A Tarot Spread and Reading for 2025
I love a good tarot spread as much as the next tarot reader. Each year, I create my own version of a year ahead tarot spread. Honestly, they are usually pretty similar from year to year. I want them to be useful and also cover a lot of ground, so the questions get a tweaked for each position of the spread, but not majorly. Here you can see the tarot spread I created for 2025.
I hope you use this spread! I’m also going to do a little example reading with it below. This reading will be for the collective. So, if you’re reading this, that means you!
If you would like me to read the tarot specifically for you, using this spread, please get in touch! I usually offer this spread from December until March and any time in there is a wonderful time to get a year ahead tarot reading. Really, the questions can be good for any time, but I like this window for getting the most out of the spread. It can be truly transformation in shaping your year ahead.
My schedule is pretty booked up for December already, but I do still have a few openings if you can be flexible about the timing. That is for online readings through video chat. If you’d like an email reading, I will deliver it by the end of December. If you’re worried that I won’t be able to fit you into December, just send me an email before you place your order and I’ll let you know when my next availability is for readings. January is much more open so you’ll definitely be able to get a slot then.
I’d love to know if you try the spread out yourself, how it works for you and what you are excited about in the year to come. This spread is also part of The Willow Path Planner 2025, that is available for order here. This PDF planner is 195 pages of awesome tarot and moon phase planning glory that you will love if you’re a planner nerd like me. I wrote all about it last week and made a flip through video if you’re interested.
Now, I thought it would be fun to share a tarot reading for the collective for 2025. This means it’s for you! If you happen to read this and find inspiration or good advice in it, then- wonderful! If not, let it go! (Note: If you order an email tarot reading from me, it will be about twice the length of what I write here. ) I am, of course, using the tarot spread you saw above.
1. The Present- where are you now? Queen of Wands
Tarot cards from the Spacious Tarot deck: Guardian of Wands, Six of Swords reversed, Four of Cups, Two of Cups, Five of Swords, and The Moon.
The current moment is cheerful, warm, and confident. There is a certain enthusiasm or zest for life that permeates the atmosphere. No feeling it? - it is available, if you will allow it. What makes you feel radiant? What inspires you or lights you up? How can you be the most energetic and enthusiastic version of yourself? That is the call for 2025- be outgoing, be charming, be a good friend, be positive,
The Queen of Wands is also devoted and knows how to follow through. Her determination comes from her inner fire and self-assuredness. She knows that she is capable. She knows that she has the resilience and fortitude to do hard things. She has goals, objectives, dreams, and work to get done. This Queen will not back down because she is committed to the work.
If you are not resonating with your inner Queen of Wands right now, look for ways that you can promote this vibration within yourself as we move into 2025. What matters to you? What fires you up? What do you want to devote your energy to, even if it is hard? What warms your heart? What gives you optimism? What gives you the capacity to keep going? Reflect upon these questions and actually find some answers. You are going to need all the pizazz you can muster to get you through 2025.
If you can’t find it within (which you totally can, it’s in there!) look for role models. Who is your ideal Queen of Wands? Now act like them. It’s a beautiful thing to gather inspiration from others, so support your role models with a little gratitude. Put yourself through the motions, until they begin to feel a bit more natural. Action often precedes motivation, so do it even if you don’t want to just yet.
2. Leave Behind- what no longer serves you? VI of Swords reversed
Stagnation, stuck in a rut, being permanently in transition, these things are ready to be part of your past now. It’s time to put down that heavy baggage you have been carrying. You don’t need it anymore. The past has served its purpose, you have learned your lessons, and you’re ready to move the fuck on. I know, strong words, but sometimes you need a little kick in the ass when you’ve been hanging onto old ideas and perspectives for too long. It’s time for a new era.
If you totally did not relate to the energy of the Queen of Wands, this is a clue about what direction you are ready to go in. You may not believe it, but it’s time to channel your inner Queen and get fired up about about a new phase. If you’ve been hesitating (or wallowing) in a difficult transition, it’s time to dust yourself off and get back into the game of being fully alive. Yes, it’s scary. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it’s vulnerable to actually care about something, but what is the point of life if you’re not even going to live?! Live with passion, let the past go with a gentle wellwish, and step into the new year with a renewed energy for life.
You’re not going to be stuck and stagnate in the new year. Let old habits and patterns shake loose and be left behind.
3. Take Along- what are still working with/on? IV of Cups
The IV of Cups is your resolute heart. That beautiful beating organ inside of you is your rock steady. It’s your four on the floor. It’s your ride or die. You can count on your resilient, sturdy, awake heart to guide you in the year ahead. Really, you never want to be without a solid connection to your heart space. The Buddhists have one word in Pali for heart and mind together, citta, because these two things are actually only one thing. Westerners think we can separate out our minds from our hearts, but truly the best thing is when they work in unison. We much continue to tend to our citta in 2025 and every year that comes.
The year ahead will require much strength of your heart mind so it’s important that you keep practicing and developing your methods of coping with the world. What are your practices that make it possible to stay present, your ways of augmenting your capacity to response with clarity and kindness? Some practices evoked by the IV of Cups are: meditation, journaling, contemplation practice, going within, using the tarot, etc. Usually, the IV of Cups indicates a solitary practice, but I don’t think that is strictly necessary in the year ahead. We need each other; the power of meditating in a group is transcendent!
The IV of Cups also represents a time of disappointment or dissatisfaction. Can any of us say that we are deeply content with the way things are playing out on the world stage? Of course, there are beautiful moments in all of our lives, but the overarching sense that things are not right with the world creeps into everyday exists. Why are the rich getting richer? Why is climate change getting swept under the rug (again)? Why are there so many wars being fought all over the world with so much violence? We bring this state of dissatisfaction with us into the new year, and we vow to devote ourselves to making a difference. We aren’t going to be stagnant or stuck, we are going to make some waves.
