Card images used in this article are from the exciting new Midcenturian Tarot by Madam Clara. Visit her Etsy shop here to snag your very own copy.
Tarot can be used for so much more than just divination. In fact, my favorite use of the cards is for focused intention and manifestation. Want to expand a particular energy in your life? Enhance an area? Invite more? Then consciously choose the card/s that represent whatever it is you want to attract; don’t rely on randomness or blind “Card of the Day” pulls to guess what it is you really want. (That’s a bit like wanting to make a specific recipe, going into a grocery store blindfolded and then pulling things off the shelves for your order!).
As we start a New Year, many of us are thinking of what has passed away—and what is to come. If you’d like to jumpstart a new beginning, here are twenty-two Tarot cards to help initiate your journey. Grab your favorite deck and pull out the Major Arcana cards (0-22). You can place the card/s on your altar, stick on your fridge with a magnet, keep it in your wallet, create a desktop wallpaper or screensaver with it—whatever helps with your specific focus and intentions. Selected cards can also be used for spellwork and rituals.
The Fool – This is the New Beginnings card of the Tarot. You can use The Fool (or your deck’s equivalent) as a type of Significator (or focus card) in addition to any extra cards you select from a deck. Use For: Enhancing Spontaneity; Taking a Risk; Enjoying Silliness; Promoting Lightheartedness; Seizing the Day; Claiming a Blank Slate; Starting Over
The Magician – Use For: Bringing a Project to Life; Catalyzing; Unleashing Creativity; Mesmerizing; Enhancing Communication; Applying All Your Gifts and Skills; Channeling Power; Using All Tools Available to You
The High Priestess – Use For: Keeping Secrets; Hearing Internal Guidance; Understanding Esoteric Texts and Teachings; Knowing Yourself; Prophecy and Divination; Accessing Hidden Knowledge; Silencing
The Empress – Use For: Attracting Abundance; Nurturing Creative Projects; Promoting Fertility; Enhancing Beauty; Facilitating Pregnancy; Help with Motherhood; Planting and Cultivating; Honoring the Goddess; Celebrating Ostara
The Emperor – Use For: Creating Boundaries; Governing Your Own Life; Help with Authority Figures; Navigating Bureaucracy and Red Tape; Enforcing Limits; Organizing; Facilitating Order; Promoting Leadership; Honoring the God
The Hierophant – Use For: Honoring Timeless Wisdom; Creating New Traditions; Celebrating Heritage; Affirming a Culture; Commemorating Customs; Enrolling in a New School or Coursework; Navigating Religion; Ordinations
The Lovers – Use For: Encouraging Commitment; Fulfilling Promises and Contracts; Consummation; Completing Resolutions; Making Proposals; Commemorating Marriage; Increasing Devotion; Celebrating Beltane
The Chariot – Use For: Focusing Your Will; Busting Through Obstacles; Forward Movement; Help with Vehicles; Staying on Track; Gaining Momentum; Boosting Propulsion; Aid in Transportation
Strength – Use For: Grace Under Pressure; Quiet Courage; Mastering Base Instincts; Overcoming Ego; Enhancing Finesse; Promoting Confidence; Increasing Awareness of Surroundings; Using Restraint; Celebrating Litha
The Hermit – Use For: Solitary Practices and Living; Independent Study; Following Your Own Path; Self-Reliance; Researching; Maintaining Individualism; Enhancing Asceticism; Contemplation; Celebrating Yule
Wheel of Fortune – Use For: Dealing with Life’s Ups and Downs; Increasing Luck; Enhancing Wins from Gambling; Coping with Vertigo; Handling the Unexpected; Trusting Fate; Allowing for Randomness; Celebrating Lammas
Justice – Use For: Court Cases; Legal Matters; Encouraging Fairness; Promoting Social Justice; Help with Weighing Matters Objectively; Balancing the Letter of the Law with the Spirit of the Law
Hanged Man – Use For: Patience; Waiting for Something; Handling Standstills; Dealing with Suspensions; Enhancing Unusual Perspectives; Promoting New Ways of Seeing and Being; When Needing to Make a Sacrifice
Death – Use For: Dealing with Changing; Saying Goodbye; Passings; Transformations; Transitions; Allowing Something to Die; Endings; Burying; Funerals; Hospice Work; Celebrating Samhain
Temperance – Use For: Encouraging Moderation; Starting and Maintaining Sobriety; Walking a Middle Path; Avoiding Extremes; Alchemy; Being the Change You Want to See; Advocating Tolerance; Celebrating Mabon
The Devil – Use For: Dealing with Imprisonment; Escaping Bondage; Overcoming Habits and Addictions; Avoiding Co-Dependence; Confronting Your Shadow; Facing Your Demons; Handling Misplaced Values and Trust
The Tower – Use For: Navigating Upheaval; Coping with Catastrophe; Managing Unpleasant Surprises; Deconstruction; Getting Rid of Beliefs that No Longer Serve You; Dealing with Accidents; Assessing Faulty Foundations
The Star – Use For: Making Wishes; Hoping for the Best; Promoting Optimism; Encouraging Wonderment; Enhancing Positivity; Contacting Extraterrestrials; Navigating the Future; Enchantment; Transcendence
The Moon – Use For: Enhancing Lucid Dreaming; Promoting Mystery; Handling Hormonal Changes; Navigating Mood Swings; Understanding What’s Hidden; Communication with Water Spirits; Supporting Ocean Life; Decoding Symbols
The Sun – Use For: Strutting Your Stuff; Exuding Charisma; Encouraging Children; Dealing with Idolatry (Light Projection); Claiming Your Awesomeness; Increasing Your Energy; Help with SAD; Publicity; Celebrating Imbolc
Judgement – Use For: Discovering, Hearing and Heeding Your Soul’s Calling; Tapping into Your Higher Purpose; Issues of Sowing and Reaping; Dealing with Karma; Working with Angels; Help with Walking Your Talk; Wake up Calls
The World – Use For: Embracing Wholeness; Celebrating Completion; Finishing Things; Promoting Unity and Brotherhood; Integrating Lessons Learned; Self-Actualization; Final Attainment; Fulfillment; A Global Perspective
What cards hold the strongest pull for you this New Year? Which ones have you used in the past for intention and manifestation? Please share your choices and experiences in the comment section below...and Happy New Year! -- Janet
Another great tool for focusing on what you want to attract and enhance? Affirmations! See my post Affirmations with the Tarot: Using the Power of Imagery and Symbols to Create the Life You Want to find out how.
Wonder which Tarot cards deal with Beginnings? Check out my blog post here.
