I have a New Year’s routine with activities spread over several days. It usually begins quietly at home on New Year’s Eve with my husband, our dog, some bubbly, and twelve grapes—one for each month—for luck and prosperity. It’s a tradition Cubans and other Latin Americans and Hispanics inherited from the Spanish. On New Year’s Day, I cleanse my home, myself, and tend to my orishas. And then I start thinking about my goals for the new year.
The first full moon of 2026 happened on Saturday, 3 January, which was the perfect occasion for divination. Full moons are potent times for clarity and revelation when what’s been hidden comes to light, and having it fall on a Saturday meant I could settle in properly, spend a few unhurried hours with the cards, and let the reading unfold at its own pace. I like to begin the year this way because it helps me dialogue with the energies around me, identify themes, clarify priorities, and make decisions I can live with, not just set targets to hit. Once the reading is complete and my intentions are clear, the final step is to set up my Bullet Journal for productivity and translate insights into structure. At some point this month, I will also consult my astrologer and an Oba Oriaté or Babalawo to receive guidance from the orishas.
If you read last year’s post, you’ll know I don’t set New Year’s resolutions or SMART goals. They work brilliantly for some people, but for me, they feel rigid and focused on the destination: success or failure. I’m more interested in the journey—small steps, ongoing reflection, breathing and adapting, and enough spaciousness for the year to surprise me. This year’s reading pointed me toward exactly that kind of work: integration, community, and the patient blending of disparate threads into something whole.
Tarot Card of the Year
As always, I began by calculating my Tarot Card of the Year using Mary K. Greer’s method from Archetypal Tarot: What Your Birth Card Reveals About Your Personality, Your Path, and Your Potential. For 2026:
11 + 29 + 2026 = 2066
2 + 0 + 6 + 6 = 14
The 14th Major Arcana card is Temperance.
After last year’s Death card, with its necessary dissolution and transformation, Temperance arrives as the work of integration: compassion, restoration, and the building of a new Self. 2026 is a year for creative synthesis, for finding balance between competing commitments, and for the slow, patient blending of what I’ve learned into something sustainable and whole.
Greer writes that a Temperance Year is one of reconciliation and healing breaches, of finding resources you didn’t know were available, and of synchronicities happening in extraordinary ways. The card asks: Can you turn problems into blessings? Can you learn to play with time, stretching it out deliberately? Can you build your new Self with patience and grace?
2026 tarot reading
Many people prefer a month-by-month reading, which can be useful for tracking the year ahead, but that’s not what I’m looking for. I want to reflect on the year that was, clarify what I learned, understand my aspirations, and get a sense of what to focus on and what might stand in my way. For this, I use Biddy Tarot’s New Year Tarot spread, pictured below.
For this year’s tarot reading, I chose the Gaian Tarot, a gentle deck by Joanna Powell Colbert. Of all my tarot decks, this one best captured the feeling of Temperance—earthy, integrated, and focused on the natural cycles of growth.
In summary, my divination for 2026 points to a year of integration: blending what I’ve learned into something fertile, lived, and shareable. I am coming out of a 2025 shaped by curiosity, study, and discernment (Explorer of Air), with a clear lesson that momentum matters — when inspiration sparks, act (Eight of Fire). That forward motion now wants to land in the body and the world through the Gardener (Empress): creativity, sensuality, relationship, and the tangible work of nurturing what I’m building.
My strongest fuel for the year is community and clear-minded companionship (Six of Air, Three of Earth). I am not meant to do this alone: my reading keeps returning to co-creation, synergy, and ‘building the house of the Goddess’ through collaboration, shared vision, and mutual support. Even in work and finances, the message isn’t solitary hustle; it’s translating my vision into reality alongside others (Eight of Air), choosing collaborators and structures that make my ideas practicable.
The central tension is direct: Temperance is both my year card and my obstacle. The work isn’t finding a brand-new path but learning how to harmonise what’s already here — different callings, roles, communities, and desires — without fragmenting myself. Health and wellbeing are framed as peace, stability, and gratitude for ‘the place you call home’ (Nine of Earth). At the same time, spiritual fulfilment asks for conscious letting go (Ten of Air): releasing what’s outgrown, inevitable, or no longer aligned, so there’s room for the new self I’m cultivating.
