Cartomancy Divination Card Spreads for End of Year
- iryna695
- Dec 6
- 3 min read
The end of the year has always been a powerful time in spiritual traditions. Across cultures, it is a time for reflection, release, and re-alignment before stepping into a new cycle. Cartomancy—divination using tarot, oracle, or playing cards—can be a meaningful tool for this yearly transition to gain clarity on what has passed and what lies ahead. Below are the best end-of-year spreads for renewal, insight, and setting intentions.
The final weeks of the year create a natural energetic pause. It's an excellent time to review personal growth and challenges faced in the previous year, release what is unhelpful and set intentions for the next 12 months.
The following cartomancy divination spreads can help you close the old year with clarity and start the new year with purpose.
1. The Year-Behind / Year-Ahead Spread
A classic for a reason. This spread divides the reading into two reflections: what the past 12 months taught you, and where the next 12 months may lead.
Card Positions
The Theme of the Past Year
Your Greatest Achievement
Your Greatest Lesson
What You Need to Release
The Theme of the Coming Year
Your Main Opportunity Ahead
Your Main Challenge Ahead
What You Need to Embrace
This spread helps you identify cycles that ended, patterns that are shifting, and energetic themes that will shape the upcoming year.
2. The Old Year Release Spread
This spread is ideal for cleansing what needs to be left behind—habits, fears, emotional weight, unresolved attachments, and outdated expectations.
Card Positions
What is ending
What you are holding onto that is unhelpful for you
Why you are holding onto it
What to release in order to grow
How to let it go
What space it will open for you
Releasing consciously allows you to start the new year without energetic residue from the past. This spread is particularly useful if the year felt heavy, chaotic, or emotionally stagnant.
3. The New Year Intention Spread
Instead of predicting the year, this spread helps you intentionally shape it.
Card Positions
Your core intention for the year
Your strongest resource or talent that will help you
Your limiting belief or unawareness that is hindering you
What action you need to take / the next step
Something unexpected to look out for
The long-term outcome
This cartomancy divination spread is so helpful because it shifts the focus from fate to agency. Rather than waiting for the new year to happen to you, this spread helps you actively co-create the path ahead.
4. The Twelve-Month Forecast Spread
This is a more detailed reading where each card represents the dominant theme of each month.
One card for each month: January through December.
Optional: A thirteenth card for the overarching yearly lesson or theme.
This spread offers a high-level view of the upcoming year. It is not rigid prediction, but an intuitive overview that highlights when energy may intensify, ease, or shift. Many readers perform this spread annually and revisit it each month for guidance.
5. The Shadow and Light Spread
Perfect for spiritual self-development, this spread reveals the unconscious patterns shaping your year.
Card Positions
Your shadow influence from the year past
The lesson your shadow is teaching you
Your light influence for the coming year
The gift your light is bringing you
How to integrate shadow and light in the new year
End-of-year self-awareness is not just about goals—it is about inner integration. This spread helps you understand your whole self, making your new year more conscious and intentional.
6. The Three-Doors Spread
A simple but powerful end-of-year ritual for clarity.
Card Positions
Door to close
Door currently opening
Door yet unseen but waiting for your action to be unlocked
This spread helps you recognize what is completed, what is unfolding, and what requires courage or commitment.
The end of the year is a transformative threshold—an opportunity to acknowledge your growth, release old cycles, and realign your direction. Whether you use tarot, oracle cards, or traditional playing cards, these cartomancy spreads offer clarity, motivation, and spiritual grounding for the year ahead.
