Community Tarot Reading for the Week of March 16, 2026

Monday, March 16, 2026
Day Before Dark Moon
Mercury Retrograde

Welcome to the final week of Mercury Retrograde! The Retrograde ends on the Spring Equinox, which is just lovely, although we may feel exhausted. Try to take a lot of down time next weekend to recover.

Once Mercury goes direct, no planets will be retrograde until Pluto goes direct on May 5.

This week will definitely have challenges, but the way will get clearer soon. I know, I know – when I see those words when I’m struggling, I get frustrated, because we’ve been promised relief for nearly a year now, and there hasn’t been any. There’s always another excuse. Because there always is another challenge, but when Mercury is out of the mix as retrograde, somehow, for me, anyway, it’s a lot better.

This month’s deck was a Winter Solstice gift, and, as a writer, I’m enjoying working with it. This month’s deck is the Mystic Storyteller, book and tarot by Amanda Hughes, art by Roz Kazaz. You can read more about the artists by clicking their names, and buy the deck 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: Strength
Strength is about fortitude with compassion, rather than brute force. The woman doesn’t have a whip to use on the lion. She has a pencil. I love the expressions on both faces, like, “really?” And they are facing the audience, not in combat with each other. This pair is a team, showing the rest of the world how compassionate strength works. Keep that in mind this week, as you are challenged to be less than compassionate.

North – Earth/Tangibles: Ace of Pentacles
I love the art on this card. We are being offered the opportunity to write a new story in a tangible way. It’s a story that will bring us tangible results, including money. It might be a new job opportunity or a chance doing something you love that pays in tangibles this time, rather than metaphoricals.

 

 

East – Air/Thought/Intellect: The Empress
The Empress is a card of abundance through feminine power. Compassionate strength paired with a new, tangible opportunity, allows you to think creatively (this is in the east) to grow it.

Think in terms of nurturance.

 

 

 

South – Fire/Passion/Identity: Knight of Swords
This card came up in our reading on March 2, in the west, the position of creativity and emotion. This week, it comes up in the south, of passion and identity. The Knight is eager to bring ideas out into the world. However, because of the newness of the opportunity (ace pentacles), it needs room to grow (empress), especially with the card in the next position. To me, this card in this position this week, in relation to the other cards, suggests reining in the impulse to share too much too soon.

West – Water/Creativity/Emotion: Ten of Swords
As a writer, getting stabbed in the back by ten pens is intimidating. Swords are about intellect, and in the position of water/creativity/emotion, it’s about an idea, possible the idea/opportunity offered by the ace. This is why I feel this week, we should rein in our knight of Swords, and not share too much too soon, because others will try to stab us in the back about it. Ten of swords, for me, comes up when other people want to force their agendas on me for their convenience. The hand gesture of the fallen figure here is a little disturbing. There are multiple possibilities, and I am hoping it is the Surya mudra rather than the Shocker gesture. (I leave it to you to research each on your own, and see how each meaning sits with you for the context of this reading). Given the context of the reading, the creators’ intent is more likely to be the Surya mudra, but warning bells are going off for me in this week’s context, and because of the general state of the world. To me, the warning means to protect anything new this week and don’t put it in a situation where it could be harmed or stolen. If the hand gesture is meant to be the Surya mudra, it also suggests that there is hope for the sun (success) in spite of the stabs in the back. With last week’s reading containing the Devil and the 9 of Wands, I will lean toward caution this week.

We have two Major Arcana cards in this week’s reading, a knight, and two minor arcana cards, one at each end of the minor arcana numbers. So there are endings, beginnings, a need for strength and protection, and typical last week of Mercury Retrograde chaos.

Step softly and stay as quiet as possible is my advice for the week.

Did anything resonate with you, or did you get something different?