Emotionally, the heart of the year is tender and imaginative (Child of Water): love, art, spirituality, and the willingness to dream again. My deepest lesson, though, is not effort but surrender: the Tree (Hanged Man) invites stillness, receptivity, and trust in timing — a Temperance-year kind of patience that doesn’t force outcomes. And the direction I’m headed is a refining: the Seven of Water asks me to narrow the field, say ‘no’ to the merely good, and choose the great — that’s tough — and letting intuition lead, committing with depth rather than scattering my energy across too many possibilities.
Distilling themes
Based on my 2026 reading (and Temperance Year), I see four strong themes running through all the cards.
Integration over addition. The year isn’t about new directions but harmonising what I already carry: different roles, communities, and callings blended into something stable and whole.
Building alongside others. Community appears as both strategy and support. The cards consistently point to co-creation, shared vision, and the strength that comes from like-minded companionship.
Patient cultivation. This is sustainable growth rather than dramatic overhaul: tending the garden, embodied abundance, grounded routines, and choices that keep me resourced over time.
Refinement through release. The work of narrowing: loosening what’s outdated, saying no to the merely good, and letting one dream become clear enough to commit to fully.
These four themes share a common thread. My 2025 word was Renewal—transformation, reconnection, shedding what no longer served. Looking back, it held true, though not always in the ways I expected. For 2026, my word is Synthesis: bringing my many threads into a coherent whole and giving them a fresh, sustainable form.
Translating themes into goals
Last year, I had four goals. In my previous blog entry, I reviewed how they unfolded. This year, from these themes, I’ve identified six goals. As with last year, these aren’t SMART goals with measurable outcomes and deadlines. Instead, they’re intentions that guide my choices and create space for organic growth.
1. Sustainable rhythm and protected rest (The Rhythm)
I will integrate my commitments into a sustainable rhythm and protect my rest. This means better scheduling, improved productivity where it matters, and, crucially, learning to say no.
2. Co-creation and community output (The House)
I will co-create a consistent community container and produce a tangible resource from it. This centres on Georgian Wicca and building my ‘house’—a spiritual home with others.
3. Embodied peace and home sanctuary (The Sanctuary)
I will cultivate embodied peace through steady health and home practices that support my creativity. This might include taking up Afro-Cuban dance, strength practices, and sanctuary projects such as restoring our house’s sunroom.
4. Integrated professional practice and financial steadiness (The Practice)
I will steadily grow an integrated professional practice that’s grounded, collaborative, and financially sustainable. This builds on last year’s momentum.
5. Yemaya devotion and water-listening (The Child of Water)
I will deepen my relationship with Yemaya through gentle devotion, time with water, and a more tender way of listening. The Child of Water calls me toward imagination, dreams, and a life filled with art and spirituality.
6. Greek as relationship (The Language)
I will learn Greek as a living language of relationship—for family, travel, and spiritual connection. This isn’t about fluency by December; it’s about showing up consistently.
Bringing it all together
As we move deeper into 2026, I invite you to consider your own relationship with goal-setting. Whether you use SMART goals, a more intuitive approach, or something in between, the key is finding a method that works for you.
For me, it’s working with the wisdom of the cards, trusting the process of synthesis, and remembering that the most meaningful changes happen slowly, through patient tending rather than dramatic overhaul. Setting these intentions isn’t the end of the process, it’s the beginning of an ongoing dialogue. I’ll revisit my reading throughout the year, using additional divination and journalling to assess what’s emerging and adjust as needed. The Temperance card reminds me that this work is iterative: not rushing towards achievement, but building something sustainable through steady attention and course correction.
Here’s to a year of integration, community, and choosing the great over the merely good.
If you’re curious about how tarot could illuminate your own path for 2026, I offer readings that help you identify themes, clarify priorities, and set intentions that honour both your aspirations and your lived reality. Whether you’re navigating a transition, seeking clarity, or want to check in with yourself, a reading can provide perspective.