Yearly Tarot Spread

What is a yearly tarot spread and when should you use it?

The Yearly Tarot Spread is a thirteen-card tarot layout for reflecting on a year. The first twelve cards occupy the month positions from January to December; the thirteenth represents the main theme of the year. Relate each month’s symbolic meaning to that theme and use the layout to examine your intentions, habits and choices throughout the year.

People lay this spread on the threshold of a new year, on a birthday, or at any moment when they feel a new chapter of life beginning. If you want to review one month’s priorities in more detail, the six-card Monthly Tarot Spread suits better, and if you want to examine one particular matter in depth, the Celtic Cross does.

Each month card is read alongside a single main theme. Compare the twelve cards to choose the questions you want to return to during the year. Use the theme card as the heading for your notes; when you revisit a month, relate its suggested question, attitude or behaviour to what you have actually experienced.

How to ask a question for a yearly tarot reading

Thirteen cards cover a broad question, so give the reading a clear focus through an intention or a choice you want to examine.

• Ask about your intention. “What should I make room for this year?” or “Which habit do I want to review?” gives you a focus for relating the main theme to your life.
• Keep the question on choices. Ask what you want to examine about a relationship, a move or a project rather than requesting a list of events.
• Bring in the context of your life. If you are starting a new job, a relationship or a term of study, include it in the question.
• Record the spread in a notebook. Write down the cards, their month positions and your first interpretation. Compare that note with your later assessment when you return to it.

Example questions: “What should I make room for as I enter the new year?”, “Which choices and habits do I want to review as I turn thirty?”, “How can I take better care of myself this year?”

Shuffle calmly and draw thirteen cards in order. Place them face down in their positions before beginning the reading with card 13, Main theme of the year.

Yearly tarot spread positions: the 13 cards explained

The thirteenth card goes at the top, in the centre. Beneath it sit three rows of four cards: January to April on the first row, May to August on the second and September to December on the third.

Order	Position
1	January
2	February
3	March
4	April
5	May
6	June
7	July
8	August
9	September
10	October
11	November
12	December
13	Main theme of the year

The month cards (1–12). Examine the feeling, behaviour, effort or change theme in each month’s card. Read it alongside the main theme, then write one question you want to reflect on when you return to that month.

The three rows. The rows of four divide the calendar into three periods. Compare the themes within each row, such as movement, pause and work. Read them together to examine how those four cards relate to one another.

The main theme (13). Use the card at the top as the heading for your reading, then relate the twelve month cards to that focus. Keep the original question beside the heading so you can compare each card’s theme with the same intention. When revisiting a month, record the experience you are considering and the interpretation you now give the card.

How to read a yearly tarot spread

Thirteen cards can look crowded at first. Build the reading layer by layer.

1. Start with the main theme. Turn over the thirteenth card and write a heading for the reading in one sentence. Relate every other card to that focus.
2. Read the rows. Treat each row of four as a group. Note the dominant suits and compare the themes of movement, waiting and effort.
3. Read the months one by one. Give each month’s card a keyword and one question to revisit in your notebook.
4. Find the repeats. Note recurring suits and numbers, and compare the attitudes of court cards. Relate each Major Arcana card, one of the deck’s 22 trump cards, to its month’s question and the main theme, then record which issue the repetition brings into focus.
5. Write a one-sentence summary. Try “My main focus is …; in the first, middle and last rows, I want to reflect on …” to connect the card themes with your intention.

Use the suit distribution to identify the reading’s focus: Cups bring emotional bonds into view, Swords thought and decisions, Wands desire and action, and Pentacles effort and resources. Read a reversed month card for delay, inward focus, resistance or excess alongside the question and neighbouring cards.

Example reading: entering a new year with an intention

Thirteen cards, read as one heading and three phases: that is the shape of the example below.

Question: “As I enter the new year, what should I make room for?”

No.	Position	Card
1	January	Ace of Swords
2	February	Knight of Cups
3	March	King of Wands
4	April	Knight of Pentacles
5	May	Three of Cups
6	June	The Hanged Man
7	July	Queen of Swords
8	August	Knight of Wands
9	September	Eight of Pentacles
10	October	Death
11	November	The Hermit
12	December	King of Cups
13	Main theme of the year	The Chariot

Main theme: The Chariot. In the Larisa image, the driver holds reins behind a black sphinx and a white one. Will, direction and opposing forces are the card’s themes. Use “Which goals do I want to pursue together, and which desires pull me in different directions?” as the focus for comparing the month cards.

First phase (January–April). Read the Ace of Swords in January through clarity and the reasons behind a decision. Compare the Knight of Cups’ emotional expression, the King of Wands’ leadership and responsibility, and the Knight of Pentacles’ steady effort. Consider how the direction you want to choose relates to your thinking, feelings and work habits.

Middle phase (May–August). The Three of Cups in May is read through friendship and sharing. June’s Hanged Man is the first Major Arcana card among the month cards, bringing pause, suspension and a different perspective into the comparison. Set the Queen of Swords’ directness beside the Knight of Wands’ drive and impatience to examine your approach to action.

Last phase (September–December). In September’s Eight of Pentacles, examine effort and skill. Read October’s Death through endings, leaving the old behind and transformation. Compare November’s Hermit and its inward inquiry with December’s King of Cups and its emotional self-command; consider the questions these four cards raise about continuing and letting go.

Together. Six court cards give you different attitudes to compare. Three Majors appear among the month cards—Hanged Man, Death and Hermit—and the Chariot makes four in the full spread. Read their pause, ending and inward inquiry beside the Chariot’s question of direction. Write the direction you want to choose in one sentence, and use it as the heading for your monthly card notes.

You can open the Yearly Tarot Spread in the Larisa app as well; the reader interprets the twelve months one by one and connects each of them to the main theme of the year in the thirteenth card.