4. Begin- what is ready to be cultivated? II of Cups
And how will we do it? We’re gonna kill ‘em with kindness. We’re going to forge exquisite relationships. We’re going to connect on the most fundamental and deepest level- at the heart. The II of Cups is about forming bonds, about choosing to love, about devoting ourselves to our relationships. When we come together, when we recognize our oneness, when we create community, we fight against all forces that seek to divide us. It is only divided that we fail and we fall. Together, with compassion, understanding, patience, and tolerance, we create something that can not be pulled asunder.
The year ahead is ready for relationships to be cultivated in all forms. If you are romantically incline, this is the year to give more attention to matters of the heart. Get serious about dating (not dating apps), have intimate conversations, decide to get married or committed, move in together, share finances, create a family. If you’re already in a serious relationship, then devote time to exploring that connection. Is it satisfying? Could it be deeper? What are the strengths and weaknesses? What to you want to develop and grow together?
Outside of romantic relationships, there are still so many important ways that we connect with each other. Find a business partner. Spend more time with your besties. Start a new hobby with your kids or parents. Join a community group. Enroll in a school or university. Start a coven. Come together with people who share you vision for the world, try to find common ground with those we don’t. Relationships of all kinds call for cultivation, mindfulness, care, and compassion in the year ahead. They are the magic sauce that will help us create a better world, one that feels satisfying and aligned with our most esteemed values of peace and harmony.
5. Challenges/Obstacles- what you can overcome this year? V of Swords
If you were triggered by the idea of coming together with people who do not share your values, those that traditionally have been on the other side of the widening cultural divide, the V of Swords calls for a truce. It reminds you that this isn’t about winning. No one actually wins if everyone is annihilated at the end of the argument. If we destroy ourselves, stray from our values, use any means necessary to come out the victor, it doesn’t actually feel like a win at the end of all that denying and destroying.
Use your mind, be logical, think things through. How can you ease conflict? How can you bridge tension? What can lead to connection? Remember the concept of citta, heart mind, involves both the beautiful coming together in love of the II of Cups, and the mental wisdom to know how to do that. Become more skillful in the year ahead. Get over the idea that there is one right way, one truth, one perspective that is allowed, one way of being. In order for the world to heal broken relationships, it has to be okay for people to have a wide range of beliefs, customs, and ways of living.
The easing of conflict is more than just a vague concept that applies to how the billions of people in the world need to get along. It also matters on the micro-level in your everyday life. What lingering animosity needs to be healed in your personal life? Who do you need to forgive? From who do you need to ask for forgiveness? What old antagonisms do you need to let go of? What old beliefs are keeping you angry, hurt, afraid, or stuck?
When you let go of the need to always be right, you open up space for new possibilities for growth and expansion.
6. Theme- what is the overall energy of 2025? The Moon
There is a sense of mystery ahead in 2025. The Moon reminds us that nothing is set in stone, and also that nothing is exactly as it seems. We may think the future holds certain unavoidable eventualities, but is that really true? Yes, we will each get older, but is there anything else that is truly immutable? This sense that nothing is quite as it seems and things happen for no reason, can cause fear and anxiety in the year ahead. When the ground beneath you feels insubstantial, what does security even mean?
Things may change rapidly or subtly in the year ahead, but be mindful of the fact that life is change, and this is normal. It is helpful to surrender to this knowledge, to accept change instead of resisting. Even if you want to know why and there are zero explanations, find ways to live within this mystery that are healthy, awake, and allowing. Much will change in the year ahead, and feeling afraid, insecure, and anxious is not going to be helpful energy that supports your growth. Instead, look for the beauty in The Moon.
Remember, the light of The Moon reveals what is usually hidden in the night. Expect the unexpected this year. Mysteries will remain, but other mysteries will be revealed, unmasked, understood. We all keep secrets and try to decieve, but most secrets cannot remain hidden forever. Look around you to see what truths come to light. This year brings many opportunities for self reflection, for going within, for uncovering what has been lost or obscured. This energy is brought to the fore with The Moon and also with the card of the year- The Hermit.
2025 is the Year of the Hermit. 2 + 0+ 2 + 5 = 9. Card 9 is The Hermit. The Moon is card 18 in the tarot. 1 +8 =9. Therefore The Moon and The Hermit are connected. The Moon is the higher vibrational expression of The Hermit. Not only is our inner light revealed with the strength of The Hermit, but the light of the world is divulged through the The Moon. The Moon’s light is simply that of the Sun reflected back to us in the depths of night. We see a different side of things. We see shadows, but also we see what is hidden. Work with The Hermit and The Moon this year to shine a light on all that is wise and true. Let them be your guide.
And there you have it! A tarot reading for the collective for 2025. I hope you enjoyed it and find it insightful and empowering. I love that our last card of the spread was The Moon for a year that is ruled by The Hermit. That card pairing is so nourishing and strengthening at a time that feels deeply uncertain and difficult. Going into 2025 requires that we have a firm belief in our inner light, in our capacity to meet what comes, and our ability to handle the mysteries of life. We are each on a spiritual quest through this life, even if you chose to see if some other way, in the end, there is no real explanation that fits our existence perfectly. The year ahead honors that spiritual and mystical aspect of our paths through the world.
May we meet 2025 with an open heart mind. May we come together. May we forge strong relationships. May we take big or small steps along our beautiful paths through this ephemeral life. May we each have a 2025 that is full of life, learning, and love.