I can reach a similar point, even though I’m almost positive I’m not studying them as much as he was. I would love to try this type of annual reading on one of my friends, even if it takes a long time to even do a 3+ card reading for them sometimes, I believe that it would be quite fun to do. Anyways, thank you for sticking around to the end and reading about how the year 2022 will play out for me in my reality! Let’s hope the universe is somewhat easy on me so that I can get through all these stressful moments with a smile on my face.
.ΛΒ· π.Β° ｑΛπΛｑ Β°.π.Β° ｑΛπΛｑ Β°.π.Β° ｑΛπ .Λ 