Learn Tarot · Spreads and Methods, Step by Step · Lesson 24 of 25

The moon spreads

Three spreads timed to the moon: the New Moon for intentions, the Full Moon for harvest and release, and the Lunar Cycle for a whole month in eight phases.

Reading by the moon

Reading with the moon's phases is a modern practice rather than an old Golden Dawn method, but it rests on something everyone can see: a cycle of about twenty-nine and a half days that grows from dark to full and wanes back again. Readers use it as a rhythm. The new moon is for beginnings and intentions, the waxing moon for effort and growth, the full moon for results and what has come to light, the waning moon for release and rest.

When you choose a spread, the app shows tonight's moon: its phase, how much of it is lit, and the date of the next new or full moon. It also suggests the spread that suits the night: the New Moon spread near the new moon, the Full Moon spread near the full, and the Lunar Cycle in between.

The New Moon spread

Five cards, laid as a crescent, for the start of a cycle.

• The Ground: where you stand as the cycle begins.
• The Seed: what wants to begin.
• Nourishment: what will help it grow.
• The Shadow: what could hold it back.
• The First Step: what to do now.

Read it as a plan. The Seed is the intention, so word it in a sentence you could write on a card. Treat the Shadow as information rather than a warning: a Four of Pentacles there might mean fear of spending the time or money the seed needs. Make the First Step concrete enough to do this week. If it is a court card, it may be telling you whose help to ask for, or what manner to adopt.

The Full Moon spread

Five cards, laid as a cross, for the height of the cycle.

• Illumination: what the light has revealed.
• Fullness: what has come to fruition.
• Release: what to let go of.
• Gratitude: what to give thanks for.
• The Way On: where the light leads next.

Start with Illumination: the full moon shows what was hidden, so this card is often a surprise, sometimes an uncomfortable one. Read Release and Gratitude together, since letting go is easier beside something to be thankful for. A difficult card in Gratitude is worth sitting with: the Five of Pentacles there might be thanks for help received when things were hard.

The Lunar Cycle

Eight cards in a circle, one for each phase, starting at the top with the New Moon and running clockwise: the intention, the first effort, the challenge to meet, what to refine, what comes to fruition, what to share, what to release, and the rest before the next cycle.

Read it once around as a month's story. Then read across the circle, because opposite phases answer each other: the New Moon's intention faces the Full Moon's fruition, the first effort faces what to share, the challenge at the First Quarter faces the release at the Last, and what to refine faces the rest of the Balsamic Moon. If the intention and the fruition cards agree, the month is on course; if they clash, the challenge and release cards usually explain why.

The moon in the cards

Some cards carry the moon in their correspondences. The High Priestess is the Moon's own trump, and The Moon is Pisces, the dreaming water sign. Five small cards fall in decans the Golden Dawn gave to the Moon: the Nine of Wands, Four of Cups, Two of Swords, Seven of Swords and Six of Pentacles. When one of them turns up in a moon spread, many readers give it extra weight as a card speaking directly to the cycle.

Working a whole cycle

The moon spreads are best used as a pair. Draw the New Moon spread, save it to your journal and note what you intend. About two weeks later, at the full moon, draw the Full Moon spread and read it beside the first: did the Seed reach Fullness, and is the Shadow from the new moon the thing to Release now? Your journal notes are what make the second reading meaningful.

Try it

At the next new moon, draw the New Moon spread and save it with a one-line intention in the notes. About two weeks later, when the app shows a full moon, draw the Full Moon spread and write three sentences comparing the two.

Next lesson: The Opening of the Key, step by step