Monday, January 5, 2026
Chiron Direct as of January 2
Uranus & Jupiter Retrograde
Welcome to a new week and a new year! I live in New England, and we’ve had snowstorm after snowstorm, then it warms up and rains, then freezes over and more storms. I like living with seasons, but by February, I will be over it!
Chiron went direct on the 2nd, and there was a full moon on the 3rd. Lots of adjusting going on. Tomorrow is Twelfth Night/Befana night.
The last few years, rather than hitting the ground running on the first day of January, I’ve preferred to ease into the year. I want to work with the season of dark and quiet, rather than racing around. I find it works better for me, on multiple levels. And, I’m seeing that this year, I’m not the only one who’s chosen to approach the new year this way.
It’s a new month, so we’re working with a new deck. This is the Ask the Witch tarot, which is beautiful, and the card backs are labyrinths, so you can use them for meditation as easily as the front of the card. The deck is edited by Francesca Matteoni, and illustrated by Simone Pace. You can read about the creators by clicking on their names, and get the deck from Red Wheel Weiser here.
This is one of my spreads, that I call The Elemental Spread. It is very similar to many of the Medicine Wheel spreads I’ve seen, but I made a few tweaks to the way I use it over the years.
We start in the center, with Spirit/Self. This is the overall energy of the week, and how we relate to it.
We move to the position above, with is North/Tangibles, connected to the element of Earth, advice on how to deal with the week on a tangible, materialistic level.
We move clockwise to the third position, East/Thought, connected to the element of Air, advice on how to intellectually deal with the week.
Then we move down to the bottom of the spread, the 4th position, South/Passion, connected to the element of Fire, advice on how to deal with the week from a place of passion and identity.
Then we move up to the left side of the spread, the 5th position, West/Emotion, connected to the element of Water, advice on how to deal with the week from a place of creativity and emotion.
We wind up where we started, at the spirit center, integrating all the information for the week.
These interpretations are mine, based on my experience, intuition and responses to the artwork.
You may have a different experience. This is an overview of the week as it stands now; every decision we make from the moment of the reading can change the outcome. If there’s something in the reading that worries you, you have the information ahead of time so that you can plan, make better choices, or handle it differently than predicted for a better outcome. Tarot sets out possibilities, which you change through your choices and actions.
Center – Spirit/Self: The Chariot
This week is about taking the reins in our own life. In this deck, the Chariot depicts Holda, the Germanic wild huntress. The card encourages our self-direction, determination, ambition, travel, and trust in positive outcomes supported by the actions we take. It’s a terrific card to start the new year. Any time this year you start to doubt yourself, call on Holda, and tap into your own inner wild huntress for guidance.
North – Earth/Tangibles: 8 of Cups
It’s time to leave something behind, to walk away without looking back, and it’s something tangible. It may be a place, a job, a way of walking through the world. It was right at the time, and helped us feel secure and survive, but we are at a new threshold, and it’s time to walk away. The heron will guide us along the path. Herons symbolize intuition and transformation. It’s time to trust our intuition for the next steps on our physical path. Our inner huntress, from the previous card, knows where we need to travel.
East – Air/Thought/Intellect: 2 of Pentacles
The 2 of Pentacles suggest a need to be flexible and juggle multiple responsibilities this week. Since it’s in the position of air/thought/intellect, planning will help us make decisions. But remember that a plan is a roadmap, not a prison, and sometimes we have to adjust the path. It might be between practical and emotional, desires and needs, others and ourselves. We have the capacity, and we need to make these decisions remembering the motion of the Chariot, and that this week requires us to leave something behind in the 8 of Cups. This card indicates it doesn’t have to be a dramatic exit in the former card; it can be a gentle release.
South – Fire/Passion/Identity: 5 of Pentacles
This card always makes me queasy. Is there something I’ve missed in my finances? Am I about to be hit with an unexpected expense? If this was in the north/earth position of tangibles, I’d be in an all-out panic. But it’s in the passion/identity spot. Where do we feel abandoned right now, bereft, unappreciated, undervalued? What is preventing us from following our true calling? Is it the current harsh economic climate? Is there a way to take action to make it more supportive for all of us? Is there grief involved with what we are walking away from in the 8, because it was such a deep part of our identity for so long? This makes sense with the preceding cards of Chariot, 8 Pentacles, and the 2 of Pentacles reminding us to balance, not overthink and spiral into desolation. Don’t hesitate to ask for help. This deck has it right in the name – ASK the Witch! It also ties into the end of the Year of the Snake, and all the shedding that’s been demanded of us. There’s grief involved, especially when we have to lose tangibles. We are allowed to grieve, even though we live in a society that doesn’t know how to hold grief or handle it.
West – Water/Creativity/Emotion: The Moon
As a Pisces, this card resonates, and it’s in the home position of water/creativity/emotion in this week’s spread. This deck depicts Hecate on the moon card, encouraging us to trust our intuition. Our intuition protects us from the illusions others try to cast upon us. So often, the moon is interpreted as us allowing ourselves to be fooled, but this card tells us to go deeper, dig so deep we haven’t been there before. Trust the moon, trust ourselves. Let Hecate light the path as we travel with Holda, leaving behind what we must, knowing we can juggle all we need to, and acknowledging that there’s grief involved in the change.
Did anything in this reading resonate with you, or did you get a different interpretation? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.