Divination For 2025

Divination For 2025 January 1, 2025

If you want to know what a trip is going to be like, you have to know where you’re starting from. A trip to Chicago that begins in New York will look very different from one that begins in Dallas.

The same is true when doing divination for a long-term process – like a Tarot reading for an entire year. You have to know where you’re starting from. Or in my case, you have to accept where you’re starting from.

If 2024 was a trip to Chicago, I acted like I was starting in Dallas when I was really starting in Mexico City. Or maybe it was Caracas. Some days I think it was Tartarus.

I’ve talked a lot recently about how difficult last year was. It is my intent that this will be the last time I bring that up. But 2024 ended well. The core message of last year’s reading (“the core of this reading is highly positive. But positive doesn’t mean easy”) was dead-on right. What I failed to realize is that the circumstances that caused so many problems for me last year were already there when I did last year’s reading.

I made good progress in 2024. But I was starting in a bad place, and then things went down – way down – before they started getting better. If I had acknowledged where I was starting from and the general trend at the time, I would have been better prepared for the difficult times in the first half of the year.

On the bright side, the core message of last year’s reading gave me the confidence that things would get better in months, not in years. And they did.

So now let’s move on to our Divination for 2025.

As it is every year, the question for this reading is “what does the new year hold for me and mine?” The closer you are to me, the more this reading applies to you. If you do ritual with me in my back yard, it’s very relevant to you. If you follow a Pagan polytheist path, it applies a fair amount. If you’re a casual blog reader, less so. You must decide how much weight to give this reading in your planning for the coming year.

This year I’m going back to the Robin Wood Tarot. Robin Wood was my first deck, and part of embracing my witchcraft is beginning again at the beginning (for some things, anyway). Plus I’ve had it for over 30 years and it still speaks to me better than any other deck, especially for big questions like this. I’m using the Celtic Cross spread because it’s the best I’ve found for broad readings such as this.

photo by John Beckett

2025 will be a year of moving on.

Your victories, your heartbreaks, your grand narratives: they’re in the past. They may have been meaningful and helpful at one time but they no longer serve you, your goals, your mission, and your community. It’s time to move on – it’s time to create something new.

At The Heart of the Matter is the King of Wands. In most decks, this king is seated. Robin Wood drew him standing, to show that he’s a man of action as well as inspiration. Inspired action is at the core of 2025. If you take nothing else from this reading, remember this.

Crossing it for Good or for Ill is the 3 of Swords – the heartbreak card. Combine this with The Tower and the 6 of Wands and it’s absolutely clear that it’s time to leave both the good and bad of the recent past behind. Tower Time is still with us, but by now either we’ve absorbed that imagery and its message into our model of the world or we’re never going to get it. 2015 isn’t coming back, and what we build in future – for ourselves and for the wider world – is going to look very different.

photo by John Beckett

All the 10s are cards of completion. The 10 of Cups in the What You Seek position speaks to me not just of the desire for a happy family (in the broader “chosen family” sense of the term) but also of the fact that I’m in the home stretch of my professional career. Completing that in the coming years (not this year, but hopefully not too many years afterward) opens the door to becoming the full-time Druid and witch I’ve always wanted to be.

What this card means for you will likely be something different – the point is to know what “completion” means for you and to stay focused on it.

The Knight of Swords is in the What is Coming position – he’s charging off into whatever comes next. Knights tend to scare me – they’re impulsive and rush off without proper planning and safety precautions. But that’s what’s coming, so we best figure out how to deal with it.

Robin Wood kept the Judgement name for Major Arcana #20, but she drew it as a phoenix – this is a card of rebirth. It’s followed by The Magician and all that he brings. Her keyword for this card is “creativity” – add that to the inspiration of the King of Wands and you get another clear message of moving on. The deliberate, planned, and scripted magic illustrated in this card shows the “how” – keep working your magic, keep creating change in accordance with your will.

That’s your will, not the will of anyone else, especially not the will of some third-rate politician.

photo by John Beckett

The 9 of Wands tells us that 2025 will be difficult. You didn’t need me to tell you that, and I didn’t need Tarot to figure it out. Remember to rest. If I learned nothing else in 2024 it’s that there’s no substitute for proper sleep.

The 2 of Wands in the Final Outcome position says that the overall year will be positive, but that it will not be complete. The person in the 2 of Wands is looking at the people in the 10 of Cups. What he wants most – what I want, what you want, what we all want – won’t be completely manifest in 2025. But because of the work we do in this year, it will be on its way by year-end.

photo by John Beckett

Given what we face in 2025, this is about as positive a reading as I could hope for.

This is a year of moving on. If you don’t know where you want to go, make figuring that out your first priority. If you don’t choose a direction someone else will choose for you, and they likely do not have your best interests at heart.

It’s time to leave the past behind, both the good and the bad. Move on. Use your magic, remember to rest, and keep your eyes on your goal.


Want to learn to read Tarot? I have an online, on-demand course in Tarot For Divination. You can take it any time. Details are in this blog post and in this video.

"Thanks for your thoughtful advice.I wish these fanatics were more like the puritans in one ..."

Paganism In A Time Of Intolerance
"This isn't a matter for debate. Everyone has to do what's best for them, given ..."

Paganism In A Time Of Intolerance
"My family has lore around how to be pagan during times of intolerance. My mother ..."

Paganism In A Time Of Intolerance
"I really appreciate hearing your wisdom disseminated, John. I have been trying to guide myself ..."

Keep Your Eyes On What You ..."

Browse Our Archives